Byzantine art
- Rossana
- Jun 10
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 16
Byzantine Art: Faith, Power and Symbolism (395-1453 AD)
Byzantine art flourished in the Eastern Roman Empire, with Constantinople as its capital. It began to emerge after the division of the Roman Empire in 395 AD and continued until the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
This period is characterized by significant events such as the deposition of Romulus Augustulus (476 AD) and the rise of Justinian (527 AD).
The emperors, considered elected by God and lay leaders of the Church, were the main patrons of religious works, promoting an art that blended mysticism and profane elements, with an impersonal and didactic character.
Byzantine art - the question of sacred images: iconoclasm and iconophilia
A central and controversial theme in Byzantine art is the question of sacred images.
West (Latin): Gregory the Great (6th century) supported the usefulness of images as a teaching tool for the faithful, especially the illiterate, stating that "painting can serve the illiterate as much as writing does the one who knows how to read".
East (Greek): In Constantinople, the controversy polarized between iconoclasts (who were against all sacred images) and iconophiles (who considered them useful and holy). In the end, a rigorous adherence to traditional and consecrated models was chosen, helping to preserve the techniques of Greek art in terms of drapery, faces and gestures.
Byzantine art is characterized by the deification of the emperor, the exaltation of imperial power and of Christ, and a strong tendency towards symbolism and abstraction.
Painting and miniature: from Icons to illustrated codices
Painting plays a secondary role compared to mosaics.
Icons are typical paintings depicting Christ, the Madonna, angels and saints, an expression of a popular art that developed in monasteries.
Miniatures show stylistic eclecticism.
Examples include:
The Iliad Codex (late 5th century, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan), of Alexandrian influence.
The Dioscorides Codex (6th century), with miniatures that reveal Alexandrian influences and a new refinement, such as the frontal representation of Juliana Anicia flanked by allegories.
The miniatures can be compared to the 6th century imperial ivory diptychs, carved tablets with the emperor on the outside and used for writing on the inside.
Mosaic: the splendor of the gold background
The Byzantine mosaic technique is distinguished from the Roman one by the use of coloured glass paste tesserae with a gold background and semiprecious stones, instead of coloured marbles.
Wall mosaics (unlike Roman floor mosaics) are the preferred artistic expression, constituting the most precious decoration of religious buildings, with a strong tendency towards showy effects given by gold and the richness of the clothes.
Representation of Christ and the imperial court
In the early times, Christ is depicted as a young man sitting on the globe (the cosmos), flanked by archangels dressed in white as imperial bodyguards. The saints appear as court dignitaries with cloaks and hands hidden as a sign of humility, while the bishops wear sacred vestments and hold the model of the church in their hands.
This symbolic interpretation is manifested in the famous processions of Justinian and Theodora who carry Eucharistic bread and wine.
The figure of Justinian in the mosaics is emblematic: he wears a purple silk chlamys (imperial color), with a gold buckle adorned with gems, a diadem studded with precious stones and a halo. He holds the liturgical offering of the Eucharistic bread and wears red leather sandals, symbols of royalty. He is flanked by dignitaries in white and purple, imperial guards with the monogram of Christ on their shields, and Bishop Maximian of Ravenna with the priests.
The figures are schematic, tall and thin, static, aligned in a frontal and symmetrical position, with a fixed gaze. There is a tendency towards verticality and fixity of facial expressions, with large eyes and heavy eyebrows, a black outline of Egyptian origin. We note the absence of bodily relief and chiaroscuro, the cancellation of spatial depth (two-dimensionality) and the splendor of gold and color.
Frontality, rigidity and hieraticism are peculiar characteristics, together with the vertical perspective.
Mosaics with a clear Byzantine influence are present in Sicily (Palatine Chapel, Martorana in Palermo, Cathedrals of Monreale and Cefalù) and in Venice (Basilica of San Marco) between the 11th and 13th centuries.
Architecture: large domes and central plans
Byzantine sacred architecture is based on the construction of centrally planned basilicas with large domes. Architectural elements of Roman and early Christian origin are developed, such as the Greek and Latin cross plan.
Examples in Constantinople:
Santa Sophia (6th century): Dedicated to Divine Wisdom, commissioned by Justinian, it combines the typology of the martyrion with that of the basilica. Designed by Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles, it has an almost square shape with a large central nave and two smaller ones. The central dome is flanked by two lower semi-domes. The four minarets were added by the Turks when it was transformed into a mosque.
Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus (6th century): Consisting of a central space covered by a segmented dome, surrounded by curved and straight exedras, deriving from Hadrianic prototypes but also from a significant elaboration of the central plan scheme of the martyrion.
Basilica of the Holy Apostles (6th century): A Greek cross, covered by five domes, it will serve as a model for the Basilica of San Marco in Venice.
Sculpture: ornamental reliefs and sarcophagi
Sculpture is predominantly an ornamental relief, subordinate to architecture, present on capitals, pulvini and transennae. The representations are frontal, abstract, with squat figures and large heads, arranged in tight groups with fixed features and gestures and a hierarchical perspective. Christian churches did not want cult statues to avoid idolatry.
The Ravenna sarcophagi factories flourished until the death of Theodoric (late 4th - mid 5th century), initially with scenes of the traditio legis and Christ among the apostles, then replaced by lambs and symbolic compositions with peacocks, vases and acanthus tufts. The relief flattens and the background and the motif take on equal value, eliminating naturalistic references. Numerous sarcophagi from the Justinian era are found in Ravenna, such as the Sarcophagus of San Rinaldo and the Sarcophagus of Isaccio.
The Chair of Maximian is exceptional, a composite work with decorative parts influenced by carvings from Sinai and Alexandrian works, figures of saints linked to Constantinople and evangelical scenes in relation to Syrian pictorial cycles.
Examples of carved wooden doors include fragments of the door with scenes from the life of David (4th century, Milan, Museum of the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio) and the doors of Santa Sabina in Rome (5th century), the only example of narrative bas-relief with scenes from the two Testaments.
Sculpture tends not to go beyond a decorative function, covering transennae and ambos (like the Ambone di Agnello in Ravenna) and competing with the simplified forms of fabrics.
Iconography: evolution of symbols and figures
Iconography, a category of art history that studies images for their content, in the Christian world adopts a series of standard motifs and representations starting from the paintings of the catacombs and in sarcophagi.
Between the 4th and 5th centuries, the iconographic types change:
Christ: Initially young, beardless, dressed in white and surrounded by the apostles; later he becomes a mature man with a long beard, a sign of the Neoplatonic philosopher and the sage.
Peter: Characterized as a bishop with short, gray hair, a short beard and keys in his hand (from the scene of the traditio legis).
Paul: His image is borrowed from that of the philosopher Plotinus: long pointed beard, balding head, and a sword in his hand as a sign of his martyrdom.
Iconographic chains are not fixed based on style, but according to the way in which the narrative or symbolic structure of a given theme is addressed.
Miniatures in the Middle Ages are an important form of documentation and transmission of certain iconographies (illustrated editions of the Gospels and Genesis).
Iconographic examples:
Saint Peter with the keys and Saint Paul with the sword (mosaic, 5th century; Rome, Saint Paul Outside the Walls).
Christ appears on the mountain and delivers the laws (mosaic; Rome, Santa Costanza).
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