Byzantine Art Early Byzantine Empire Hagia Sophia Istanbul

Byzantine Art

Early Byzantine Empire

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (Constantinople), Turkey c. 532 -537

Anthemius of Tralles & Isidorus of Miletus

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul (Constantinople), Turkey c. 532 -537

San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy c. 526 -547

San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy c. 526 -547

San Vitale, Ravenna,

Theodora and attendants c. 547 San Vitale, Ravenna, Ital

Justinian, Bishop Maximianus, and attendants,

Byzantine Icons

How Icons are Made • Made of rectangular wooden panels • Painters were monks and worked with humility, rarely signing anything • Wood prepared by covering the surface with fish

How Icons are Made • Cloth placed on top and successive layers of stucco are laid over cloth • Paper sketch is placed over and lines are traced on the surface • Gilded, then painted

How Icons are Made • Vanish applied last to make it shine and protect the surface • Icons were often touched, kissed, handled

Virgin & child between Saints Theodore and George c. 6 th or early 7 th Century

Roman vs. Byzantine Mosiacs • Opaque marble cubes • Reflective glass • Smooth, flat finish • Natural stones and their available colors • Floors of private homes • Secular topics • Realistic detail • Background represented landscape • Uneven surface, sparkly • Glowing glass, variety of colors, gold • Walls and ceilings, especially in Church dome or apse • Religious • Stylized designs • Abstract backgrounds

Iconoclasm 726843

Annunciation, c. early 14 th Century Saint Clement, Ohrid

Christ as Savior of Souls c. early 14 th Century Saint Clement, Ohrid

Virgin and Child (Vladimir Virgin) c. late 11 th to early 12 th century

Andrei Rublev, Old Testament Trinity c. 1410

Pantocrater, Church of Dormition, Daphni, Greece c. 1090 -1100

Pantocrater, Church of Dormition, Daphni, Greece c. 1090 -1100

Pantocrater, Cathedral,

Pantocrater, Cathedral, Monreale c. 1180 -1190

Harbaville Triptych, c. 950,

Harbaville Triptych, c. 950,

Harbaville Triptych, c. 950,

Harbaville Triptych, c. 950,

Harbaville Triptych, c. 950,

David Composing the Psalms, Paris