Byzantine mosaics are mosaics produced from the 4th to 15th[1] centuries in and under the influence of the Byzantine Empire. Mosaics were some of the most popular[2] and historically significant art forms produced in the empire, and they are still studied extensively by art historians.[3] Although Byzantine mosaics evolved out of earlier Hellenistic and Roman practices and styles,[4] craftspeople within the Byzantine Empire made important technical advances[4] and developed mosaic art into a unique and powerful form of personal and religious expression that exerted significant influence on Islamic art produced in Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates and the Ottoman Empire.[2]
There are two main types of mosaic surviving from this period: wall mosaics in churches, and sometimes palaces, made using glass tesserae, sometimes backed by gold leaf for a gold ground effect, and floor mosaics that have mostly been found by archaeology. These often use stone pieces, and are generally less refined in creating their images. Survivals of secular wall-mosaics are few, but they show similar subject matter to floor mosaics, where many of the subjects are very similar in both churches and houses; it was not acceptable for images of sacred figures to be walked upon. Religious mosaics show similar subject matter to that found in other surviving religious Byzantine art in painted icons and manuscript miniatures. Floor mosaics often have images of geometrical patterns, often interspersed with animals. Scenes of hunting and venatio, arena displays where animals are killed, are popular.
Byzantine mosaics can trace their origin to the Greek tradition of road-building, since Greek roads were often made using small pebbles organized into patterns. By the Hellenistic Period, floor and wall art made of natural pebbles was common in both domestic and public spaces. Later, as the Roman Empire expanded and became the dominant cultural force in the Mediterranean and Near East, Roman artists were heavily influenced by the Greek art they encountered and began installing mosaics in public buildings and private homes throughout the empire. They also added small clay or glass pieces called tesserae, material that was also in use during the Hellenistic period. The use of tesserae enabled artists to create more colorful and finely-detailed images.[7]
In 330 AD, the emperor Constantine moved the empire's capital from Rome to Byzantium (modern-day Istanbul), renaming it Constantinople after himself. Historians generally use this date for the beginning of the Byzantine Empire and divide Byzantine art into three historical periods: Early (c. 330–750), Middle (c. 850–1204) and Late (c. 1261–1453).[1]
Constantine's conversion to Christianity lead to extensive building of Christian basilicas in the late 4th century, in which floor, wall, and ceiling mosaics were adopted for Christian uses. The earliest examples of Christian basilicas have not survived, but the mosaics of Santa Constanza and Santa Pudenziana, both from the 4th century, still exist. In another great Constantinian basilica, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, the original mosaic floor with typical Roman geometric motifs is partially preserved.
The reign of Justinian I in the 6th century coincided with the first golden age of the Byzantine Empire.[8] In 537, he completed the construction of a new patriarchal cathedral in the capital city of Constantinople that would be the global center of the Orthodox Church: the Hagia Sophia. At the time, it was the world's largest building and considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture.[9] The cathedral was decorated throughout with what were undoubtedly some of the most incredible figurative mosaics of this time period, but unfortunately these were all destroyed during the Iconoclasms that followed. The oldest mosaics that exist today in Hagia Sophia date from the 10th through the 12th centuries, not this earlier period.[10]
4th century mosaics in the Rotunda in Thessaloniki, Greece, which are some of the earliest remaining examples of early Christian mosaic art
Although it might be the most famous, Ravenna is by no means the only place where Early Byzantine mosaics are well-preserved today. The city of Thessaloniki in Greece was the second most important city in the empire in terms of both wealth and size,[12] and like Ravenna its early Christian monuments have been designated UNESCO World Heritage sites. Masterpieces of early mosaic art in Thessaloniki include the Church of Hosios David, the Hagios Demetrios, and the Rotunda.[13]
In addition, archeological discoveries in the 19th and 20th centuries unearthed many Early Byzantine mosaics in the Middle East, including the Madaba Map in Jordan as well as other examples in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Israel, and Palestine.
10th century mosaic in the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey
The events that mark the division between early and middle Byzantine art are called the Iconoclastic Controversies, which took place from 726 to 842. This period is defined by a deep skepticism towards icons; in fact, Emperor Leo III placed an outright ban on the creation of religious images, and authorities within the Orthodox Church encouraged the widespread destruction of religious art, including mosaics. As a result, the iconoclastic period drastically reduced the number of surviving examples of Byzantine art from the early period, especially large religious mosaics.[14]
Following the Iconoclasm, Byzantine artists were able to resume creating religious images, which people accepted not as idols to be worshiped, but as symbolic and ceremonial elements of religious ritual spaces.[5] The first part of this period, from 867 to 1056, is sometimes called the Macedonian Renaissance and is seen as the second golden age of the Byzantine Empire.[15] Churches throughout the empire, and especially the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, were redecorated with some of the finest examples of Byzantine art ever created. For instance, the monasteries at Hosios Loukas, Daphni, and Nea Moni of Chios have all been recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Sites,[16] and they contain some of the most magnificent Byzantine mosaics from this period.[2]
11th century mosaic by Byzantine artists in Torcello Cathedral, Venice, Italy
Until the disastrous sack of Constantinople in 1204 at the hands of the Fourth Crusader Army, Byzantium was seen by many in Europe as the last light of civilization due to its inherited legacy of Rome and continued cultural sophistication. So during the 10th and 11th centuries, even states that were at odds with the Byzantine Empire imitated Byzantine style and sought out Greek artists to create religious mosaic cycles. For instance, the Norman King Roger II of Sicily was actively hostile to Byzantium, but he imported Greek craftspeople to create the mosaics for Cefalù Cathedral.[5] Similarly, the earliest surviving mosaics in St. Mark's Basilica in Venice were probably created by artists who had left Constantinople in the mid-11th century and also worked at Torcello Cathedral.[17]
Techniques
Like other mosaics, Byzantine mosaics are made of small pieces of glass, stone, ceramic, or other material, which are called tesserae.[18] During the Byzantine period, craftsmen expanded the materials that could be turned into tesserae, beginning to include gold leaf and precious stones, and perfected their construction. Before the tesserae could be laid, a careful foundation was prepared with multiple layers, the last of which was a fine mix of crushed lime and brick powder. On this moist surface, artists drew images and used tools like strings, compasses, and calipers to outline geometric shapes before the tesserae were carefully cemented into position to create the final image.[4]
11th century Byzantine mosaic of Daphni Monastery in Haidari, a suburb of Athens, Greece
Aesthetics
In Byzantine religious art, unlike the Classical Greek and Roman art that preceded it, symbolism became more important than realism. Instead of concentrating on making the most realistic images possible, mosaic artists of this time wanted to create idealized and sometimes exaggerated images of what existed inside the soul of a person. In addition, when used in a religious space, the overall effect created by a sea of glittering, brightly colored and gildedtesserae took precedence over literal realism. The goal of the artist was to create an overall feeling of awe, of being in a spiritual realm,[4] or even the sense of being in the presence of God.[6] Details were not supposed to distract from the main themes.[19]
However, not all Byzantine mosaics were religious in nature. In fact, mosaic art was commonly used to decorate the floors and walls of public and private spaces with geometric patterns and secular figurative subjects.[2]
Influence and legacy
The mosaics in the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem show the influence of Byzantine designs
Some Western art historians have dismissed or overlooked Byzantine art in general. For example, the deeply influential painter and historian Giorgio Vasari defined the Renaissance as a rejection of "that clumsy Greek style" ("quella greca goffa maniera").[20] However, Byzantine artists and their mosaics in particular were highly influential on the rapidly expanding Islamic decorative arts, on Keivan Rus',[5] and modern and contemporary artists across the world.[6]
Islamic art began in the 7th century with artists and craftsmen mostly trained in Byzantine styles, and though figurative content was greatly reduced, Byzantine decorative styles remained a great influence on Islamic art.
As Eastern Orthodox Christianity spread northward and eastward, the Byzantine empire became economically and culturally tied to Kievan Rus'. In the late 10th century, Vladimir the Greatintroduced Christianity with his own baptism and, by decree, extended it to all inhabitants of Kiev. By the 1040s, Byzantine mosaic artists were working in the Hagia Sophia at Kiev, leaving a lasting legacy not only on Russian decorative arts but also medieval painting.[5]
↑ Graham-Dixon, Andrew. Gregory, Mark. (2007), The art of eternity, BBC, OCLC778853051{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
↑ Fazio, Michael W. (2009). Buildings across time: an introduction to world architecture. Moffett, Marian., Wodehouse, Lawrence. (Thirded.). Boston, Mass.: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. ISBN978-0-07-305304-2. OCLC223381546.
↑ Demus, Otto. (1988). The mosaic decoration of San Marco, Venice. Kessler, Herbert L., 1941-. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN0-226-14291-4. OCLC17732671.
Constantinople became the capital of the Roman Empire during the reign of Constantine the Great in 330. Following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the late 5th century, Constantinople remained the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). Following the Turkish War of Independence, the Turkish capital then moved to Ankara. Officially renamed Istanbul in 1930, the city is today the largest city in Europe, straddling the Bosporus strait and lying in both Europe and Asia, and the financial centre of Turkey.
Hagia Sophia, officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque, is a mosque, a former church, and a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively erected on the site by the Eastern Roman Empire, it was completed in 537 AD. The site was an Eastern Orthodox church from 360 AD to 1204, when it was converted to a Catholic church following the Fourth Crusade. It was reclaimed in 1261 and remained Eastern Orthodox until the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453. It served as a mosque until 1935, when it became a museum. In 2020, the site once again became a mosque.
A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly popular in the Ancient Roman world.
Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire, or Eastern Roman Empire, usually dated from 330 AD, when Constantine the Great established a new Roman capital in Byzantium, which became Constantinople, until the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453. There was initially no hard line between the Byzantine and Roman Empires, and early Byzantine architecture is stylistically and structurally indistinguishable from late Roman architecture. The style continued to be based on arches, vaults and domes, often on a large scale. Wall mosaics with gold backgrounds became standard for the grandest buildings, with frescos a cheaper alternative.
Daphni or Dafni is an eleventh-century Byzantine monastery eleven kilometers northwest of central Athens in the suburb of Chaidari, south of Athinon Avenue (GR-8A). It is situated near the forest of the same name, on the Sacred Way that led to Eleusis. The forest covers about 18 km2 (7 sq mi), and surrounds a laurel grove. "Daphni" is the modern Greek name that means "laurel grove", derived from Daphneion (Lauretum).
Byzantine art comprises the body of artistic products of the Eastern Roman Empire, as well as the nations and states that inherited culturally from the empire. Though the empire itself emerged from the decline of western Rome and lasted until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, the start date of the Byzantine period is rather clearer in art history than in political history, if still imprecise. Many Eastern Orthodox states in Eastern Europe, as well as to some degree the Islamic states of the eastern Mediterranean, preserved many aspects of the empire's culture and art for centuries afterward.
A templon is a feature of Byzantine churches consisting of a barrier separating the nave from the sanctuary near the altar.
The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia is a Late Antique Roman building in Ravenna, Italy, built between 425 and 450. It was added to the World Heritage List together with seven other structures in Ravenna in 1996. Despite its common name, the empress Galla Placidia was not buried in the building, a misconception dating from the thirteenth century; she died in Rome and was buried there, probably alongside Honorius in the Mausoleum of Honorius at Old Saint Peter's Basilica.
The Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo is a basilica church in Ravenna, Italy. It was erected by the Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great as his palace chapel during the first quarter of the 6th century. This Arian church was originally dedicated in 504 AD to "Christ the Redeemer".
The Basilica of San Vitale is a late antique church in Ravenna, Italy. The sixth-century church is an important surviving example of early Byzantine art and architecture, and its mosaics in particular are some of the most-studied works in Byzantine art. It is one of eight structures in Ravenna inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Its foundational inscription describes the church as a basilica, though its centrally-planned design is not typical of the basilica form. Within the Roman Catholic Church it holds the honorific title of basilica for its historic and ecclesial importance.
Macedonian art is the art of the Macedonian Renaissance in Byzantine art. The period followed the end of the Byzantine iconoclasm and lasted until the fall of the Macedonian dynasty, which ruled the Byzantine Empire from 867 to 1056, having originated in the theme of Macedonia. It coincided with the Ottonian Renaissance in Western Europe. In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Byzantine Empire's military situation improved, and art and architecture revived.
Omphalion in Greek means "navel "; compare the omphalos of Delphi.
Hosios Loukas is a historic walled monastery situated near the town of Distomo, in Boeotia, Greece. Founded in the mid-10th century, the monastery is one of the most important monuments of Middle Byzantine architecture and art, and has been listed on UNESCO's World Heritage Sites since 1990, along with the monasteries of Nea Moni and Daphnion.
Micromosaics are a special form of mosaic that uses unusually small mosaic pieces (tesserae) of glass, or in later Italian pieces an enamel-like material, to make small figurative images. Surviving ancient Roman mosaics include some very finely worked panels using very small tesserae, especially from Pompeii, but only from Byzantine art are there mosaic icons in micromosaic with tesserae as small as the best from the Modern period. Byzantine examples, which are very rare, were religious icons. They are usually framed and treated like portable paintings.
The Little Hagia Sophia mosque, formerly the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, is a former Greek Orthodox church dedicated to Saints Sergius and Bacchus in Constantinople, built between 532 and 536, and converted into a mosque during the Ottoman Empire.
The Hagia Sophia is a church located in Thessaloniki, Greece. With its current structure dating from the 7th century, it is one of the oldest churches in the city still standing today. Because of its outstanding Byzantine art and architecture, in addition to its importance in early Christianity, it is one of several monuments in Thessaloniki listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988.
The Palaeologan Renaissance or Palaiologan Renaissance is the final period in the development of Byzantine art. Coinciding with the reign of the Palaiologoi, the last dynasty to rule the Byzantine Empire (1261–1453), it was an attempt to restore Byzantine self-confidence and cultural prestige after the empire had endured a long period of foreign occupation. The legacy of this era is observable both in Greek culture after the empire's fall and in the Italian Renaissance. Scholars of the time utilized several classical texts.
Liz James is a British art historian who studies the art of the Byzantine Empire. She is Professor of the History of Art at the University of Sussex.
The Church of Hosios David is a late 5th-century church in Thessaloniki, Greece. During Byzantine times, it functioned as the katholikon of the Latomos Monastery, and was adorned with rich mosaic and fresco decoration, which was renewed in the 12th–14th centuries. The church is dedicated to David the Dendrite. Many surviving elements of the Byzantine decoration are of high artistic quality, especially the 5th-century apse mosaic the Icon of Christ of Latomos. Under Ottoman rule, the building was converted into a mosque, until it was reconsecrated as a Greek Orthodox church in 1921, thus receiving its present name. In 1988, this monument was included among the Paleochristian and Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki on the list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.
Domes were a characteristic element of the architecture of Ancient Rome and of its medieval continuation, the Byzantine Empire. They had widespread influence on contemporary and later styles, from Russian and Ottoman architecture to the Italian Renaissance and modern revivals. The domes were customarily hemispherical, although octagonal and segmented shapes are also known, and they developed in form, use, and structure over the centuries. Early examples rested directly on the rotunda walls of round rooms and featured a central oculus for ventilation and light. Pendentives became common in the Byzantine period, provided support for domes over square spaces.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
