Byzantine art (4th - 15th century CE) is

generally characterised by a move away from
the naturalism of the Classical tradition towards
the more abstract and universal, there is a
definite preference for two-dimensional
representations, and those artworks which
contain a religious message predominate.
However, by the 12th century CE Byzantine art
has become much more expressive and
imaginative, and although many subjects are
endlessly recycled, there are differences in
details throughout the period. Whilst it is true
that the vast majority of surviving artworks are
religious in subject, this may be a result of
selection in subsequent centuries as there are
abundant references to secular art in Byzantine
sources and pagan subjects with classical
iconography continued to be produced well into
the 10th century CE and beyond. Using bright
stones, gold mosaics, lively wall paintings,
intricately carved ivory, and precious metals in
general, Byzantine artists beautified everything
from buildings to books, and their greatest and
most lasting legacy is undoubtedly the icons
which continue to decorate Christian churches
around the world.

Influences
As Byzantium was the eastern branch of
the Roman Empire in its earliest phase, it is not
surprising that a strong Roman, or more
precisely, Classical influence predominates
Byzantine output. The Roman tradition of
collecting, appreciating, and privately
displaying antique art also continued amongst
the wealthier classes of Byzantium. Byzantine
art is at once both unchanging and evolutionary,
themes such as the Classical traditions and
conventional religious scenes were reworked for
century after century, but at the same time, a
closer examination of individual works reveals
the details of an ever-changing approach to art.
Byzantine artists worked within the limits of the
practical end function of their work to make
choices on how best to present a subject, what to
add and omit from those new influences which
came along, and, by the end of the period, to
personalize their work as never before.
It is perhaps important to
remember that the Byzantine Empire was much
more Greek than Roman in many aspects
and Hellenistic art continued to be influential,
especially the idea of naturalism. At the same
time, the geographical extent of the empire also
had its implications for art. In Alexandria the
more rigid (and for some, less elegant) Coptic
style took off from the 6th century CE,
replacing the predominant Hellenistic style.
Half-tone colours were avoided and brighter
ones were favoured while figures are squatter
and less realistic. Another area of artistic
influence was Antioch where the 'orientalizing'
style wa s adopted, that is the assimilation of
motifs from Persian and central Asian art such
as ribbons, the Tree of Life, ram's heads, and
double-winged creatures, as well as the full
frontal portraits which appear in the art
of Syria. In turn, the art of these
great cities would influence that produced
in Constantinople, which became the focal
point of an art industry that spread its works,
methods, and ideas throughout the Empire.

Byzantine Chalice
Dimitris Kamaras (CC BY)

The Byzantine Empire was continuously

expanding and shrinking over the centuries, and
this geography influenced art as new ideas
became more readily accessible over time. Ideas
and art objects were continuously spread
between cultures through the medium of royal
gifts to fellow rulers, diplomatic embassies,
religious missions, and souvenir-buying wealthy
travellers, not to mention the movement of
artists themselves. From the early 13th century
CE, for example, Byzantium was influenced by
much greater contact with western Europe, just
as it had been when the Byzantines were more
present in Italy during the 9th century CE. The
influence went in the other direction, too, of
course, so that Byzantine artistic ideas spread,
notably outwards from such outposts
as Sicily and Crete from where Byzantine
iconography would go on to influence
Italian Renaissance art. So, too, in the north-
east, Byzantine art influenced such places
as Armenia, Georgia, and Russia. Finally,
Byzantine art is still very much alive as a strong
tradition within Orthodox art.
Artists
In the Byzantine Empire, there was little or no
distinction between artist and craftsperson, both
created beautiful objects for a specific purpose,
whether it be a box to keep a precious belonging
or an icon to stir feelings of piety and reverence.
Some job titles we know
are zographos and historiographos (painter), m
aistor (master) and ktistes (creator). In addition,
many artists, notably those who created
illustrated manuscripts, were priests or monks.
There is no evidence that artists were
not women, although it is likely they specialised
in textiles and printed silks. Sculptors, ivory
workers, and enamelists were specialists who
had acquired years of training, but in other art
forms, it was common for the same artist to
produce manuscripts, icons, mosaics, and wall
paintings.
Byzantine Book Cover with Icon
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Copyright)

It was rare for an artist to sign their work prior

to the 13th century CE, and this may reflect a
lack of social status for the artist, or that works
were created by teams of artists, or that such
personalization of the artwork was considered to
detract from its purpose, especially in religious
art. Artists were supported by patrons who
commissioned their work, notably the emperors
and monasteries but also many private
individuals, including women, especially
widows.
Frescos & Paintings
Byzantine Christian art had the triple purpose of
beautifying a building, instructing the illiterate
on matters vital for the welfare of their soul, and
encouraging the faithful that they were on the
correct path to salvation. For this reason, the
interiors of Byzantine churches were covered
with paintings and mosaics. The large Christian
basilica building, with its high ceilings and long
side walls, provided an ideal medium to send
visual messages to the congregation, but even
the most humble shrines were often decorated
with an abundance of frescoes. The subjects
were necessarily limited - those key events and
figures of the Bible - and even their positioning
became conventional. A depiction of Jesus
Christ usually occupied the central dome, the
barrel of the dome had the prophets, the
evangelists appear on the joins between vault
and dome, in the sanctuary is the Virgin and
child, and the walls have scenes from the New
Testament and the lives of the saints.

The Virgin and Child Mosaic, Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia Research Team (CC BY-NC-SA)

Besides walls and domes, small painted wooden

panels were another popular medium, especially
in the late-Empire period. Literary sources
describe small portable portrait paintings which
were commissioned by a wide range of people
from bishops to actresses. Paintings for
manuscripts were also a valued outlet for
painting skills, and these cover both religious
subjects and historical events such as
coronations and famous battles.
ICONS - REPRESENTATIONS OF HOLY
FIGURES - WERE CREATED FOR
VENERATION BY BYZANTINE
CHRISTIANS FROM THE 3RD CENTURY
CE.
Fine examples of the more expressive and
humanistic style prevalent from the 12th century
CE are the 1164 CE wall paintings in Nerezi,
Macedonia. Showing scenes from the cross,
they capture the despair of the protagonists.
From the 13th century CE, individuals are
painted with personality and there is more
attention to detail. The Hagia Sophia in
Trabzon (Trebizond) has whole galleries of
such paintings, dated to c. 1260 CE, where the
subjects seem to have been inspired by real-life
models. There is also a more daring use of
colour for effect. A good example is the use of
blues in The Transfiguration, a manuscript
painting in the theological works of John VI
Cantacuzenus, produced 1370-1375 CE and
now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. On a
larger scale, this combination of bold colours
and fine details is best seen in the wall paintings
of the various Byzantine churches of Mistra
in Greece.
Icons
Icons - representations of holy figures - were
created for veneration by Byzantine Christians
from the 3rd century CE. They are most often
seen in mosaics, wall paintings, and as small
artworks made from wood, metal, gemstones,
enamel, or ivory. The most common form was
small painted wooden panels which could be
carried or hung on walls. Such panels were
made using the encaustic technique where
coloured pigments were mixed with wax and
burned into the wood as an inlay.

Jesus Christ Pantokrator

Hardscarf (CC BY-NC-SA)
The subject in icons is typically portrayed full
frontal, with either the full figure shown or the
head and shoulders only. They stare directly at
the viewer as they are designed to facilitate
communication with the divine. Figures often
have a nimbus or halo around them to
emphasise their holiness. More rarely, icons are
composed of a narrative scene. The artistic
approach to icons was remarkably stable over
the centuries, but this should not perhaps be
surprising as their very subjects were meant to
present a timeless quality and instil a reverence
on generation after generation of worshippers -
the people and fashions might change but the
message did not.
Some of the oldest surviving Byzantine
icons are to be found in the Monastery of Saint
Catherine on Mount Sinai. Dating to the 6th
century CE and saved from the wave of
iconoclasm which spread through the Byzantine
Empire during the 8th and 9th century CE, the
finest show Christ Pantokrator and the Virgin
and Child. The Pantokrator image - where
Christ is in the classic full frontal pose and is
holding a Gospel book in his left hand and
performing a blessing with his right - was
probably donated by Justinian I (r. 527-565
CE) to mark the monastery's foundation.
By the 12th century CE, painters were
producing much more intimate portraits with
more expression and individuality. The icon
known as the Virgin of Vladimir, now in the
Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, was painted in
Constantinople c. 1125 CE and is an excellent
example of this new style with its tender
representation of the child pressing his cheek
against his mother.
Man Feeding Mule, Byzantine Mosaic
Hagia Sophia Research Team (CC BY-NC-SA)

Mosaics
The majority of surviving wall and ceiling
mosaics depict religious subjects and are to be
found in many Byzantine churches. One of their
characteristics is the use of gold tiles to create a
shimmering background to the figures of Christ,
the Virgin Mary and saints. As with icons and
paintings, the portraiture follows certain
conventions such as a full frontal view, halo,
and general lack of suggested movement. The
Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (Istanbul)
contains the most celebrated examples of such
mosaics while one of the most unusually
striking portraits in the medium is that
of Jesus Christ in the dome of Daphni in
Greece. Produced around 1100 CE, it shows
Christ with a rather fierce expression which is in
contrast to the usual expressionless
representation.
The mosaics of the Great Palace of
Constantinople, which date to the 6th century
CE, are an interesting mix of scenes from daily
life (especially hunting) with pagan gods and
mythical creatures, highlighting, once again,
that pagan themes were not wholly replaced by
Christian ones in Byzantine art. Another secular
subject for mosaic artists was emperors and
their consorts, although these are often
portrayed in their role as head of the Eastern
Church. Some of the most celebrated mosaics
are those in the church of San Vitale in
Ravenna, Italy, which date to the 540s CE. Two
glittering panels show Emperor Justinian I and
his consort Empress Theodora with their
respective entourages.

Byzantine Empress Zoe

Myrabella (Public Domain)
Byzantine mosaic artists were so famous for
their work that the Arab Umayyad
Caliphate (661-750 CE) employed them to
decorate the Dome of the Rock
in Jerusalem and the Great Mosque of
Damascus. Finally, just as in painting, in the
13th and 14th century CE, the subjects in
mosaics become more natural, expressive and
individualised. Excellent examples of this style
can be seen in the mosaics of the Church of the
Saviour, Chora, Constantinople.
Sculpture
Realistic portrait sculpture was a characteristic
of later Roman art, and the trend continues in
early Byzantium. The Hippodrome of
Constantinople was known to have bronze and
marble sculptures of emperors and popular
charioteers, for example. Ivory was used for
figure sculpture, too, although only a single
free-standing example survives, the Virgin and
Child, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum,
London. Marble and limestone sarcophagi were
another outlet for the sculptor's craft. After the
6th century CE, though, three-dimensional
portraits are rare, even for emperors, and
sculpture reached nowhere near the popularity it
had in antiquity.

Ivory Pyxis Depicting Saint Menas

Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin (CC BY-NC-
SA)

Minor Arts
Byzantine artists were accomplished
metalsmiths, while enamelling was another area
of high technical expertise. A superb example of
the use of both skills combined is the c. 1070
CE chalice in the Treasury of Saint Mark's,
Venice. Made with a semi-precious stone body
and gold stem, the cup is decorated with enamel
plaques. Cloisonné enamels (objects with
multiple metal-bordered compartments filled
with vitreous enamel) were extremely popular, a
technique probably acquired from Italy in the
9th century CE. Silver plates stamped with
Christian images were produced in large
numbers and used as a domestic dinner service.
A final use of metals is coinage, which was a
medium for imperial portraiture and, from the
8th century CE, images of Jesus Christ.
Bibles were made with beautifully written text
in gold and silver ink on pages dyed
with Tyrian purple and beautifully illustrated.
One of the best surviving examples of an
illustrated manuscript is the Homilies of Saint
Gregory of Nazianzus, produced 867-886 CE
and now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
Books, in general, were often given exquisite
covers using gold, silver, semi-precious stones,
and enamels. Reliquaries - containers for holy
relics - were another avenue for the decorative
arts.

Byzantine Jeweled Bracelet

Metropolitan Museum of Art (Copyright)
Portable objects were very often decorated with
Christian images, and these include such
everyday items as jewellery boxes, ivories,
jewellery pieces, and pilgrim tokens. Objects
made from ivory such as panels and boxes were
a particular speciality of Alexandria. Panels
were used to decorate almost anything but
especially furniture. One of the most celebrated
examples is the throne of Maximian,
Archbishop of Ravenna (545-553 CE), which is
covered in ivory panels showing scenes from
the lives of Joseph, Jesus Christ and the
Evangelists. Textiles - of wool, linen, cotton,
and silk - was another medium for artistic
expression, where designs were woven into the
fabric or printed by dipping the cloth in dyes
with some parts of the cloth covered in a resistor
to create the design.
Finally, Byzantine pottery has largely escaped
public notice, but potters were accomplished in
such techniques as polychrome (coloured scenes
painted on a white background and then given a
transparent glaze) - a technique passed on to
Italy in the 9th century CE. Designs were
sometimes incised and given coloured glazes, as
in the 13th-14th century CE fine plate showing
two doves, now in the Collection David Talbot
Rice at the University of Edinburgh. Common
shapes included plates, dishes, bowls, and
single-handled cups. Tiles were often painted
with representations of holy figures and
emperors, sometimes several tiles making up a
composite image.
IN THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE, THERE WAS
LITTLE OR NO DISTINCTION BETWEEN
ARTIST & CRAFTSPERSON, BOTH
CREATED BEAUTIFUL OBJECTS FOR A
SPECIFIC PURPOSE.