Survey of Western Art I - Final Exam Review
BYZANTIUM - ROME IN THE EAST
Ø Constantinople: 324 AD Constantine founds his capital (“New Rome”) and calls it Constantinople
Ø By 5th century: the empire was divided
o WEST: Ravenna
o EAST: Constantinople
Ø Holy Emperor (in the East)
o Exercises all power over both church & state
o Both a pope and a Caesar – Godlike position
§ West kept these separate!
Ø Three Golden Ages:
o Early Byzantine (527-726)
§ From Emperor Justinian to à Iconoclasm under Leo III
o Middle Byzantine (843-1204)
§ From end of iconoclasm to occupation of Constantinople by Western Crusades
o Late Byzantine (14th – early 15th c)
§ Falls to the Turks in 1453 à churches converted to mosques
Ø Justinian
o Expresses unique character of Eastern Christian culture
o Recognizable and distinct art style emerges: defines the Byzantine style
o Churches built and restored
o Code of Civil Law: Codification of Roman Law (foundation of law systems in many European nations today)
Ø Art & Architecture to note & study: *note artworks in italics
o Barberini Ivory
o St. Michael the Archangel (ivory)*
o Hagia Sophia *
o San Vitale
§ Justinian & Bishop Maximianus (547 - mosaic)
§ Theodora and Attendants (547 – mosaic)
o Virgin and Child
o Christ as Pantocrator
Ø Iconoclasm * (726-843 AD)
o Imperial ban on images
o 627 Arabs conquered Byzantium’s eastern provinces and Persia
o Attacks on Constantinople (catastrophic years for Eastern Empire)
o Imperial Rome disintegrates – Byzantine Empire loses 2/3 of its territory
§ Population, wealth, material resources
o Leo III (717-741): Believed God punishing them for worshipping idols (icons)
§ Faithful prayed before icons for protection or cure for illness
§ 726: Formally prohibited use of images
§ Only symbol of the cross – and stylized floral, animal and architectural motifs used as decoration.
· Resembled the nonimage art of Islam of the same time.
§ Iconoclasts systematically destroyed works of art portraying Christ, the Virgin and Saints.
§ No real art produced for about a century
§ Great loss of early Byzantine art