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- Barberini Ivory
- Era: Byzantine, mid 6th century
- Techniques:
- carved in 5 parts, one was lost
- dynamic twisting posture
- motif - spear thrusting equestrian statue
- remnants from the Pagan Roman empire
- personifications
- - bountiful earth
- - palm bearing victory
- power comes from god - two angels holding an image of Christ
- Christ is carrying a cross in his left hand and blessing Justinian with the other - theocratic state
- exotic animals (lion, elephant, and tiger) native to Africa and Asia, sights of his conquests
- Roman soldiers carrying another figure of victory in form of statuette
- depicts Justinian as the world conqueror
- riding on a startled horsehorse trampling a figure
- figures are afraid of him, signifying his power
- emphasizes his power and rule over the world
- barbarians seeking clemency, coming with tribute
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- St. Micheal the Archangel
- Era: Byzantine, early 6th century
- Techniques:
- made of ivory
- incised lines
- body contour through drapery
- all features are flattened
- dwarfing the architectural setting
- persistance of Classical art
- one of the two panels
- old style but new subject
- patron of the church of Hagia Sophia
- "receive these gifts"
- cross on orb shows world dominance and the power of Christianity
- Byzantine emperor would have been on other side
- fluidity of folds
- flattened feet sliding over stairs
- idealized face
- classical coiffure
- halo is a shell
- lower body behind column but his upper body is in front of it
- spacial amuiguity
- rejecting 3 dimensional goal of modeled figure firmly on the ground
- figure seems to float
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- Diptych of Anastatius
- Era: Byzantine, 517
- Techniques:
- enthroned
- halo of shells
- flattened space
- flattened feet
- bent knees show that he is seated
- angels holding an image of Christ
- gable and columns that look like little sculptures on the side of his throne
- lions heads with rings in mouths on arms of throne
- stylized folds of drapery
- body contour in legs and knees only, not a lot in upper body
- preparation for games underneath him
- areial view into arena on the right panel
- emperor taking on the role of signaling the beginning of the games in an athletic arena
- mappa, hankerchieft signalling the beginning of the games
- absolute monarch with divine support
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- Hagia Sophia
- Artists: Anthemius of Tralles & Isidorus of Miletus
- Era: Byzantine, 532-537
- Location: Constantinople, Turkey
- Techniques:
- 40 windows at base of dome - light reflect's off marble and mosaics to dissolves all material subjects and transform everything into a vision - gold chain from heaven - enlarged halo in the church itself
- cloumner arcades (arches lined up) in the nave and galleries dematerialize the walls
- massive pendentive dome floating in space supported by four giant arches
- two rows of colonnades on each side
- windows on each side
- external structures to support the dome
- side domes to help support the large dome
- curved flowing design of the building
- huge narthex with many entrances
- domed basilica - fusing basilica and central plan
- plain and unpretentious to disguise its scale
- contrast between plain exterior with extravagant interior
- setting fit for a solemn liturgy
- nave was reserved for the clergy
- sexually separated in the aisles (men) and galleries (women)- earthly image of heaven
- positive triumph of the Christian faith
- surmation of Antiquity
- church of holy wisdom
- built for Justinian to continue his reign in the east
- not a mosque - minarettes added later
- eastern influence
- designed by a mathematician and a physicist
- 270ft long x 240ft wide - dome has 108ft diameter - crown (tip of dome) to floor 180ft
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- San Vitale
- Era: Byzantine, 526-547
- Location: Ravenna, Italy
- Techniques:
- polygonal, central plan
- two concentric octagons
- not axially aligned - narthex is turned might be based on street plan
- dome covers an inner octogon
- angular
- clerestory lighting
- central space is defined by 8 large piers that alternate with a curved column exedra pushes out to abularoty
- 8 leafed floral design
- 2 story ambulatory
- corss vaulted choir that gives it more stability
- choir is right in front of apse
- everything is covered in marble and mosaic
- elaborate capitals
- marble floors, panels and columns
- mosaics cover ceiling
- curved and flattened space
- light fills interior
- carved floral motifs, abstract capitals
- horses simplified and stylized also on capitals
- separation of men and women - orthodox tradition - 2 balconies
- holy ratification of Justinian's right to rule
- Christ is sitting on the orb of the world at the time of his second coming
- symbolize Christ's redemption of humanity and the reenactment of the Ucerist
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- Justinian and his Attendants
- Era: Byzantine, 547
- Location: San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy
- Techniques:
- shadowing in hanging folds of garments but no cast shadows
- figures are weightless
- tall, elongated figures
- stiff garments
- dematerialized bodies
- concept of heaven for gold background but feet are on grass - connection to the church
- each group has a leader who's feet overlap all the others - hierarchy
- Greek letters on shields represent Christ
- flattened space
- bishop holds a jeweled cross showing his prominence
- to the left of the apse
- Justinian and Theodora are united symbolically and visually across the apse
- Justinian in purple robes
- he has a halo - linking himself with Christianity, reinforcing his divine right as ruler
- advisors wear purple trim and they represent the 12 apostles
- Eastern church plus God's laws plus State's law - divine right to rule
- presendence and rank determine position
- bishop to Justinian's left
- bishop finished the building
- benefactor in between the two of them
- three groups
- - Justinian and his staff
- - clergy
- - imperial guard
- troops have the same hair and look alike
- emperor and bishop are more equal - imperial and church powers are in balance
- rigid formality
- just a gold background
- taking place in the sanctuary
- emperor never participated in sacred rights in this church - proxy during ritual
- bowl holds bread
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- Theodora and her Attendants
- Era: Byzantine, 547
- Location: San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy
- Techniques:
- compliments Justinian and his Attendants
- has a setting
- in a procession to the church, women were not allowed in the nave
- going through curtain to Christ
- Theodora is carrying the chalice for the wine
- she is under a fancy canopy that is walking with her - women covered at all times
- pictorial ficition because they were never actually there
- testifies to the unique position that she held in his court
- equated to the Virgin Mary in a way
- almost equal of a man, purple robes and crown with halo
- 3 figures bearing gifts to the new born Christ
- gold background less evident
- groupings not as strongly divided
- Theodora is farther back in image and more ground
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- Sant' Apollinare in Classe
- Era: Byzantine, 533-549
- Location: Ravenna, Italy
- Techniques:
- basilica plan with a bell tower
- 3 aisle basilica
- mosaics are only in the apse
- housed the entire body of Saint Apollinare for a while
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- Sant' Apollinare in Classe Apse
- Era: Byzantine, 549
- Location: Ravenna, Italy
- Techniques:
- mosaics on outside framing arch were added later
- gold background
- containing a largle medallion with a jeweled cross - symbol for the transfiguration of Christ, Constantine's cross - iconographic
- above the cross is the hand of God
- symbolizes the death of Saint Apollinare
- Moses and Elijah who appear for Christ in the transfiguration
- 3 sheep are the decipals who accompanied him
- lambs represent martyrdom specifically apostles
- triumph over death to lead to an eternal life
- eternal life as a reward
- hieratic symbolism of images
- mankind's duty is to seek salvation
- Saint Apollinare is in the iconographic pose of praying making him an orant
- field of free trees and flowers - linked to earth
- palm trees symbolize paradise
- lilies symbolize resurrection
- flattened symbols lined up laterally, no 3-dimensional space
- avoid all material world and physical reality
- paradise not just earth
- no volume in figures
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- Trasnfiguration of Jesus
- Era: Byzantine, 548-565
- Location: Monestary Church of St. Catherine, Mt. Sinai, Egypt
- Techniques:
- focus on the soul's perfection
- Christ inside a mondorla (aura) - signifies glory
- white garments exude beams that represent his holiness
- flanked by Moses and Elijah
- balanced and upright
- contrast against chaotic earth bound figures (Peter, John and James) - eternal composure of heavenly figures
- inside the shape of an eye - god is all seeing
- gold background but earthly location
- almond shaped eyes
- elongated figures
- bearded Christ, more mature
- figures are isolated
- no cast shadows
- mystical vision\
- Justinian rebuilt it
- public would not have seen this, only monks
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- Ascension of Christ
- Era: Byzantine, 586
- Location: Zagba, Syria
- Techniques:
- manuscript illuminations (pictures in the book)
- bearded Christ in a blue mondorla
- lifted by angels
- Christ is not completely frontal
- iconographic symbol of teacher
- Theotokos underneath, apostles around her
- figures in a painted frame that looks like a mosaic style of those in churches
- Theotokos is frontally posed as a orant with a nimbus\
- full page
- vision that monk has experienced
- illuminating the viewer to the spiritual occurance
- Christ rises from the dead after 3 days and ascends from the Mount of Olives to Heaven
- written in Syriac by a monk named Rabbula in a monastary
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- Theotokos and Child Between Saints Theodore and George
- Era: Byzantine, 6th or early 7th century
- Locaiton: Monastery of St. Catherine, Mt. Sinai, Egypt
- Tehcniques:
- icon - wood panel used for prayer worship
- encaustic on wood using hot wax
- Theotokos is enthroned
- saints are guarding her and are the connecting between Theotokos and the viewer
- 2 angels looking up at God's hand in a beam of light behind them
- strictly frontal and solid in demeanor
- detailed front figures
- space is squeezed out
- back plain has less detail
- hieratic scale
- Greco-Roman illusionism in the virgins personalized features and in the sideways glances of the angels and the posing of their heads
- elongated frontal figures
- lots of gold
- almond shaped eyes
- during period of Iconoclasim they destroyed lots of them
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- Monastery Churches at Hosios Loukas
- Era: Byzantine, 1020-1040
- Location: Phocis, Greece
- Techniques:
- attached to each other
- domed cube
- small, vertical, high shouldered
- Theoktokos
- - Greek cross plan, interior
- - vaulted arm
- Katholikon
- -squinch dome
- - complex core
- - 2 rectangles outer ones forms exterior walls
- - focused from the center outwards circle - octogon - square - intricate relationship
- Exterior-
- ornamentation in relief style
- light stones used with dark ones, two tones
- migration period - cloisonne technique - outlining sections of colored enamal with metal
- interplay of projection and recession, voids - creates a energetic and dynamic surface area
- projecting roof lines
- recessed arched windows
- blind arcades
- undulating surface area
- arcuated windows, arches above windows and divided by columns
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- Katholikon
- Era: Byzantine, 1020
- Location: Monastery Churches at Hosios Loukas, Phocis, Greece
- Techniques:
- creates a mystery through space and surface area, mass and void
- created through play of light and dark
- undulating surface areahigh shouldered, narrow
- forcing the eye up to the divine light of heaven
- wide and narrow openings
- concave and convex surfaces
- mimics groin and barrel vaulted ceilings
- different groupings of windows (two or three)
- dramatic shifting perspectives
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- Christ as Pantokrator
- Era: Byzantine, 1090-1100
- Location: Church of the Dormition, Daphni, Greece
- Techniques:
- a fearsome image of Christ
- "pantokrater" means ruler of all in Greek
- Christ is the last judge of mankind
- climax of a hieratic scale of a pictorial program throughout the church
- gigantic icon that hovers dramatically above you in space
- connects worshipper below to Heaven above him
- awestruck and given a sense of fear
- patterned, stylized, detail
- highlights in his hair
- wrinkles in face
- more mature, bearded
- Roman robes
- nimbus behind head
- unnatural- not a lot of volume
- its a mosaic
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- Crucifixion
- Era: Byzantine, 1090-110
- Location: Church in Daphne, Greece
- Techniques:
- beneath a barrel-vaulted arm
- characteristic of post-iconoclastic Byzantine art
- combining styles
- - Hellenistic style
- - Classical simplicity and dignity
- - Byzantine piety and pathos
- implied contraposta - give contour to bodies
- statuesque appearance of Christ
- Byzantine linear manner - simplification of detail
- quiet sense of sorrow and resignation, sense of grief in Mary and St. John the Baptist
- Mary;s drapery is a little more fluid than St. John's, curvilinear fall of drapery, attempt at realism
- skull is symbolic - golgotha - place of the dead
- little vegetation
- gold background acsencion to Heaven
- symmetry and closed space that - emotioneless and unchanging aspect of Christianity
- timeless, emphasizing quiet sorrow
- not a narrative
- not triumphant or youthful
- tilted hard with sagging body
- not overtly in pain
- figures point to cross as if it is a devotional icon
- it's a mosiac
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- Pantocrator with Virgin, Angels, and Saints
- Era: Byzantine, 1180-1190
- Location: Royal Church of Monreale, Sicily
- Techniques:
- looming meancingly in a vault
- allusion to the Norman King William II's kingly power and a challenge to all who might dispute his royal birth right
- basilica plan
- wooden ceiling painted in gold
- in the apse not the dome
- bearded - sense of wisdom
- iconographic gesture of teacher and judging two fingers
- folds are patterned and realistic v's on chest and curvilinear on the arms
- more outlines, dimensions to his neck, naturalism in wrinkles
- below him is heiratic scale of figures
- Virgin Mary and Christ, enthroned and flanked by archangels and twelve apostles, arranged symmetrically and balanced
- below that are popes and other saints
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