Byzantine Art Flashcards
What was the theme of Byzantine art?
Church and state
What is icon?
A devotional painting depicting a sacred image
What is an Iconastasis?
A screen decorated with icons, which separates the apse from the transept of a church
What is a mosaic?
A decoration using pieces of stone, marble or colored glass called tesserae, that are cemented to the wall
What is pendentives?
When you transfer the weight of the dome to the 4 corner piers
Hagia Sophia
Patron : Justinian
Location : Constantinople
Function : church
Technique : pendentives
Hagia Sophia lights
Clerestory of 40 windows surround the base of the dome:
1. Make the dome appear to float
2. Creates mystical atmosphere
3. Illuminates mosaic and frescoes on the walls
The Byzantine art basics:
Flat - stylized, no volume
Floating- figures appear to float
Frontal- little overlapping
Gold background- eternity, heaven
Justinian mosiac
Location : San vitale, Ravenna
Material : mosiac
Patron : Emporer Justinian
Function : Justinian’s authority over the church and state
Who is Justinian?
The Byzantine ruler after Constantin, suppressed all other religious except Christianity
Theodore’s mosiac
Location : Monica to the left of Christ to show less importance
Virgin and child
Location : monastery
Medium : encaustic
Style: Roman
Made to look 3d
