The document summarizes Byzantine art from the Early Byzantine period through the Late Byzantine period. Some key points include: - Early Byzantine art flourished under Emperor Justinian in the 6th century, as seen in buildings like Hagia Sophia and mosaics at San Vitale. - Iconoclasm occurred between the 8th to 9th centuries where icons were destroyed, but were later restored. - Byzantine art is characterized by abstract mosaics and icons used for religious instruction, with bright colors and symbolic rather than realistic representations. - Icons were central to Byzantine religion but also controversial during periods of iconoclasm when their use was prohibited.

1. Byzantine Art!!

3. Early Byzantine Age 527 – 726 (Justinian 527 - 565)Iconoclasm 730 – 787 and 814 - 842Middle –843 – 1204 (restoration of icons)Break from the Western Church – 1054Constantinople Falls to Venetian Invaders in the 4th Crusade - 1203Late Period 1261 – 1453The fall of Constantinople to Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire - 1453

6. Justinian reigned 527 - 565In the late Fifth and early Sixth Centuries, the Western half of The Roman Empire fell into a shambles. Even Italy was under the control of feuding barbarians.TheEmporer Justinian rallied his forces and Recoverred Ravenna. For a short time Ravenna became the Byzantine capital in the West and a number of important early Byzantine monuments are preserved there today. The church of San Vitale in Ravenna is one of these monuments. SanVitale's humble exterior protects a glistening interior full of glass mosaics and sumptuous decorative marble.

7. Emperor Justinian and Attendants, Saint Vitale, Ravenna, c.547

8. Built during the city’s rebuilding after riots of 532“Purple makes a fine shroud” – attributed to Theodora

11. Pendentive vs. Squinch

12. Hagia Sophia – Holy WisdomDesigned by 2 scholar-theoreticians:Anthemius of Tralles (geometry and optics) & Isisorus of Miletus (physics)Rumored to have been constructed by angels in 5 years (532 – 537)Massiveness of piers and walls disguised by mosaicsDome has a band of 40 windows around the top making it appear to float (first one fell in 558)

13. Early Byzantine Art in the Age of JustinianHagia Sophia, IstanbulCombination of central plan and axial planExterior: plain and massive, little decorationAltar at far end, but emphasis placed over the area covered by the domeDome supported by pendentivesPowerful central dome, with forty windows at baseCornice unifies spaceArcade decoration: wall and capitals are flat and thin but richly ornamentedGreat fields for mosaic decorationAt one time had four acres of gold mosaics on wallsMany windows punctuate wall space

14. Minarets added in Islamic period

16. Apse mosaic (detail) hagia sophia, 867

19. Emperor Justinian and Attendants, Saint Vitale, Ravenna, c.547

22. Justinian and AttendantsTo his left the clergy, to his right the military

23. Dressed in royal purple and gold

24. Symmetry, frontality

25. Holds a plate for the host, or perhaps a golden bowl

26. Slight impression of procession forward

27. No volume of figures, seem to float, and yet step on each other’s feet

28. No background to set the figures in space

29. No landscape, gold background indicates timelessness

30. Maximianus identified, patron of San Vitale

31. Halo indicates saintlinessPictorial space not depicted as a window to the natural world (i.e. Romans)

32. Theodora and Attendants, Saint Vitale, Ravenna, c.547

33. Theodora and AttendantsHieratic composition

34. Slight displacement of absolute symmetry with Theodora

35. Sumptuously executed

36. She holds a chalice for the ceremony and is about to go behind the curtain

37. Altar boys and ladies at court accompany herMosaicsMore abstract than Roman Paintings

38. Used as narrative illustrations to instruct the faithful

39. Bright colors, small bits of stone, glass tesseraeS. Vitale, c. 525 -547Commisioned by Bishop Ecclesius

42. Column Capitals, San Vitale

43. Column Capitals, Hagia Sophia