Byzantine emperor asserted the only permissible faith for his subjects was Orthodox Christianity. Byzantine emperors were believed to be the earthly vicars of Jesus CHrist whose imperial will was God's will.Art historians divide the history of Byzantine art into three periods of glory. The first period was called Early Byzantine. One such work is "Saint Michael the Archangel." This panel depicts Saint michael the Archangel in an Early Christian tradition. The prototype of Michael must have been a pagan winged Victory. He holds an orb with a cross as a symbol of Christianity's triumph as an offering to a Byzantine Emperor. The flowing classical drapery, delicately incised wings, and facial type are also of the pre-Christian tradition. However there is also a lack of concern for the rules of naturalistic representation. His feet hovering above the steps and the placement of the body behind and in front of the column signifies the emergence of a new aesthetic that characterized Byzantine art for centuries.
Middle Byzantine Art: In the ninth century, a powerful reaction against iconoclasm set in. The destruction of images was condemned as heresy, and restoration of the images began in 843. Shortly after under a new line of emperors, the Macedonian dynasty, art, literature, and learning sprang to life again. Basil I and his successors undertook the laborious task of refurbishing the churches the iconoclasts defaced. In Hagia Sophia a new mosaic was installed in the apse depicting the enthroned Virgin with the CHrist CHild in her lap. Here the strict frontally of Mother and Child is alleviated by the angular placement of the throne and footstool. It is in a perspective that although imperfect, recalls once more the Greco-Roman roots of Byzantine art. The folds of Christ's robes by contrast is more schematic and flatter than in earlier mosaics. These seemingly contradictory stylistic features are not uncommon in Byzantine paintings and mosaics.
Late Byzantine: Throughout it's history, Byzantine art looked back to its antecedents, Greco-Roman illusionism as transformed in the age of Justinian. Like their Orthodox religion, Byzantine artists were suspicious of any real innovation, especially that imported from outside they Byzantine cultural sphere. They drew their images from a persistent and conventionalized vision of a spiritual world unsusceptible to change. Byzantine art was not concerned with the systematic observation of material nature as the source of its imaging of the eternal. In the apse of the parekklesion of the Church of Christ in Chora formal symmetry has returned with CHrist at the center, his pose and gaze essentially frontal and his hands, free of the cross, reaching out. The action is swift and smooth. All tension is erased and the figures float and levitate in a spiritual atmosphere, spaceless without mass or shadows. The drapery is characteristic of the long tradition of classical illusionism.
Middle Byzantine Art: In the ninth century, a powerful reaction against iconoclasm set in. The destruction of images was condemned as heresy, and restoration of the images began in 843. Shortly after under a new line of emperors, the Macedonian dynasty, art, literature, and learning sprang to life again. Basil I and his successors undertook the laborious task of refurbishing the churches the iconoclasts defaced. In Hagia Sophia a new mosaic was installed in the apse depicting the enthroned Virgin with the CHrist CHild in her lap. Here the strict frontally of Mother and Child is alleviated by the angular placement of the throne and footstool. It is in a perspective that although imperfect, recalls once more the Greco-Roman roots of Byzantine art. The folds of Christ's robes by contrast is more schematic and flatter than in earlier mosaics. These seemingly contradictory stylistic features are not uncommon in Byzantine paintings and mosaics.
Late Byzantine: Throughout it's history, Byzantine art looked back to its antecedents, Greco-Roman illusionism as transformed in the age of Justinian. Like their Orthodox religion, Byzantine artists were suspicious of any real innovation, especially that imported from outside they Byzantine cultural sphere. They drew their images from a persistent and conventionalized vision of a spiritual world unsusceptible to change. Byzantine art was not concerned with the systematic observation of material nature as the source of its imaging of the eternal. In the apse of the parekklesion of the Church of Christ in Chora formal symmetry has returned with CHrist at the center, his pose and gaze essentially frontal and his hands, free of the cross, reaching out. The action is swift and smooth. All tension is erased and the figures float and levitate in a spiritual atmosphere, spaceless without mass or shadows. The drapery is characteristic of the long tradition of classical illusionism.
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