Byzantine Art. Charles Bayet
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one sees her at times reflecting the brilliance of gold and silver, at others shining like a sapphire, casting…multiple rays, following the colouration of fine stones, pearls, and metals of all sorts, of which she is comprised?” At night, during the great celebrations, the church was lighted up like a beacon for, according to Byzantine writers, there were no fewer than 6000 gilded candelabras.
Basilica of San Vitale, interior view, 527–548.
Ravenna, Italy.
In other places, saints and prophets stood out beneath archways. Only small fragments remain, but they furnish some idea of what was once the Hagia Sophia, when she shone brightly, draped entirely in this rich garment of mosaics. Rarely in the history of art can one encounter an ensemble that is so imposing, an accord of architecture and adornment so perfect.
The Hagia Sophia is the apogee of Byzantine art, as it was developed under Justinian and his successors. Contemporaries admired it, artists have been inspired by it, yet it must not be believed that it was imposed as a model from which one dare not stray.
In architecture, the use of the cupola was spreading more and more. From a technical standpoint, the construction of the Hagia Sophia had drawn architects to study this form of their art with more care and to better realise the effect it produced, the use that could be made of it, and the rules that needed to be applied. From that time on, Latinate basilicas became the exception in the East, but in the new churches with cupolas, hardly anyone was content to copy the layout of the Hagia Sophia. The cupola served as the theme around which numerous variations were created, and in Constantinople itself, in the vicinity of the Hagia Sophia, other churches were raised in the same style under Justinian, but in a very different layout. More than one had even been started and finished before the Hagia Sophia.
The church of the Hagia Sophia at Thessaloniki seems also to belong to the reign of Justinian, although Procopius makes no mention of it. Several travellers have noted that the architect seems to have imitated the Hagia Sophia of Constantinople. The great central cupola is indeed present, resting on four pillars, but it is no longer accompanied by two large half-domes, as at Constantinople, and consequently, alongside remarkable similarities, some essential differences must be distinguished. In Asia, in the region of Antioch, the church of Dana displays no cupola and is closer to the standard basilica; on the other hand, one curious example of a horseshoe arch may be highlighted, which would pass from Byzantine to Arabic architecture. The Byzantines themselves had borrowed this form from the architects of central Asia.
Let us now move on to Italy, which had just been partially re-conquered by Justinian’s forces. Ravenna, where the exarchs resided, was like a miniature of Constantinople. In this city, famous for some centuries, the monuments of the time crowd in on each other and are quite well preserved.
Monastery of St. Catherine, 527–565.
Mount Sinai, Egypt.
Procession of Martyrs, 493–526.
Mosaic. Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy.
Galla Placidia Mausoleum, fifth century.
Ravenna, Italy.
Among the churches of Ravenna, the most famous and most important is that of San Vitale. Its construction had begun before the Byzantine conquest, in the year 526, but it was only completed in 546, and the decoration of the structure attests to the fact that Justinian and Theodora enriched it with their gifts. According to various inscriptions, the labour of San Vitale, as well as that of several other churches of Ravenna, was allegedly directed by a man named of Julian, who fulfilled the duties of treasurer (argentarius). San Vitale is in the shape of an octagon; on the interior, eight wide pillars are connected by arches from which soars a high cupola. The circular base of the cupola attaches to the octagonal layout by eight small pendentives. In order to minimise the weight of the vault and to ensure its solidity, the architects built it with clay pipe, nestled one inside the next. The shape of the cupola is not evident from without, as it is in the churches of the East; it is hidden under a pyramid-shaped roof. Begun prior to the Hagia Sophia, San Vitale is distinguished from it by certain essential characteristics. It has consequently been proposed to recognise not Byzantine influence, but that of a school of architecture that existed in Milan during the fourth and fifth centuries. Yet whether in the ornamental sculpture or the splendid mosaic decoration, everything betrays collaboration, or at least an education of Greek artists. It is difficult to believe that this influence does not extend to the very plan of the structure, considering that it was primarily in the East that the polygonal form had been applied to churches.
On the other hand, in other religious structures in Ravenna dating from the same time, the architects preserved the layout of the ancient Latin basilica. Among the most interesting, the church of Sant’Apollinare in Classe is situated outside the walls of the city.
Byzantine architects mostly used brick, and they generally retained the form given to the material by the Romans. Manufactured with care and often created with markings that allowed for the identification of the date and character of the structures, these bricks were connected by a mortar of a very heavy consistency. The core of the walls was ordinarily made of concrete, and the bricks formed only a façade. Byzantine constructions were therefore extremely solid; in many places, the city walls have resisted the attacks of time and man and have been preserved nearly intact for centuries.
On the interior, ornamental sculpture developed in the most original and curious forms. It is thus that the capitals of Byzantine churches present a marvelous array of appearances: in some places the most finely detailed tapestry seems to be cast upon a cubic stone mass, while in other places, there are foliated bell capitals. Images of animals, birds, and vessels at times further complicate the decoration. These ancient examples of Greek and Roman architecture have been neglected or profoundly altered; as time advances, fewer traces of them are found. However the Byzantines did not invent all these ornamental combinations from which they drew such pleasing result; once again they borrowed from the East, and some of the models, by which they were often inspired, are found in the monuments of Persia.
As elaborate and varied as the decoration of Byzantine capitals may be a decline in the sculpting process must be acknowledged. Those who had worked on them did not know how to add depth to their ornamentation, scouring the stone on the surface rather than cutting it with more profound layers, and their works often came closer to the style of metalworking than to that of sculpture.
2. Painting, Mosaics, and Illuminations
Justinian and His Retinue, c. 546.
Mosaic. Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy.
Theodora and Her Retinue, c. 546.
Mosaic. Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy.
In a large number of churches from the sixth and seventh centuries, such as the Hagia Sophia, mosaics pour out the wealth of their adornments and are displayed as brilliant works. Byzantine artists loved to depict huge compositions whose details were all distinct; they avoided subjects that involved a large number of figures mingled with one another; they gave preference to those with almost no action, the postures calm and regular, in which the characters could be arranged without at all disturbing the uniformed arrangement of the ensemble. At times they would place the same number on one side as on the other, so as not to disturb the compositional equilibrium. This principle of symmetry had to be maintained in Byzantine art. The painters’ mentality was so imbued with it that it was applied assiduously, even in the smallest works. For this reason this art, even while losing at times something on the side of authenticity and artistic freedom, was so well suited for the decoration of huge structures.
From a technical perspective, Byzantine tile setters had no less understood the demands of their art. While, during the Middle Ages, the number of shades was increased so as to attain the appearance of a fresco,