Justinian, Bishop Maximianus, and attendants, mosaic

From the Early Byzantine era, this is the Justinian, Bishop Maximianus, and attendants, mosaic from the north wall of the apse, San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy. Produced somewhere around 547 CE, this mosaics reveals the new Byzantine aesthetic.

An ethereal, flat background, with an abstract, bejeweled frame, contains the tall and elongated figures of Justinian, the Bishop and the attendants. Missing from the image is any mention of background, ground line, or architectural reference. There is no perspective or individualism to the figures with the exception of facial variations. It is suspected that these faces were painted as portraits. The figures are void of modeling. The robes hang lifeless from the formless figures. The austerity of the mosaic reinforces the serious theological message implied by the over simplification. There is no definable light source and no shadowing; ever figure is lit equally.

The mosaics of San Vitale “the most climatic achievements of Byzantine art”, communicate to all who view them of the “holy ratification of Justinian’s right to rule.” Justinian is front and center flanked by the Bishop and attendants—this heraldic positioning expresses precedence and rank. Justinian is dressed in the royal purple robe and has a nimbus—another allusion to his holiness and rightful place as ruler of the Christian empire. The abstractly thin and elongated figures are arranged in three groups with a leader taking precedence with his foot overlapping the person behind him. The imperial guard bearing a shield with the chi-rho-iota alludes to Christ. Justinian carries the paten, which is slightly overlapping the Bishop’s arm. This symbolizes the “imperial and churchly powers are in balance. In this artist’s rendering “the emperor appears forever as a participant in the sacred rites and as the proprietor of this royal church and the ruler of the Western Empire.”

The Ara Pacis Procession and the San Vitale mosaic are similar and yet different. The Ara Pacis includes fully modeled marble figures which stand upon a firm, well defined ground line while the Justinian group seem hover before the viewer, are fully frontal and unlike the Ara Pacis figures are weightless and speechless. The Ara Pacis figures represent the classical idealized beauty while the Justinian group are tall, spare and angular---abstract in nature. Gone are the organic bodies of the Early Empire replaced by the procession of solemn spirits gliding silently in the presence of the sacrament.

The theological basis for this approach to representation was the principle that the divine is invisible and that the purpose of religious art is to stimulate spiritual seeing.

Ara Pacis Augustae, in Rome, Italy

Dated from 13-9 BCE, during the apex of the Early Empire our first artwork is the marbled south frieze detail of the Processional of the Imperial family, from the Ara Pacis Augustae, in Rome, Italy. Dedicated on the birthday of his wife, Olivia, the Altar of Augustan Peace was built as a monument celebrating Augustus’s achievements and the ongoing peace enjoyed during his rule. Augustus, only 32 when he took control of the empire, set about advertising himself, a descendent of the god Julius Caesar, as the benefactor of the Roman Empire and the reason for the peaceful times. Augustus employed this altar’s sculptural elements to connect himself and his political ideology to Aeneas, from whom the Julian family claimed as their antecedent. In this piece of sculpture, Augustus is nodding to the Imperial family and all families as the foundation of the empire. Augustus sought to present this new order as a Golden Age equaling that of Athens under Pericles (Kleiner 256).

The procession was inspired by the Parthenon’s Panathenaic Ionic frieze. Like the Procession’s celebration of Augustus and the Julian family, the Panathenaic frieze celebrates the festival of Athena, her greatness, the greatness of Athens, and inadvertently Pericles (the military leader of Athens), Athena’s bountiful goodness, and her protection for her namesake city, Athens. Classical modeling further connected Augustus politically with the greatness of mid-fifth century Greece. Although very similar to the Panathenaic frieze, they differ in one important aspect: the Panathenaic frieze was sculptured with anonymous figures, while the Procession depicts a specific event and recognizable figures (Kleiner 256). Unlike the Greeks, the Roman Procession includes children, acting like children—not miniatures of the adults but toddlers and preteens. By including these children along with their parents, Augustus was setting a moral example for the people of the Roman Empire, whose birthrate had plummeted.

In the Procession the sculptor demonstrates the prowess of classical capabilities. Volume and shadows are created by the very full folds and shadows of the negative space. While there is minimal perspective and no architectural detail, the artist does convey a sense of three dimensions by turning feet, arms and heads to project from the picture plane. The figures’ forms are fully articulated and are represented under the highly articulated flowing mantles, togas, and robes. The figures are closely spaced and overlapping, reminiscent of Hellenistic sculptural details found on the Altar of Zeus. The faces are classical and shown in a variety of positions; 3/4, frontal and in profile. There is clearly a sense of motion and interaction amongst the figures. Augustus, the royal family, and the nobles are engaged and interactive. This familial setting is a departure from earlier Imperial representations, which were standard heroic and idealized in their depiction of the Emperor and other nobles.

Gothic Art: What the French Knew

Hmmmm…the film, not quite what I was expecting, especially the circa 1972 cartoon animation—that was a wee bit of a surprise (read: creepy). But, I guess his budget did not allow for the History Channel like reenactments that we’ve all come to know and love.

Despite my criticisms, I feel the film explained clearly the role of organized religion, the power of the local bishops, and the great importance of the local church/cathedral and the relics they housed, plus the intertwined nature of the church and the lay people who so generously supported the church.

At the beginning of Christianity, the churches were built by the kings and rulers of countries. These churches would demonstrate his political power along with his divine ordained leadership of the church (as God’s empowered representative on earth). As the population grew and scattered, the kings and rulers appointed holy men to manage the masses, their religious worship, education, pilgrimages, and regular donations to the church. Early on, the Church was the epicenter, it served as the religious, intellectual and judicial seats. Bishops were assigned at the local/regional level to manage the king’s/church’s interests; as well as to oversee the lives of the laity.

As we saw in the movie, the church soon came to rely upon individual “donations” in the form of indulgences (“pay now for forgiveness later”) for its existence and to fund its expansive building efforts!

In the movie, we learned that not all bishops worked for the good of the people or the church. As in modern times, the bishops (were fallible) could be seduced and consumed by greed and misappropriation of funds is not a 21^st century phenomenon. For example, the cave-in while building the new cathedral was due to the Bishop’s demand that the builder use inferior stones; stones which could not withstand the immense pressure and heights to which they were needed.

The film supported our text’s emphasis upon relics as we saw in the first cartoon scenes when Pierre, the lowly scribe, rescued the cloak of the virgin from the burning rumble of the first church. So elated were the clergy, that it was immediately determined that this act was a “sign” from above and required them to rebuild on this same spot in honor of God—but bigger and grander than ever seen before.

The film also highlighted that building a cathedral was a costly and lengthy process and required engineering and mathematical genius, not to mention shear brute strength. Yes, they devised clever and convenient hoists, frames, scaffolding, etc. but in the end, someone had to lay the bricks, quarry the stones, build the scaffolding, etc., etc.

The film clarified why building a massive cathedral was necessary: for the most part, religion was the center of the community and as the population grew and migrated, it became necessary to build on a large scale to accommodate the ever growing masses.

These cathedrals were considered monuments and symbols of devotion to God, not to mention repositories for holy and venerated relics. They were places of worship. Places of education. Places of political power. And even consider the “city of God.”

Now to our Chapter: Gothic Art

What an amazing time of growth and human development not to mention world altering events: the Hundred Years’ War (were France and England both tried unsuccessfully to erase the other from the face of the earth). Followed by the great plague known, as the Black Death, which picked up where the French and English left off and did succeed in depleted the world’s population by 25%. And then there were the fighting holy men. Opposing Popes, one in France and the other in Italy, each fighting for supremacy. Each claiming my gold throne is the ONLY holy seat---this dramatics period was known as the Great Schism. It’s a wonder with all this drama going on that anything could get created, but create they did!

During this age, religious and intellectual life shifted from the monastery, to rapidly expanding secular cities, new Gothic urban centers filled with prosperous merchants and guild with scholars founding the first universities (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sorbonne_17thc.jpg).

Papacy power as at the height of its power during the crusades against the Muslims.

The word Gothic was given to us by the “father of art history” Giorgio Vasari who originally used the term as a derogatory description of late medieval art and architecture which he attributed to the Goths; were regarded as monstrous and barbarians.

The term French Gothic first appeared around 1140 CE and was also known as “opus francigenum (French work)”. It is divided into three time periods; Early, High and Late. The birthplace of Gothic architecture is Saint-Denis just north of Paris. Built in the 9^th century by monks, Saint-Denis served as France’s royal church, was in itself a symbol of the monarchy, and was the burial place of the German rulers of the Holy Roman Empire.

It was Abbot Suger who spearheaded the rebuilding of Saint-Denis. From humble beginnings, he served as the right hand man to both Louis the VI and Louis VII. In fact, he served as Regent when Louis VII went on Crusade. He set out to rebuild the basilica to increase the prestige of his abbey and of the monarchy by rebuilding the basilica in royal fashion.

New to the basilica was the west façade with its sculptured portals. Never before had a church been built with this level of detailed sculpture on the exterior. And he planned for, but never saw the completion of the East end with its innovative plan including the lightweight rib vaults which enabled he elimination of walls between the radiating chapels. He pioneered the ogival arches and he is crediting with saying of the new design that it provided “wonderful and uninterrupted light”. He coined the phrase, lux nova, new light, which poured through the most sacred of windows: the new stained class windows.

The hallmarks of French gothic then are the new vaulting and the use of stained glass, but also the advanced me and detail of the portal sculpture and later, the elaborate tracery.

French Gothic couldn’t be contained to the just France. Architects, engineers, clergy, and laypeople took the knowledge of this newfound building and sculpturing to other parts of Europe including England.

Following the Norman conquest of 1066 Gothic building took off, but English churches maintain their uniqueness.

Take for instance, Salisbury Cathedral. It clearly shows regional features of English Gothic building; namely the squat façade (wider than the nave) and the sparing use of flying buttresses, whereas the French used them and over used them. In England, height was not a decisive factor in building and the English did not embrace the structural logic or emphasis in height of the French gothic.

When the Holy Roman Empire got into the Gothic building craze we got the largest church built in Europe, the Cologne Cathedral (please pressure wash me!). Breaking with French Gothic tradition, the Germans, when building the Saint Elizabeth Cathedral made the aisles the same height as the nave—from which we get the term, Hallenkirche (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall_church)

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/germany/cologne-cathedral.htm

[The immensity of the Cologne Cathedral is something that must be experienced first hand, but here is an image of it following the bombings of WW II. One cannot help but think, “Did the Nazis really mean to miss? Were they that bad of shots? Or did the Cathedral emanate some power to repel the onslaught and barrage of bombs?]

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/germany/cologne-cathedral-photos/slides/wwii-bombing-cc-gordonr.html

Cult of the Virgin

I searched our text for this term, and damned if I can find it so, forgive me if what I’m about to write is all wrong.

It was apparent by the middle ages, that Mary was no longer playing second fiddle. As we saw on the tympanum portals and in the statuary, Mary was taking on a new role of comforter, guider; mother to us all. Not only was she the mother to Christ, but, she was queen of heaven. By humanizing her pain, say in the anguished portrayal in the Pieta, the church gave the laypeople something to think about when they were complaining about their lumbago or naughty goats. “What is your suffering compared to this?” The Pieta exudes. Suddenly, Mary became a focal point in daily religious life. Suddenly, praying to Mary, to get to Christ, “Our Father in Heaven” seemed like the natural path to religious expression and worship. Here is a link I found at the Met about the Virgin Cult, I hope I’m on the right track.

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/virg/hd_virg.htm

Gothic Architecture in America

If you travel to NYC, please stop by my home town cathedral: St. Patrick’s

http://www.saintpatrickscathedral.org/about.html

or

Trinity Church in NYC

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/19th/trin_ny_st.jpg

Some more to read just in case I’ve not given you enough. J

http://www.answers.com/topic/gothic-revival

Early Medieval Art

The art during the years of 500-1100 AD went through several stages of representation. Beginning with the Warrior Lords, the art that survives from this period includes small-scale status symbols such as the Merovingian fibulae and other pieces of personal adornment. Here the artisans employed cloisonné and interwoven and interlaced patterns of abstract animals. Their metal and jewel work was breathtaking. Christian art jumped headlong into the illuminated manuscripts produced in the monastery scriptorias. With their carpet pages comprised of decorative panels of abstract and zoomorphic motifs helped to solidify the power of the church and it’s center of all things political and religious. These manuscripts helped the illiterate understand the teachings of the bible through imagery. Charlemagne desired to revive the classicism of Ancient Greece and Rome. He set out to build basilicas to rival those of Byzantine and the Empire—thus emphasizing his absolute power of church and state. The sculpture of this time period also revived the imperial Roman tradition. Finally, in the mid-10^th century the Ottonians consolidated the Eastern part of the empire and looked to preserve and enrich the culture and traditions of Charlemagne. They built towering basilicas and added spires and imposing westworks. They revived monumental sculpture exemplified in the Gero crucifix and the colossal bronze doors of the St. Michael’s at Hildesheim.

Monastic life took a foothold in Western Europe in Early Christian times. The monks who built these monasteries managed them as well. To keep with Saint Benedict’s thinking, the monasteries were designed to encourage communal living in an abbey under the control of one either an abbot or abbess. He or she had absolute control over all monks and nuns. Under their management the monks and nuns would pursue a life of devotion which included spending each of the day in useful work and in sacred reading. This concentration of work and study raised both to the dignity of religion. The ideal monastery provided all the facilities necessary for the conduct of daily life—a mill, bakery, infirmary, vegetable garden, and a brewery.

These monasteries revived learning. Monks excelled in writing and teaching and served as the literate class. The libraries and scriptorias became the centers of study. This literacy separated the monks from the laypeople and set the standards for the generations to come.

I posted this link earlier today. The British Library has most of its ancient illuminated books, manuscripts and codex online virtually so you can see it page by page.

http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/virtualbooks/index.html#

Ivory plaque with Nativity scenes

Carolingian, around AD 800
Probably from Aachen, Germany

The Annunciation, Nativity and Adoration of the Magi

This fine panel embodies the artistic trends of the early Carolingian Renaissance.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_mla/i/ivory_plaque_with_nativity_sce.aspx

Magdeburg Panel

Ottonian, AD 962-68
From Milan, Italy

The raising of the widow's son from the dead (Luke 7:11-15)

This panel is one of a group of sixteen ivory plaques depicting a cycle of scenes from the Life of Christ. The original set, numbering forty or fifty, decorated a large piece of church furniture in Magdeburg Cathedral.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_mla/m/magdeburg_panel.aspx

Focus on Islamic glassware

Like other respondents, I have taken classes on Islamic history and was very family with Muhammad’s life, the vision, his struggles and his accomplishments. In so much as I’m not a practicing Islamist, I think I have a pretty good grasp of the teachings of Islam, it’s pacifist nature (from its original founding), its belief in one true god, and how a few extremists, not unlike our extreme Christians here in the US have taken the teachings of Allah and distorted and manipulated them for their own purposes. I don’t believe the Islamic people are a violent people, I believe there are few bad apples in their bunch, just like us. I enjoy the abstractness of Islamic art and how it borrows from ancient Rome and the Byzantine. It’s thrilling to see the use of mosaics, vaults, squinches, etc throughout their monumental architecture. They didn’t need to recreate the wheel, they just took what existed and perfected it.

I found it impressive that Islamic art was centered around various motifs and was void of human form. How did the film and book describe it? So that there weren’t any distractions from the 5 a day worships. How very unlike the Christians who believed that the use of human imagery, often with animals, emphasized the seriousness of religion and provided the worshippers with something to focus upon in order to gain the most from their worship. Here, Islam, cut to the chase and said, “we don’t need icons, human images, ‘the hand of God’ because God is everywhere and no where at the same time,” and I believe Islam feels that no one truly knows what God looks like, cause he’s in all of us. Personally, I like Islam’s simplicity, you pray to God, not to Mother Mary or Jesus to get to God, but you get straight to the man himself. It’s refreshing.

As for intolerance and changing my mind about Islam. I’ve never had an contrary opinion of Islam because I understand that not all Muslims are bad and that only a few are perpetuating the violence and Jihads that exist. Intolerance? Never surprises me and is usually the modus operandi of the un or undereducated; those with misinformed opinions usually base not upon fact but upon fear. Those are the people I fear sorry for, not the Muslims. But the Archie Bunkers of the world.

Even though my major is Architectural Art History, I’ve decided to step outside of the box and write about the Islamic Glassware. Our text only shared one piece with us, the Mosque lamp of Sayf al-Din Tuquztimur, from Egypt dating from 1340. At one foot high, this impressive lamp of glass and enamel must absolutely glow when lit and suspended from the Mosque ceiling. I love how the artesian weaved the calligraphy of the Qur’an into the upper frieze and then used abstract enamel detail on the lamp’s body. Even the foot is decorated and very much the Greeks this artist used a meander at the top to help define the overall design. The use of red, white, and blue enamel gives the lamp a boldness. It’s mind boggling how the artesian achieved such amazing symmetry too.

I found some other gorgeous links to other Islamic glassware…enjoy!

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/slpg/ho_1974.74.htm

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/enag/ho_17.190.991.htm

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/mosa/ho_2001.266.htm

http://glassmuseum.cca.gov.tw/web-EN/unit02/modepage/2-5.html

An article:

Islamic Glass Treasure: The Art of Glassmaking in the Islamic World

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/234630/islamic_glass_treasure_the_art_of_glassmaking.html

The Vividness of Byzantine Art

This week I choose to look at the Late Byzantine because we’re beginning to see the subtle incorporation of classical illusionism. For example in Andrei Rublyev’s Three Angels, we see “subtle line in union with intensely vivid color.” While the Mosaics of Early and Middle Byzantium employed color, nothing compares to the Three Angeles vividness. Here “color defines the forms”. There are complementary colors adjacent to one another and intense blue and green are used to define folds of the robes and cloaks. He even employed an opalescent blue green…something we’ve not seen in any of the earlier Byzantine works. The figures heads are 3/4 view, another departure from Early and Middle Byzantium full frontal poses.

Even more exciting is the feeling of energy and movement of the Late Byzantine work. In the Annunciation, reverse of two sided icon from Saint Clement, we see gestures and implied action and more three-dimensional forms. It’s almost as if the flatness and abstractness of early Byzantium has been made outdated. Here we get a peek of architectural elements, albeit highly simplified and with an inconsistent perspective, yet hints at the classical Renaissance that is to come.

Still the images continue with Byzantine eclecticism including the solemn facial expressions and halos/nimbus, floating figures in space, and ethereal golden backgrounds.

During this time period, while still religious in nature, the art is migrating from broadcasting theocratic messages, to solely spiritual messages.

Here are few links for our discussions:

http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521545919

http://www.schmemann.org/byhim/byzantiumiconoclasm.html

http://tars.rollins.edu/Foreign_Lang/Russian/rublev.html

The Changes in Early Christian Art

The most notable change for me was the change from celebrating the triumphs and achievements of the Imperial rulers to the introduction of Hebrew and early Christian narratives.
While under the rule of Constantine we begin to see the slow adoption of basilicas during Late Antiquity and the first synagogue; in Dura-Europas, in modern day Syria, which was a converted private house alluding to the Hebrews need to practice their faith in secret to avoid persecution or arrest.
Most dramatically, there was a noticeable departure from idealized, heroic, and highly articulated figural representation e.g., the portrait bust of Trajan Decius and the heroic portrait of Trebonianus Galllus, to the portrait of the Four Tetrarchs where art begins to take on a flat, one dimensional look, resembling diminutive cut outs. This less modeled figural representation are favored in the Samuel anoints David mural fresco from the Dura-Europas synagogue, The Good Shepherd, story of Jonah & Orants painted ceiling of the Saint Peter and Marcellinus catacombs of Rome, and again in the Miracle of the Fish and Loaves mosaic from the nave wall of Sant’ Apollinaire Nuovo of Ravenna. Although, we still see remnants of Classical artistic style in the Woman sacrificing at an altar from the Nicomachi and the Symmachi diptych, for the most part a transition is taking hold within the artistic community.
Worth noting is the diptych, which will become a highly popular format along with its sister, the triptych during the early Renaissance period of Europe especially in the altar pieces of 1200-1400.
Mosaics are becoming more commonplace as both decorative art and propaganda vehicles. Whereas the late Romans used monochromatic mosaics sparingly toward the end of the Empire, during Late Antiquity we see a plethora of colored mosaics made in the tesserae technique. These examples foretell the explosion of mosaics which will dominate the next chapter, Byzantium.
Propaganda changed from political to religious over time. Beginning with Old Testament scenes without Christ to eventual inclusion of a young Christ, and then finally our first glimpse at a depiction of Christ’s crucifixation. Again a hint to what is to come when art will openly glorify the crucifixion, lamentation, resurrection, and ascension, and become not just an expression of religious symbolism, but a highly controversial form of propaganda used to shape cultural mores, control the masses, instill/revoke papal power and justify war, persecution, and other unsavory actions. People like Martin Luther will rail against the iconoclasm to come.
As I’m a recent transplant to Portland, I am unfamiliar with any representations of Late Antiquity here. But I can include representations from my hometown, New York City.
From my native New York, a Brooklyn basilica. From this exterior image you can clearly see the narthex, nave, and transept. However, the nave is hidden behind the transept. It’s there, believe me.
http://www.olphbkny.org/english.html

For fun look at mosaic work, check out Little Chapel picassiette architecture – Guernsey on Flickr – modogoo.

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/modagoo/1213508640/)
When I was in Paris recently, I found several of these mosaic murals in the Montmartre district:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sandrosamigos/3697129071/in/pool-832972@N25

A beautiful mosaic of St Paul in Westminster Cathedral: http://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/3219334446/

Mausoleums used to be extremely popular here in the US, especially during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The most famous one for us is Grant’s Tomb, in NY.

Try this link to see it and other very famous and opulent mausoleums. http://blog.ratestogo.com/the-most-famous-mausoleums-in-the-world-i/