A Background in Byzantine Art Represents the Heavenly Realm

Late Byzantine Fine art

Tardily Byzantine Art began after the sack of Constantinople in 1204 and continued until the autumn of Byzantium in 1453.

Learning Objectives

Explain how fine art during the Late Byzantine period departed from the standards and styles seen in its early on and middle periods

Key Takeaways

Cardinal Points

• The French and Italian armies sacked Constantinople during the Fourth Crusades in 1204 and divided the Byzantium empire into smaller kingdoms. The Byzantines somewhen re-conquered Constantinople in 1261 and the Byzantine Empire continued to reign until falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
• Art during the final centuries of the Byzantine Empire is known every bit Late Byzantine fine art and the styles and conventions of the Early on and Eye Byzantine periods begin to modify to reflect emerging dynamics and tastes.
• Mosaics and frescoes were still used for church decoration, although frescoed wall paintings became more popular. The change in favored medium besides inverse the types of imagery; wall paintings more heavily favor narrative scenes and cycles instead of standard single images.
• During this period landscapes and settings began to sally in two-dimensional fine art. Furthermore, a new method of depicting the body, with softer modeling and shading was used. Robes and drapery are even so schematically rendered, but the figures at present have mass and tangible bodies.

Key Terms

• Ottoman: Of the Islamic empire of Turkey.

Belatedly Byzantine Art

The period of Late Byzantium saw the refuse of the Byzantine Empire during the thirteenth through fifteenth centuries. Although the upper-case letter metropolis of Constantinople and the empire as a whole prospered every bit a connection between east and w traders, Byzantium continually dealt with threats from the Ottoman Turks to the east and the Latin Empire to the west.

During the Quaternary Crusades, the Crusaders attacked Constantinople, took the city under siege in 1203, and eventually overcame its defenses to sack the city in 1204. Constantinople became the uppercase metropolis of the Latin Empire, one of the new kingdoms of a divided Byzantium, until the Byzantines retook it in 1261.

Once more, Constantinople  became a prosperous Byzantine city until falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. The sack of Constantinople in 1204 marks the starting betoken of Belatedly Byzantine Fine art, which lasted until the fifteenth century and spread beyond the borders of Byzantium.

The division of the Byzantine Empire: The division of the Byzantine Empire afterward its sacking in 1204 past the French and Italian armies during the Fourth Crusades.

Fine art during this period began to alter from the standards and styles seen in the Early and Eye periods of Byzantium rule. A renewed interest in landscapes and earthly settings arose in mosaics, frescoes, and psalters . This development eventually led to the demise of the gold background.

The settings are often simple, perhaps a loma or a chair at first, and are frequently pastoral. Architecture began to be depicted more than ofttimes, which renewed the use of perspective . At first buildings were rendered slightly skewed, but eventually artists refined the combination of textile (mosaic and painting) with architecture and perspective .

Christ Healing a Paralytic: A mosaic in Caphernaum from the cycle of the Life of Christ. Information technology is located in the outer narthex of Chora Church, Constantinople, circa 1310–xx.

Chora Church

Mosaic piece of work was still pop in the Late Byzantine period, but frescoes and the depiction of narrative cycles began to increase in popularity to become the chief ornament in churches. This transition is seen in the Chora Church, which was initially decorated in mosaic, with the final wing busy with wall paintings. The shift in media changed the subjects depicted.

Mosaics of single scenes and figures were replaced in favor of frescoed narrative cycles and biblical stories. The rendering of the figures also began to alter. Artists now relied less on precipitous, schematic folds and patterns and instead use softer, more subtle modeling and shading. While sharp folds in the drapery can nonetheless exist found in images from this period, these folds are rendered in similar, not complimentary, colors and shades. Furthermore the bodies appear to have mass and weight. The figures no longer float or hover on their toes but stand up on their feet. This allows for the add-on of move and energy in the painted figures and an overall increase of drama and emotion.

Frescoed interior of the Paracclesion Fresco: Scenes from the lives of the Virgin Mary and Christ. Chora Church, Constantinople, c. 1310–xx.

Pammakaristos Church

Although sculpture and column blueprint are largely absent from discussions of Tardily Byzantine fine art, some notable fourteenth-century examples can be found in the Pammakaristos Church in Constantinople. Although the church building was converted to a mosque in the fifteenth century, and all representations of humans and animals were either destroyed or covered, at to the lowest degree two fragments of a column capital depicting the busts of apostles in high relief survives in the collection.

While the heads of the men are somewhat large in proportion to their bodies, their bodies have assumed more than naturalistic positions than their predecessors. They direct their gazes to either subtle or sharp angles. The two hands that are visible hold books, possibly the Gospels, to their chests. In sum, their poses anticipate the return to classicism that would define the Renaissance in the Westward.

Column capital decorated with busts of apostles: Their poses anticipate the render to classicism that would define the Renaissance in the West.

The Chora Church building in Constantinople

The Chora Church is decorated with iconic murals and mosaics from the fourteenth century that represent the Late Byzantine artistic styles.

Learning Objectives

Draw the ways in which the Chora Church in Constantinople represents Tardily Byzantine artistic styles

Fundamental Takeaways

Key Points

• The Chora Church'southward compages, mosaics , and frescoes are exceptional examples of Late Byzantine artistic developments and mode . The church building that stands today consists of two narthices, a parecclesion , and a mortuary chapel.
• The mosaics demonstrate the new weightiness and smoothness that is seen in Late Byzantine fine art. As is seen of the Koimesis Mosaic, the bodies are more than modeled, delicately shaded, and take mass —the figures announced to stand on the ground instead of bladder.
• Frescoed wall painting is the principal means of ornamentation in the paracclesion. The program of images chronicle to Christ and the Virgin Mary by depicting scenes from their lives, their ancestors, and themes of salvation, which culminate in scenes from the Last Judgment.
• The alcove fresco of the Anastasis depicts Christ redeeming Old Testament souls from Hell. The scene is full of energy and is centered on Christ who grabs the wrists of Adam and Eve. The figures are depicted with grace and a smooth modeling of mass and mantle.
• Throughout the mosaics and frescoes, Christ is depicted as a bearded (mature and wise) savior and ruler. This evolution from make clean-shaven youth to bearded developed coincides with Christianity's development from illegal religion to country religion.

Cardinal Terms

• dado: The lower portion of an interior wall that is busy differently from the upper portion.
• koimesis: As well known as the Dormition of the Virgin, this is a depiction of the Virgin Mary in her last sleep, at death, before ascending into Heaven.
• mandorla: An almond-shaped cloud or radiance that surrounds sacred figures, such as Christ or the Virgin Mary, in traditional Christian fine art.
• parecclesion: A side chapel found in Byzantine architecture.
• narthex: A western lobby leading to the nave in some (especially Orthodox) Christian churches.

The Chora Church

The Chora Church's full name is the Church building of the Holy Savior in Chora. The church building was get-go congenital in Constantinople during the early on fifth century. Its name references its location outside the city's fourth-century walls. Even when the walls were expanded in the early 5th century by Theodosius II, the church maintained its proper name.

Inside the church is a fix of frescoes and mosaics that survived the church'due south conversion into a mosque in the sixteenth century when its Christian imagery was plastered over. In 1948 the church became a museum after undergoing extensive restoration to uncover and restore its fourteenth-century decoration. It is now known as the Kariye Museum or Kariye Camii.

Compages

The Chora Church building that stands today is the result of its third stage of construction. This building and the interior decoration were completed between 1315 and 1321 under the Byzantine statesman Theodore Metochites. Metochites' additions and reconstruction in the fourteenth century enlarged the ground program from the original modest, symmetrical church into a large, asymmetrical square that consists of three master areas:

1. An inner and outer narthex or archway hall.
2. The naos or primary chapel.
3. The side chapel, known as the parecclesion. The parecclesion serves as a mortuary chapel and held eight tombs that were added subsequently the area was initially decorated.

There are vi domes in the church, iii over the naos (one over the master space and two over smaller chapels), 2 in the inner narthex, and 1 in the side chapel. The domes are pumpkin-shaped, with concave bands radiating from their centers, and richly decorated with frescoes and mosaics that depict images of Christ and the Virgin at the middle, with angels or ancestors surrounding them in the bands.

Ground plan of the Chora Church: Additions and reconstruction in the fourteenth century enlarged the ground program from the original small, symmetrical church into a large, asymmetrical square that consists of three master areas.

Mosaics

Mosaics extensively decorate the narthices of the Chora Church. The artists commencement decorated the church in the naos so completed the work in the inner and outer narthices, which results in differences in the mosaics' execution as the style progressed to show more liveliness and subtlety.

The surviving mosaics in the naos draw the Virgin and Child and the Dormition of the Virgin, a koimesis scene depicting the Virgin subsequently death earlier she ascends to Heaven. This scene, located above the due west door, depicts the Virgin in blue lying on a sarcophagus draped in purple and golden. Christ, in gilded, stands behind the Virgin surrounded past a mandorla and holds an babe, representing the Virgin'southward soul. The figures in the scene all have a certain weightiness that helps to basis them, adding an element of naturalism .

Koimesis mosaic: The figures in the scene all take a certain weightiness that helps to footing them, calculation an element of naturalism.

The mosaics establish in the narthices of the Chora Church also depict scenes of the lives of the Virgin and Christ, while other scenes depict Former Testament stories that prefigure the Salvation. In the outer narthex, higher up the doorway to the inner narthex is a mosaic depicting Christ every bit the Pantocrator , the ruler or approximate of all, in the eye of a dome. The mosaic depicts a stern-faced Christ against a gold backdrop property the gospels in 1 hand while gesturing with the other. An inscription in the mosaic reads, "Jesus Christ, Land of the Living."

South dome of the inner narthex: This mosaic depicts Christ Pantocrator surrounded by his ancestors.

In another important scene above the entrance to the naos, Christ Enthroned is depicted receiving the donor of the church. The scene follows the Byzantine convention of depicting an architectural donation with an epitome of Christ in the center and the donor kneeling abreast him, holding a model of his donation.

Here, Christ sits on a throne in a position like to the Pantocrater, holding a book of gospels while his other manus gestures. The donor Theodore Metochites, wearing the wearable of his function, kneels on Christ's right. He offers Christ a representation of the Chora Church in his hands. An inscription gives his titles.

Dedication mosaic: The scene follows the Byzantine convention of depicting an architectural donation with an image of Christ in the center and the donor kneeling abreast him, holding a model of his donation.

Frescoes

The walls and ceilings of the parecclesion are decorated with scenes from the life of Christ and the Virgin, and themes of salvation befitting for a mortuary chapel. Like the mosaics, the scenes are painted in the upper levels of the building. The lower levels are reserved for painted images of saints and prophets and a decorative dado that mimics marble revetment .

The entirety of the parecclesion is covered in fresco scenes and painted images, creating an overwhelming sense of splendor and celebrity that ultimately brings the viewer to the final scenes of salvation and judgment.

Virgin and Child with Angels: A fresco in a dome in the parecclesion that depicts the Virgin and Child with Angels.

Anastasis

The most of import of these frescoes is the Anastasis, a representation of the Final Judgment, in the apse of the eastern bay . This image depicts Christ in Hell, saving the souls of the Old Testament. Christ stands in the center grasping the wrists of Adam and Eve, whom he raises from their sarcophagi. Saints, prophets, martyrs and other righteous souls, including John the Baptist, Rex David, and Male monarch Solomon, from the Old Testament stand on either side of Christ. Christ, continuing over a bound Satan, wears a white robe and is framed by a white and low-cal blue mandorla.

Anastasis: This image depicts Christ in Hell, saving the souls of the Old Testament. Christ stands in the center grasping the wrists of Adam and Eve, whom he raises from their sarcophagi.

The image is the culmination of the parecclesion's fresco cycle and 1 of the most impressive Late Byzantine paintings. Christ stands in an active, chiastic position. His arms reach out to Adam and Eve and his feet are positioned on uneven ground, providing the awareness of imbalance as he retrieves righteous souls.

The figures themselves are rendered in a softer, subtler mode. The harsh, jagged drapery has softened slightly with fluid and delineated folds. The expression of Christ and the others are dignified and stern. The One-time Testament figures on either side gesture towards the scene, signaling the future of the faithful, as they wait for Christ to bring them into Heaven.

Changing Representations of Christ

The depictions of Christ in the Chora Church building differ greatly from those of the 3rd and fourth centuries. Recalling Early on Christian fine art, Christ oftentimes appears clean shaven and youthful, sometimes cast as the Expert Shepherd who tends and rescues his flock from danger. At a time when Christianity was illegal, Christians would have found such imagery of a protector reassuring.

By the fourteenth century, when Theodore Metochites funded the interior decoration, Christianity was no longer a fledgling organized religion; it was a state religion in which even the emperor recognized Christ as the ultimate authority. The images of Christ in the frescoes and mosaics of the Chora Church building draw an authoritative, bearded man who occupies the office of both savior and judge. Equally an archetypal symbol of authorisation and wisdom through the ages, the bristles would accept been a logical option for the face of the nigh supreme leader.

Icon Painting in Byzantine Russia

Andrei Rublev is considered the foremost fifteenth century Russian icon painter and the master backside the Old Testament Trinity.

Learning Objectives

Explain the evolution of Russian icon painting from the tenth century to the modernistic era

Key Takeaways

Key Points

• The tradition of Russian icon product began when the Kievian Rus' converted to Orthodox Christianity in the tenth century. Equally time passed, the technique took on uniquely Russian attributes.
• Russian icon artists saw themselves every bit servants of God who transcribed the Gospels in visual course . Since they did not seek individual glory they did not sign their work, and then the names of most Russian icon artists are unknown to Western scholars.
• The painted icons of Andrei Rublev, who worked in the fifteenth century, are considered to be the top of Russian icon painting, demonstrating the combination of Byzantine and Russian styles .
• The Old Testament Trinity that depicts the 3 angels hosted by Abraham and Sarah as described in Genesis 18, is an icon that is ascribed solely to Rublev's manus. The icon is painted with bright colors and a delicate hand to draw subtle lines , modeling, and humanity in the scene.
• Exposure to Western styles and the dawn of the mod age changed the appearance of icons and the media in which they were produced: subject affair assumed a more realistic appearance by the seventeenth century and, by the early twentieth century, the mechanized printing press sparked the popularity of paper icons.

Key Terms

• tempera: A painting medium with either a casein or egg-yolk binder.
• prefiguration: A vague advance representation or proposition of something.

Russian Icons

In 988 CE, the Slavic confederation known equally Kievan Rus' (a precursor to nowadays-twenty-four hours Russia) adopted Orthodox Christianity as its official religion. Presently thereafter, those living within its borders began producing icons. As a general rule, these icons strictly followed the traditional models and formulas of Byzantine fine art.

Nevertheless, as time passed, Russian artists widened the vocabulary of types and styles far across anything found elsewhere in the Orthodox earth. Similar Byzantine icons, Russian icons were usually minor-scale paintings on forest. However, some icons produced for churches and monasteries were, at times, much larger. Russian artists also used alternative media, such every bit copper, for their work.

Feodorovskaya icon: Russian artists also used alternative media, such as copper, for their piece of work.

Russians sometimes speak of an icon every bit having been written because, in the Russian language, the same word ways both to paint and to write. Icons are considered to exist visual versions of the Gospels, and therefore, conscientious attention is paid to ensure that each Gospel is faithfully and accurately conveyed.

Because of these strict standards, artists saw themselves as God's servants and did not strive for individual glory, as would get the norm in the West. For this reason, they did not sign their creations, and very few artists' names are known to scholars outside of Russia. Andrei Rublev is one rare example.

Andrei Rublev

Russian icon painters flourished throughout the Byzantine period. Russian icons were known for their strict adhesion to Byzantine-style painting including the use of patterns, strong lines, and contrasting colors. Well-nigh Byzantine Russian icons were painted in egg tempera on wood panels. Gilded leaf was often used for halos and background colors and bronze , silverish, and tin were also used to embellish the icons.

The work of Andrei Rublev, a Russian icon painter in the fifteenth century, is considered to exist the pinnacle of Byzantine Russian icon painting. Non much is known about his life. He was built-in in the 1360s and died in either 1427 or 1430.

What is known about Rublev comes from monastic chronicles, which account for his work as a painter and exercise not discuss his life. He is believed to have lived at the Trinity-St. Serguis Lavra, a monastery outside of Moscow in the boondocks of Sergiyev Posad. Rublev is first recorded to have painted icons and frescos for the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Moscow in 1405.

He worked at the Cathedral of the Annunciation under Theopanes the Greek, a Byzantine master, who moved to Russia and is believed to accept been Rublev's teacher. Rublev also oftentimes worked with Daniil Cherni, another monastic artist. The 2 painted icons for the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir in 1408 and the Church building of the Trinity in the Trinity-St.Sergius Lavra monastery from 1425-1427.

The Old Testament Trinity

The icon known as the Old Attestation Trinity (1411–1427) is the only work to exist attributed solely to Rublev'south manus. It is considered to represent the brilliance of his work and the greatest achievement of Byzantine Russian icons. The egg tempera icon was made for the Church of the Trinity in the Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra and stands simply less than 5 anxiety tall and is nearly four anxiety wide.

Old Testament Trinity: This is the only work to be attributed solely to Rublev'southward hand. Information technology is considered to represent the brilliance of his work and the greatest accomplishment of Byzantine Russian icons.

The icon depicts 3 angels around a table and is an illustration of Genesis xviii, the Hospitality of Abraham, in which Abraham and his wife Sarah host three angels at their tabular array. The scene focuses on the three angels and is full of symbolism that focuses on the mystery of the Holy Trinity and the prefiguration of salvation.

The image today is poorly preserved, but it demonstrates Rublev'south style and skill. The three angels sit around a table with a single beaker. The figures are delicately rendered. Their faces and hands are shaded to create volume , and their expressions are calm and serene. Each angel has a halo and wings, and holds a thin scepter.

Despite having almost identical faces, their vividly painted garments help to distinguish them. Their garments are painted in rich, saturated colors. Each angel wears a robe in brilliant blue coupled with a 2nd color including a orange, a deep red, and a green. The linearity of the robes highlights Byzantine methods of modeling that are based on the employ of solid lines and costless colors to create contrasting folds and replicate the body's mass and meridian.

While the figures appear weighty and naturalistic, the scenery and mural around them are non-naturalistic. The tabular array and chairs are painted in a skewed perspective and a small-scale architectural particular in the upper left of the panel and a primal tree create the basis of the setting.

Into the Modern Era

Until the seventeenth century, innovation was largely absent from icon production in Russia. When Roman Catholic and Protestant styles from Western Europe triggered new developments, the issue was a split in the Russian Orthodox Church. The traditionalists—the persecuted Old Ritualists or Old Believers—continued the traditional stylization of icons, while the State Church building modified its practice.

While some artists connected to produce figures in the traditional stylized mode, others opted for a mixture of Russian stylization and Western European realism very much like that of Catholic religious art of the time. The Westernization of Russian icons likely escalated under the reign of Tsar Peter the Smashing, whose cultural revolution brought Western values and the Enlightenment to Russia.

Tradition and the new mode converge in an icon of Saint Nicolas and the Venerable Gerasimus of Boldino holding the much venerated Theotokos of Kazan. The Theotokos of Kazan was an icon of the highest stature inside the Russian Orthodox Church. According to legend, information technology was acquired from Constantinople, lost in 1438, and miraculously recovered in pristine state in 1579. The icon was stolen and likely destroyed in 1904.

In the icon of Nicolas and Geasimus, the two saints, the icon, and the background are realistically rendered. The divine low-cal source in the center causes naturalistic shadows to autumn on the the hands of the two saints and the sides of their faces. Color and visual texture also mimic the natural globe, while the tiles floor betrays a sense of realistic one-indicate perspective. Earth tones dominate the picture aeroplane , pointing to possible Dutch Baroque (Protestant) influence.

Icon of Saint Nicolas and Gerasimus of Boldino holding the Theotokos of Kazan: Unlike traditional icons, this example from the seventeenth century or later displays the influence of Western Protestant art, such as the paintings of the Dutch Baroque tradition.

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, icon painting in Russia went into a neat pass up with the arrival of machine lithography on paper and tin. This new engineering science could produce icons in great quantity and much more than cheaply than the workshops of painters. Today, Russian Orthodox worshippers purchase much larger numbers of paper icons than the more expensive painted panels.

Painting in the Late Byzantine Empire

As Late Byzantine painting became more than naturalistic—bodies gained mass and figures portrayed humanity with emotion and movement—and these developments and traditions connected into the Post-Byzantine age.

Learning Objectives

Describe the form and content of icons and murals found in Belatedly Byzantine painting and its immediate successors

Key Takeaways

Central Points

• Painters in the Late Byzantine flow painted scenes with a new sense of naturalism by portraying figures with mass and naturalistic bodies under their clothing; curtain became a garment through which the body was rendered. Landscapes and settings were used more oftentimes, and figures were given increased movement and emotion to lend them an boosted level of humanity.
• The Ohrid Icons are a series of icons produced in Constantinople that were afterward moved to Ohrid Macedonia. The Declaration from one of the icons is a delicately painted scene filled with emotion and tension.
• The Crucifixion scene painted behind the altar of the Katholikon of the Monastery of the Virgin at Studenica is Serbia is some other scene that depicts figures in the Byzantine style —they are infused with emotion and humanity, represented through their figure'southward expressions and the sway of Christ's body.
• During this time the iconostasis was fully developed and became a popular method of dividing the nave from the altar in Byzantine churches, specially in Russia. This screen was oftentimes large and covered in icons of saints and Christ in the general design of a Deesis .
• Even as the Byzantine Empire lost territory, its artistic traditions continued, almost notably in the Cretan School. In this final stage of Byzantine art, figures and illusionistic space continued to assume greater degrees of naturalism, while the golden background remained in about icons.

Primal Terms

• Katholikon: The major temple or church building of a monastery or diocese in an Eastern Orthodox Church.
• iconostasis: A wall of icons between the sanctuary and the nave in an Eastern Orthodox church.
• Deesis: An iconic representation, mutual in the Byzantine period, of Christ enthroned, Christ Pantocrator, surrounded by the Virgin Mary and St. John the Baptist, often in supplication.

Belatedly Byzantine Painting

The paintings in the Church building of Christ in Chora are representative of the mode of painting produced in the terminal centuries of the Byzantine Empire. Large murals were painted over expanses of architecture.

Many icons at this fourth dimension were panels painted on both sides. Icons were painted this way since they were used in processions, and therefore seen from two directions. In churches, they were frequently displayed in special stands to allow for the viewing of both sides. Fifty-fifty after the Byzantine shrank and eventually fell, its artistic traditions continued in many quondam territories. The virtually famous example is the Cretan School.

Iconostasis

During the Late Byzantine period the iconostasis was fully adult. It was a screen or wall that stood in the nave, separating the space from the sanctuary and altar of the church. This wall was covered in icons and commonly had three doors that allowed admission into the sanctuary and viewing of the altar.

Icons were placed on the iconostasis following a general guideline that included the presence of a Deesis, Christ enthroned surrounded by John the Baptist and the Theotokos. Other icons included images of angels, saints, Old Testament prophets, the Apostles, and the patron saints of the church building and city. The presence of the icons and the iconostasis was not to divide just to provide a bridge or a connectedness betwixt the earthly and heavenly realms.

Iconostasis of the Church of the Annunciation: Designed by Theophanes the Greek, the wall is covered in icons and its doors allow access into the sanctuary and a view of the altar.

Ohrid Icons

The Ohrid Icons (early fourteenth century) were produced in Constantinople and were later moved to Ohrid in Macedonia. One icon depicts the Virgin Mary on ane side and the Annunciation on the other side. The Declaration portrays the Virgin Mary seated on a throne equally the affections Gabriel approaches her to deliver the news of her formulation of the son of God.

The background is typically Byzantine: aureate leaf background that mimics the golden backgrounds of mosaics . The architecture is rendered in a later Byzantine way. The buildings are painted with an effort at perspective that is more skewed than right but that still provides a proffer of space.

This was also seen in the Theotokos of the Hagia Sophia, merely in this case the architecture provides more of a identify setting, as in the landscape of the Lamentation from Nerezi. The figures themselves are rendered with Byzantine faces—modest mouths and long, narrow noses. The faces, hands, and anxiety are carefully shaded and modeled.

The wearable is also follows the Byzantine style with dramatic, deep folds and a schematic patterning that renders the body underneath. The bodies, however, differ from their earlier Byzantine predecessors. They have weight and appear to exist underneath their wearable.

Annunciation: This icon portrays the Virgin Mary seated on a throne as the affections Gabriel approaches her to deliver the news of her conception of the son of God.

The scene also takes cues from Tardily Byzantine styles, since it is dramatically depicted. The Virgin's rigid pose and single gesture signify her unease at the angel'southward arroyo. Gabriel, meanwhile, appears to take simply landed. He strides forrad, with an arm outstretched. He places his weight completely on his left foot, while he prepares to constitute his right foot on the basis .

We are witness to the moment of his arrival. The momentum of his arrival is further emphasized by the placement of his wings. I wing has settled down onto his back while the other reaches upwards to balance his flight. The movement and emotion in the scene tin exist related to the Anastasias scene of the Chora Church. Both images accept a unmarried, central figure total of motion that provides energy to the different scenes depicted.

Monastery of the Virgin at Studenica, Serbia

The Serbian Monastery of the Virgin was built in the twelfth century exterior the metropolis of Kraljevo. While the monastery's churches do non announced from the exterior to follow Byzantine architectural styles, the interior painting of the Katholikon, the Church of the Virgin, is painted in the Late Byzantine manner.

The Crucifixion, painted on the western wall overlooking the altar, represents the mastery of Serbian fine art and the development and spread of the Late Byzantine way from the center of Byzantium in Constantinople. The figures are less elongated than their before counterparts, and the background is painted in a brilliant blue with golden stars.

The central prototype of Christ on the cross is surrounded past mourners, including his mother. The figures in this calm scene have mass. While the Virgin Mary still appears to exist a mass of robes, her curtain is more subtly rendered. The bodies of the other figures are more easily denoted by the modeling of their robes. The mantle is still reliant on deep folds, simply the folds are no longer contorted and are less schematic. While less dramatic and more serene, there is an underlying emotion of sadness that is subtly depicted by the sway of Christ'south body.

Crucifixion: This is painted behind the altar of the Katholikon of the monastery of the Virgin at Studenica.

The Cretan School

Over the class of the thirteenth through fifteenth centuries, the Byzantine Empire lost much of its territory. However, its artistic traditions connected for centuries in areas such equally Crete.

Established, in the fifteenth century, the Cretan School is known for its distinct style of icon painting that was influenced by both Western and Eastern traditions. Even earlier the fall of Constantinople, the leading Byzantine artists were leaving the capital letter to settle in Crete. This migration connected in the following years and reached its meridian afterwards the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

The early icons produced by the Cretan Schoolhouse follow many of the earlier Byzantine traditions. Over the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as the styles of Italian and Northern Renaissance artists grew in popularity, the rendering of the homo torso and illusionistic space became increasingly realistic.

However, many icons retained the traditional gold backgrounds. The influence of the Renaissance, in which the notion of the artistic genius arose, can also be seen in the increasing attachment of artists' names to their creations.

In the following examples past El Greco (1541–1614) and Emmanuel Tzanes (1610–1690), we tin see the transition from the Late Byzantine style (in which the contours of the body were acknowledged below the drapery and attempts at realistic perspective were however evolving) to the Post-Byzantine style, which depicts a realistic recession of space and dynamic bodily poses.

El Greco's Dormition of the Virgin: The Belatedly Byzantine realism in the rendering of the body is evident here, as the mourners presume a variety of poses. The solemn facial expressions and body language reflect the somber mood of the final sleep of the Virgin Mary.

Emmanuel Tzanes' St. Mark the Evangelist: In this icon, St. Marker assumes a dynamic pose, including the dramatic caput plow, which would become a common attribute in images of the inspired creative person over the course of the adjacent few centuries. Tzanes'due south stylized rendering of the lion can exist explained by his never having seen one in nature or in visual civilisation.

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Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-arthistory/chapter/late-byzantine-art/