Byzantine Art
Eastern Roman Empire, Arts & Culture of Constantinople: Painting, Mosaics, Architecture.
Visual Arts Guide

The Collapse of Rome and the Rise of
Byzantine Art (c.500 onwards)

Between Emperor Constantine I's Edict in 313, recognizing Christianity as the official religion, and the fall of Rome at the hands of the Visigoths in 476, arrangements were made to divide the the Roman Empire into a Western half (ruled from Rome) and an Eastern half (ruled from Byzantium). Thus, while Western Christendom fell into the cultural abyss of the barbarian Dark Ages, its religious, secular and artistic values were maintained by its new capital in Byzantium (later renamed Constantinople after Constantine). Along with the transfer of Imperial authority to Byzantium went thousands of Roman and Greek painters and craftsmen, who proceeded to create a new set of Eastern Christian images and icons, known as Byzantine Art. It was a combination of Greek, Roman and Persian art.

The style that characterized Byzantine art was almost entirely concerned with religious expression; specifically with the translation of church theology into artistic terms. Its architecture and painting (little sculpture was produced during the Byzantine era) remained uniform and anonymous and developed within a rigid tradition. The result was a sophistication of style rarely equalled in Western art.

Public Byzantine visual art began with mosaics decorating the walls and domes of churches, as well fresco wall-paintings. So beautiful was the effect of these mosaics that the form was taken up in Italy, especially in Rome and Ravenna. A less public art form in Byzantium, was the icon (from the Greek word 'eikon' meaning 'image') - the holy image painting which was developed in the monasteries of the eastern church, using encaustic wax paint on portable wooden panels. The greatest collection of early icons is in the monastery of St Catherine in Sinai, founded in the 6th century by the Emperor Justinian.

Byzantine Fresco (1164), from
Nerezi, Skopje.

For more about Byzantine building
design, see: Byzantine Architecture.

During the period 1050-1200, tensions grew up between the Eastern Roman Empire and the slowly re-emerging city of Rome, whose Popes had managed (by careful diplomatic manoeuvering) to retain their authority as the centre of Western Christendom. At the same time, Italian city states like Venice were becoming rich on international trade. As a result, in 1204, Constantinople fell under the influence of Venetians. This duly led to a cultural exodus of renowned artists from the city back to Rome - the reverse of what had happened 800 years previously - and the art movement known as the early Renaissance.

For modern examples of Byzantine iconography, see Wood 'n' Art Studio.

• For other art movements and periods, see: History of Art.
• For styles of painting and sculpture in Ireland, see: Irish Art

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