What is it?
Byzantine art Art produced in and under the
influence of the E. Roman or Byzantine empire; this is
conveniently dated from the founding of
Constantinople in AD 330 to its conquest by the
Turks in AD 1453. Examples of Byzantine art survive in
Ravenna in Italy, the Balkans, S. Prussia and
other areas which once belonged to the
empire, as well as in Asia Minor proper. Byzantine
artists produced wall paintings, illuminated mss,
panel paintings and above all mosaics. The
brilliant shining colours of these last, their conventions of iconography and powerful mystical
religiosity embody the best and most characteristic of Byzantine art, which enjoyed its golden ages in
the 6th to 7th centuries and 9th to 12th centuries, and in
the
13th century - a renaissance marked by an increased
realism of treatment. The impact of Byzantine art on
medieval European art was of great importance
and is especially clear in the work of 13th- and
i4th-century Italian painters.
The 2 most important elements in Byzantine
architecture were the Roman brick vault and
the dome, which probably originated in Persia.
Byzantine architects fused these with the use of
mosaic as developed in early Christian
art into
a powerful highly individual style which found
its most magnificent expression in the church
of S. Sophia.
Source: The Thames and Hudson Dictionary of Art and Artists (World of Art)
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