Sixth Session

The Byzantine empire is the continuation of the hellenistic tradition. Its own style started to evolve when Justinian came to power in the VI century. Byzantine art was born with the influence of greeks, romans, and orients. Their building's decoration is inspired in oriental art (an example being their capital Constantinople and its castles); the combination of roman stile with persian influence created surprising combinations. Byzantine art always reflected the classical heritage that the Greeks represented.

The themes that predominated Byzantine art were religious and imperial. This was partly because the wealth of the empire lied in the church's hands, who controlled how the money was invested in art. Religious art was not used solely to decorate the insides of churches. The icon that was most popular in the paintings was an image of Christ, the Virgin, or a saint; these were displayed in churches as well as homes.

As mentioned before, Justinian played a big part in Byzantine art. He dedicated much of his time to building. He renovated, rebuilt, and founded many churches in Constantinople. Most of these churches were decorated with mosaics, depicting Christian images. This type of art became very popular and transcended for hundreds of years.

Romanesque Art characterizes itself in an increase in construction ranging from spacious basillicas to small churches. An important detail that defines Romanic sculpture is that stone was adapted as the main material again. It was the first style to influence not only all of Catholic Europe all the way to Denmark and Sicily. Characteristics that belong to Byzantine Art are reflected in this artistic current. Art was where it was most reflected, still depicting religious scenes and icons. A new characteristic were the colors; mostly primary and very striking. It as during this artistic current that stained glass became widely popular.

Gothic Art developed in France but was soon spread throughout Western Europe. Although architecture dominated the movement, sculpture, panel painting and stained glass were also seen a lot within this artistic period. Like romanesque art, saints and the virgin were depicted in its paintings, but the difference was that the human form became softer and they displayed a more human form of a mother. The shift in sculpting between romanesque and gothic, too, was evident. The once stiff and long style evolved into a more naturalistic manner.