File:History of mediæval art (1893) (14756842686).jpg

Identifier: historyofmedival00rebe (find matches)
Title: History of mediæval art
Year: 1893 (1890s)
Authors: Reber, Franz von, 1834-1919 Clarke, Joseph Thacher, d. 1920
Subjects: Art, Medieval
Publisher: New York : Harper & Bros.
Contributing Library: Boston Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Public Library

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racter describedabove. Even in some of theincrustations in the Church ofSt. Sophia in Constantinople,which possibly are as old as thetime of Justinian, there is stillevident a certain classic spiritof design,—the last attempt tomaintain the artistic traditionsof the antique. But it is im-possible to refer with certaintyany of the mosaics in this chiefchurch of Byzantium to thesixth century. The large pict-ure in the tympanon above themiddle entrance to the narthex,showing a sovereign in adora-tion before Christ, was at firstsupposed, from its similarity tothe mosaic in Ravenna inscribedwith the name of Justinian, tobe the portrait of that ruler, ;j;but it has since been proved torepresent an emperor of a muchlater epoch, either Heraclius(A. D. 610-640) or Basilius theMacedonian (A. D. 867-886). The artistic monuments of the Byzantine Empire have not as yetbeen adequately investigated, and it is scarcely to be hoped thatmany memorials of the earliest periods of development will there
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Fig. 52. -St. Agnes. Mosaic in the Apse ofthe Church of S. Agnese. 92 EARLY CHRISTIAN AND BYZANTINE PAINTING. be discovered, — the terrible uprisings of the Iconoclasts in theeighth century having destroyed nearly all the works of sculptureand painted decorations preceding their age. It has been asserted that the devastations of the Iconoclasts ledto the introduction of a distinct artistic style; this perhaps goes toofar, still it is certain that the movement exercised a decided influ-ence upon the later tendencies of Byzantine painting. The mostnoticeable effect was the change in the subjects represented. Theprevious inclination to fill the churches with pictures had gone be-yond the decoration of the walls, and led to the idolatrous worshipof single figures. These miraculous images were not admitted to bethe work of man, but were proclaimed to have fallen from heaven,to have been dug from the bowels of the earth, or obtained in somesimilar mysterious manner. Others were said to be

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