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BYZANTINE ART
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See also:BYZANTINE See also:ART .' By "Byzantine art" is meant the art of See also:Constantinople (sometimes called See also:Byzantium in the See also:middle ages as in antiquity), and of the Byzantine See also:empire; it represents the See also:form of art which followed the classical, after the transitional See also:interval of the See also:early See also:Christian See also:period. It reached maturity under Justinian (527–565), declined and revived with the fortunes of the empire, and attained a second See also:culmination from the loth to the 12th centuries. Continuing in existence through-out the later middle ages, it is hardly yet See also:extinct in the lands of the See also:Greek See also: When Rome See also:fell the Orient returned to itself and to the freedom of exploring new ways. There was now a new form of society, the Christian See also:civilization, and, in art, an See also:original type of architecture, the Byzantine." It has hardly been sufficiently emphasized how closely the art was identified with the outward expression of the Christian church; in fact, the Christian See also:element in See also:late classical art is the See also:chief See also:root of the new style, and it was the moral and intellectual See also:criticism that was brought to See also:bear on the old material, which really marked off Byzantine art from being merely a late form of classic. Hardly any distinction can be set up in the material contents of the art; it was at least for a period only simplified and sweetened, and it is this freshening which prepared the way for future development. It must be confessed, however, that certain influences darkened the style even before it had reached maturity; chief among these was a gloomy hierarchical splendour, and a See also:ritual rigidity, which to-See also:day we yet refer to, quite properly, as Byzantinism. Choisy See also:sees a distinction in the constructive types of Roman and Byzantine architecture, in that the former covered spaces by concreted vaults built on centres, which approximated to a sort of " monolithic " formation, whereas in the Byzantine style the vaults were built of See also:brick and See also:drawn forward in space without the help of preparatory support. See also:Building in this way, it became of the greatest importance that the vaults should be so arranged as to bring about an See also:equilibrium of thrusts. The distinction holds as between Rome in the 4th See also:century and Constantinople in the 6th, but we are not sufficiently sure that the concreted construction did not depend on merely See also:local circumstances, and it is possible, in other centres of the empire where strong See also:cement was not so readily obtainable, and See also:wood was scarce, that the Byzantine constructive method was already known in classical times. Choisy, following Dieulafoy, would derive the Byzantine See also:system of construction from See also:Persia, but this proposition seems to depend on a mistaken See also:chronology of the monuments as shown by See also:Perrot and Chipiez in their History of Art in Persia. It seems probable that the erection of brick vaulting was indigenous in See also:Egypt as a building method. Strzygowski, in his See also:recent elaborate examination of the art-types found at the See also:palace of Mashita (Mschatta), a remarkable ruin discovered by See also:Canon Tristram in See also:Moab, of which the most important parts have now been brought to the new Kaiser See also:Friedrich Museum in See also:Berlin, shows that there are See also:Persian ideas intermixed with Byzantine in its decoration, and there are also brick See also:arches of high elliptical form in the structure. He seems disposed to date this See also:work rather in the 5th than in the 6th century, and to see in it an intermediate step between the Byzantine work of the See also:west and a Mesopotamian style, which he postulates as probably having its centre at See also:Seleucia-See also:Ctesiphon. From the examples brought forward by the learned author himself, it is safer as yet to look on the work as in the See also:main Byzantine, with many See also:Egyptian and Syrian elements, and an admixture, as has been said, of Persian ideas in the ornamentation. Egypt was certainly an important centre in the development of the Byzantine style. The course of the transition to Byzantine, the first mature Christian style, cannot be satisfactorily traced while, guided by Roman archaeologists, we continue to regard Rome as a source of Christian art apart from the See also:rest of the See also:world. See also:Christianity itself was not of Rome, it was an eastern See also:leaven in Roman society. Christian art even in that See also:capital was, we may say, an eastern leaven in Roman art. If we set the See also:year 450 for the beginning of Byzantine art, counting all that went before asearly Christian, we get one thousand years to the Moslem See also:con. quest of Constantinople (1453)• This See also:millennium is broken into three well-marked periods by the See also:great iconoclastic See also:schism (726–842) and the taking of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204. The first we may See also:call the classical epoch of Byzantine art; it includes the mature period under Justinian (the central year of which we may put as 550), from which it declined until the See also:settlement of the See also:quarrel about images, 400 years in all, to, say, 850. The second period, to which we may assign the limits 850-1200, is, in the main, one of orientalizing influences, especially in architecture, although in See also:MSS. and paintings there was, at one time, a distinct and successful classical revival. The See also:interregnum had caused almost See also:complete See also:isolation from the. West, and See also:inspiration was only to be found either by casting back on its own course, or by borrowing from the East. This. period is best represented by the splendid works undertaken by See also:Basil the Macedonian (867–886) and his immediate successors, in the imperial palace, Constantinople. The third period is marked by the return of western influence, of which the chief agency was probably the See also:establishment of Cistercian monasteries. This western influence, although it may be traced here and there, was not sufficient, however, to See also:change the essentially See also:oriental See also:character of the art, which from first to last may be described as Oriental-Christian. Architecture.—The architecture of our period is treated in some detail in the See also:article ARCHITECTURE; here we can only glance at some broad aspects of its development. As early as the building of Constantine's churches in See also:Palestine there were two chief types of See also:plan in use—the basilican, or axial, type, represented by the See also:basilica at the Holy See also:Sepulchre, and the circular, or central, type, represented by the great octagonal church once at See also:Antioch. Those of the latter type we must suppose were nearly always vaulted, for a central See also:dome would seem to furnish their very raison d'e"tre. The central space was sometimes surrounded by a very thick See also:wall, in which deep recesses, to the interior, were formed, as at the See also:noble church of St See also:George, See also:Salonica (5th century?), or by a vaulted See also:aisle, as at Sta Costanza, Rome (4th century); or annexes were thrown out from the central space in such a way as to form a See also:cross, in which these additions helped to counterpoise the central vault, as at the See also:mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna (5th century). The most famous church of this type was that of the Holy Apostles, Constantinople. Vaults appear to have been early applied to the basilican type of plan; for instance, at St See also:Irene, Constantinople (6th century), the See also:long See also:body of the church is covered by two domes. At St Sergius, Constantinople, and San Vitale, Ravenna, churches of the central type, the space under the dome was enlarged by having apsidal additions made to the octagon. Finally, at St Sophia (6th century) a See also:combination was made which is perhaps the most remarkable piece of planning ever contrived. A central space of too ft. square is increased to 20o ft. in length by adding two hemicycles to it to the east and the west; these are again extended by pushing out three minor apses eastward, and two others, one on either See also:side of a straight See also:extension, to the west. This unbroken See also:area, about 26o ft. long, the larger See also:part of which is over too ft. wide, is entirely covered by a system of domical surfaces. Above the conchs of the small apses rise the two great semi-domes which See also:cover the hemicycles, and between these bursts out the vast dome over the central square. On the two sides, to the See also:north and See also:south of the dome, it is supported by vaulted aisles in two storeys which bring the exterior form to a See also:general square. At the Holy Apostles (6th century) five domes were applied to a cruciform plan, that in the midst being the highest. After the 6th century there were no churches built which in any way competed in See also:scale with these great works of Justinian, and the plans more or less tended to approximate to one type. The central area covered by the dome was included in a considerably larger square, of which the four divisions, to the east, west, north and south, were carried up higher in the vaulting and roof system than the four corners, forming in this way a sort of See also:nave and transepts. Sometimes the central space was square, some-times octagonal, or at least there were eight piers supporting the dome instead of four, and the " nave " and " transepts " were narrower in proportion. If we draw a square and See also:divide each side into three so that the middle parts are greater than the others, and then divide the area into nine from these points, we approximate to the typical setting out of a plan of this time. Now add three apses on the east side opening from the three divisions, and opposite to the west put a narrow entrance See also:porch See also:running right across the front. Still in front put a square See also:court. The court is the See also:atrium and usually has a See also:fountain in the middle under a See also:canopy resting on pillars. The entrance porch is the See also:narthex. The central area covered by the dome is the solea, the See also:place for the See also:choir of singers. Here also stood the See also:ambo. Across the eastern side of the central square was a See also:screen which divided off the See also:bema, where the See also:altar was situated, from the body of the church; this screen, bearing images, is the iconastasis. The altar was protected by a canopy or See also:ciborium resting on pillars. Rows of rising seats around the See also:curve of the See also:apse with the See also:patriarch's See also:throne at the middle eastern point formed the synthronon. The two smaller compartments and apses at the sides of the bema were sacristies, the See also:diaconicon and prol/zesis. The continuous influence from the East is strangely shown in the See also:fashion of decorating See also:external brick walls of churches built about the 12th century, in which bricks roughly carved into form are set up so as to make bands of ornamentation which it is quite clear are imitated from Cufic See also:writing. This fashion was associated with the disposition of the exterior brick and See also: The first application of glass to this purpose seems to have been made in Egypt, the great glass-working centre of antiquity, and the See also:gilding of tesserae may with See also:probability be traced to the same source, whence, it is generally agreed, most of the gilt glass vessels, of which so many have been found in the catacombs, were derived. The earliest existing mosaics of a typically Christian character are some to be found at See also:Santa Costanza, Rome (4th century). Other mosaics on the vaults of the same church are of marble and follow a classical tradition. It is probable that we have here the See also:meeting-point of two art-currents, the indigenous and the eastern. In Rome, the great apse-See also:mosaic of S. Pudenziana dates from about A.D. 400. The mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna, is incrusted within by mosaic work of the 5th century, and most probably the dome mosaics of the church of St George, Salonica, are also of this period. Of the 6th century are many of the magnificent examples still remaining at Ravenna, portions of the original incrustation of St Sophia, Constantinople, those of the basilica at See also:Parenzo, on the Gulf of See also:Istria, and of St See also:Catherine's, See also:Sinai. An interesting mosaic which is probably of this period, and has only recently been described, is at the small church of See also:Keti in See also:Cyprus. This, which may be the only Byzantine mosaic in the See also:British dominions, fills the See also:conch of a tiny apse, but is none the less of great dignity. In the centre is a figure of the Virgin with the Holy See also:Child in her arms See also:standing between two angels who hold disks marked with the sign X. They are named See also:Michael and See also:Gabriel. Another mosaic of this period brought from Ravenna to See also:Germany two generations ago has been recently almost re-discovered, and set up in the new Museum of Decorative Art in Berlin. In this, a somewhat similar See also:composition fills the conch of the apse, but here it is the Risen See also:Christ who stands between the two archangels. Above, in a broad See also:strip, a See also:frieze of angels blowing trumpets stand on the See also:celestial See also:sea on either See also:hand of the Enthroned See also:Majesty. Such mosaics flowed out widely over the Christian world from its art centres, as far east as See also:Sana, the capital of See also:Yemen, as far north as See also:Kiev in See also:Russia, and Aachen in Germany, and as far west as See also:Paris, and continued in time for a thousand years without break in the tradition See also:save by the iconoclastic dispute. The finest late example is the well-known " mosaic-church " (the See also:Convent of the Saviour) at Constantinople, a work of the 14th century. The single figures were from the first, and for the most part, treated with an axial symmetry. Almost all are full front; only occasionally will one, like the announcing See also:angel, be drawn with a three-See also:quarter See also:face. The features are thus kept together on the general See also:map of the face. In the same way the details of a See also:tree will be collected on a See also:simple including form which makes a sort of See also:mat for them. See also:Groups, similarly, are closely gathered up into masses of balanced form, and such masses are arranged with strict regard for general symmetry. " l The art," as Bayet says, " in losing something of See also:life and See also:liberty became so much the better fitted for the decoration of great edifices." The technical means were just as much simplified, and only a few See also:frank See also:colours were made sufficient, by skilful juxtaposition, to do all that was required of them. The See also:fine pure See also:blue, or See also:bright See also:gold, backgrounds on which the figures were spaced, as well as the broken surface incidental to the See also:process, created an See also:atmosphere which harmonized all together. At St Sophia there were literally acres of such mosaics, and they seem to have been applied with similar profusion in the imperial palace.
Mosaic was only a more magnificent See also:kind of painting, and painted See also:design followed exactly the same See also:laws; the difference is in the splendour of effect and in the solidity and See also:depth of See also:colour. Paintings, from the first, must have been of more See also:grey and pearly hues. A large side See also:chapel at the mosaic church at Constantinople is painted, and it is difficult to say which is really the more beautiful, the deep splendour of the one, or the See also:tender yet See also:gay colour of the other. The greatest thing in Byzantine art was this picturing of the interiors of entire buildings with a series of mosaics or paintings, filling the wall space, vaults and domes with a connected See also:story. The typical character of the personages and scenes, the elimination of non-essentials, and the continuity of the tradition, brought about an intensity of expression such as may nowhere else be found. It is part of the limited greatness of this side of Byzantine art that there was no See also:room in it for the gaiety and See also:humour of the later See also:medieval See also:schools; all was See also:solemn, epical, See also:cosmic. When such stories are displayed on the See also:golden ground of arches and domes, and related in a connected See also:cycle, the result produces, as it was intended to produce, a sense of the universal and eternal. Beside this great See also:power of co-ordination possessed by Byzantine artists, they created imaginative types of the highest perfection. They clothed Christian ideas with forms so worthy, which have be-come so diffused, and so intimately one with the history, that we are apt to take them for granted, and not to see in them the superb results of Greek See also:intuition and power of expression. Such a type is the Pantocrator,—the Creator-Redeemer, the See also:Judge inflexible and yet compassionate,—who is depicted at the See also:zenith of all greater domes; such the Virgin with the Holy Child, enthroned or standing in the conchs of apses, all tenderness and dignity, or with arms extended, all solicitude; of her See also:image the Painter's See also:Guide directs that it is to be painted with the " complexion the colour of See also:wheat, See also:hair and eyes See also: We are apt to speak of the rigidity and fixity of Byzantine work, but the method is germane in the strictest sense to the result desired, and we should ask ourselves how far it is possible to represent such a serious and moving See also:drama except by dealing with more or less unchangeable types. It could be no otherwise. This art was not a See also:matter of See also:taste, it was a growth of thought, See also:cast into an See also:historical See also:mould. Again, the artists had an extra-See also:ordinary power of concentrating and abstracting the great things of a story into a few elements or symbols. For example, the seven days of creation are each figured by some simple detail, such as a tree, or a See also:flight of birds, or symbolically, as seven See also:spirits; the See also:flood by an See also:ark on the See also:waters. What the capabilities of such a method are, where invention is not allowed to wander into variety, but may only add intensity, may, for instance, be seen in representations of the Agony in the See also:Garden. This subject is usually divided into three sections, each consecutive one showing, with the same general See also:scene, greater darkness, an advance up the See also: St Sophia has the Pantocrator in the middle of the dome, and four See also:cherubim of See also:colossal See also:size at the four corners; on the walls below were angels, prophets, saints and doctors. On the circle of the apse was enthroned the Virgin. To the right and See also:left, high above the altar, were two archangels holding See also:banners inscribed " Holy, Holy, Holy." These last are also found at See also:Nicaea, and at the monastery of St See also:Luke. The church of the Holy Apostles had the See also:Ascension in the central dome, and below, the Life of Christ. St Sophia, Salonica, also has the Ascension, a composition which is repeated on the central dome of St See also:Mark's, See also:Venice. In the eastern dome of the Venetian church is Christ surrounded by prophets, and, in the western dome, the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles. A See also:Pentecost similar to the last occupies the dome over the Bema of St Luke's monastery in See also:Phocis; in the central dome of this church is the Pantocrator, while in a See also:zone below stand, the Virgin to the east, St See also: A complete series of paintings exists in one of the monastic churches on See also:Mount See also:Athos. The Pantocrator is at the centre of the dome, then comes a zone with the Virgin, St John Baptist and the orders of the angels. Then the prophets between the windows of the dome and the four evangelists in the pendentives. On the rest of the vaults is the life of Christ, ending at the Bema with the Ascension; in the apse is the Virgin above, the Divine See also:Liturgy lower, and the four doctors of the church below. All the walls are painted as well as the vaults. The mosaics overflowed fromthe interiors on to the external walls of buildings even in Roman days, and the same practice was continued on churches. The remains of an external mosaic of the 6th century exist on the west See also:facade of the basilica at Parenzo. Christ is there seated amongst the seven candlesticks, and adored by saints. At the basilica at See also:Bethlehem the gable end was appropriately covered with a mosaic of the Nativity, also a work of the age of Justinian. In Rome, St See also:Peter's and other churches had mosaics on the facades; a tradition represented, in a small way, at San Miniato, See also:Florence. At Constantinople, according to Clavigo, the See also:Spanish See also:ambassador who visited that See also:city about 1400, the church of St See also:Mary of the Fountain had its exterior richly worked in gold, See also:azure and other colours; and it seems almost necessary to believe that the See also:bare front of the narthex of St Sophia was intended to be decorated in a similar manner. In See also:Damascus the courtyard of the Great See also:Mosque seems to have been adorned with mosaics; photographs taken before the See also:fire in 1893 show patches on the central gable in some of the spandrels of the side colonnades and on the walls of the isolated octagonal See also:treasury. The mosaics here were of Byzantine workmanship, and their effect, used in such abundance, must have been of great splendour. In See also:Jerusalem the mosque of See also:Omar also had portions of the exterior covered with mosaics. We may imagine that such external decorations of the churches, where a few solemn figures told almost as shadows on the golden background brightly reflecting the sun, must have been even more glorious than the imagery of their interiors. Painted books were hardly different in their style from the paintings on the walls. Of the MSS. the Cottonian See also:Genesis, now only a collection of charred fragments, was an early example. The great Natural History of Dioscorides of See also:Vienna (c. 500) and the See also:Joshua See also:Roll of the Vatican, which have both been lately published in perfect facsimile, are magnificent works. In the former the See also:plants are drawn with an accuracy of observation which was to disappear for a thousand years. The latter shows a series of drawings delicately tinted in pinks and blues. Many of the compositions contain classical survivals, like personified rivers. In some of the miniatures of the later school of the art the classical revival of the loth century was especially marked. Still later others show a very definite Persian influence in their ornamentation, where intricate arabesques almost of the style of eastern rugs are found. The Plastic Art.—If painting under the new conditions entered on a fresh course of power and See also:conquest, if it set itself success-fully to provide an imagery for new and intense thought, See also:sculpture, on the other hand, seems to have withered away as it became removed from the classic stock. Already in the pre-Constantinian epoch of classical art sculpture had become strangely dry and powerless, and as time went on the traditions of modelling appear to have been forgotten. Two points of recent criticism may be mentioned here. It has been shown that the See also:porphyry images of warriors at the south-west See also:angle of St Mark's, Venice, are of Egyptian origin and are of late classical tradition. The celebrated See also:bronze St Peter at Rome is now assigned to the 13th century. Not only did statue-making become nearly a lost art, but architectural carvings ceased to be seen as modelled form, and a new system of See also:relief came into use. See also:Ornament, instead of being gathered up into forcible projections relieved against retiring planes, and instead of having its surfaces modulated all over with delicate gradations of shade, was spread over a given space in an even fretwork. Such a highly See also:developed member as the capital, for instance, was thought of first as a simple, solid form, usually more or less the shape of a bowl, and the See also:carving was spread out over the general surface, the back-ground being sunk into sharply defined spaces of See also:shadow, all about the same size. Often the background was so deeply excavated that it ceased to be a See also:plane supporting the relieved parts, but passed wholly into darkness. Strzygowski has given to this process the name of the " deep-dark " ground. A further step was to relieve the upper fretwork of carving from the ground altogether in certain places by cutting away the sustaining portions. The simplicity, the See also:definition and crisp sharpness of some of the results are entirely delightful. The bluntness and weariness of many of the later modelled Roman forms disappear in the new See also:energy of workmanship which was engaged in exploring a fresh See also: Some few examples, like a See also:silver dish from Cyprus in the British Museum, show refined See also:restraint; on the other hand, the mosaic portraits of the See also:emperor and See also:Theodora show crowns and jewels of full Oriental style, and the description of the splendid fittings of St Sophia read like an eastern See also:tale. Goldsmith's work was executed on such a scale for the great church as to form parts of the architecture of the interior. The altar was wholly of gold, and its ciborium and the iconastasis were of silver. In the later palace-church, built by Basil the Macedonian, the previous metals were used to such an extent that it is clear, from the description, that the interior was intended to be, as far as possible, like a great jewelled See also:shrine. Gold and silver, we are told, were spread over all the church, not only in the mosaics, but in plating and other applications. The enclosure of the bema, with its columns and entablatures, was of silver gilt, and set with gems and pearls. The most splendid existing example of goldsmith's work on a large scale is the Pala d'Oro of St Mark's, Venice; an assemblage of many panels on which saints and angels are enamelled. The monastic church of St Catherine, Sinai, is entered through a pair of enamelled doors, and several doors inlaid with silver still exist. In these doors the ground was of gilt-bronze; but there is also See also:record of silver doors in the imperial palace at Constantinople. The inlaid doors of St See also:Paul Outside the Walls at Rome were executed in Constantinople by Stauricios, in 1070, and have Greek See also:inscriptions. There are others at See also:Salerno (c. io8o), but the best known are those at St Mark's, Venice. In all these the imagery was delineated in silver on the gilt-bronze ground. The earliest works of this sort are still to be found in Constantinople. The panels of a door at St Sophia bear the monograms of See also:Theophilus and Michael (84o). Two other doors in the narthex of the same church, having simpler ornamentation of inlaid silver, are probably as early as the time of Justinian.
The process of enamelling dates from late classical times and Venturi supposes that it was invented in See also:Alexandria. The cloisonne process, characteristic of Byzantine enamels, is thought by Kondakov to be derived from Persia, and to its study he has devoted a splendid See also:volume. One of the finest examples of this cloisonne is the reliquary at See also:Limburg on which the enthroned Christ appears between St Mary and St John in the midst of the twelve apostles. An inscription tells that it was executed for the emperors Constantine and See also:Romanus (948-959).
A reliquary lately added to the J. Pierpont See also:Morgan collection at South See also:Kensington is of the greatest beauty in regard to the colour and clearness of the See also:enamel. The cover, which is only about 42 by 3 ins., has in the centre a crucifixion with St Mary and St John to the right and left, while around are busts of the apostles. Christ is vested in a See also:tunic. The ground colour is the See also:green of See also:emerald, the rest mostly blue and See also: The cloisons are of gold. Two other Byzantine enamels are in the permanent collection at the See also:Victoria and See also:Albert Museum: one is a cross with the crucifixion on a background of the same emerald enamel; the other is a small See also:head of St Paul of remarkably fine workmanship. Ivory-working was another characteristic Byzantine art, although, like so many others it had its origin in antiquity. One of the earliest ivories of the Byzantine type is the See also:diptych at See also:Monza, showing a princess and a boy, supposed to be Galla Placidia and Valentinian III. This already shows the broad, flattened treatment which seems to mark the ivory work of the East. The majestic See also:archangel of the British Museum, one of the largest panels known, is probably of the 5th century, and almost certainly, as Strzygowski has shown, of Syrian origin. Design and See also:execution are equally fine. The See also:drawing of the body, and the modelling of the drapery, are accomplished and classical. Only the full front pose, the balanced disposition of the large wings, and the intense outlook of the face, give it the Byzantine type. Ivory, like gold-work and enamel, was pressed into the adornment of architectural works. The ambo erected by Justinian at St Sophia was in part covered by ivory panels set into the marble. The best existing specimen of this kind of work is the celebrated ivory throne at Ravenna. This See also:master-piece, which resembles a large, high-backed See also:chair, is entirely covered with sculptured ivory, delicate carvings of scriptural subjects and ornament. It is of the 6th century and bears the See also:monogram of See also:Bishop Maximian. It is probably of Egyptian or Syrian origin. So many fragments of ivories have been discovered in recent explorations in Egypt that it is most likely that Alexandria, a See also:fit centre for receiving the material, was also its centre of distribution. The See also:weaving of patterned silks was known in Europe in the classical age, and they reached great development in the Byzantine era. A fragment, long ago figured by See also:Semper, showing a classical design of a nereid on a sea-See also:horse, is so like the designs found on many ivories discovered in Egypt that we may probably assign it to Alexandria. Such fabrics going back to the 3rd century have been found in Egypt which must have been one of the chief centres for the See also:production of See also:silk as for See also:linen textiles. The Victoria and Albert Museum is particularly See also:rich in early silks. One fine example, having See also:rose-coloured stripes and repeated figures of See also:Samson and the See also:lion, must be of the great period of the 6th century. The description of St Sophia written at that time tells of the altar curtains that they See also:bore See also:woven images of Christ, Si Peter and St Paul standing under See also:tabernacles upon a See also:crimson ground, their garments being enriched with gold See also:embroidery. Later the patterns became more barbaric and of great scale, lions trampled across the stuff, and in large circles were displayed eagles, griffins and the like in a fine heraldic style. From the origin of the raw material in See also:China and See also:India and the ease of transport, such figured stuffs gathered up and distributed patterns over both Europe and Asia. The Persian influence is marked. There is, for example, a pattern of a curious See also:dragon having front feet and a See also:peacock's tail. It appears on a silver Persian dish in the Hermitage Museum, it is found on the mixed Byzantine and Persian carvings of the palace of Mashita, and it occurs on several silks of which there are two varieties at the Victoria and Albert Museum, both of which are classed as Byzantine; it is difficult to say of many of these patterns whether they are See also:Sassanian originals or Byzantine adaptations from them. AuTHoRCTmEs.—A very complete bibliography is given by H. Leclercq, See also:Manuel d'archeologie chretienne (Paris, 1907). The current authorities for all that concerns Byzantine history or art are:— Byzantinische Zeitschrift . . (See also:Leipzig, 1892 seq.) ; Oriens Christianus (Rome, 1900 seq.). See also Dom R. P. Cabrol, Dictionnaire d'archeologie chretienne, &c. (Paris, 1902 seq.). The best general introduction is:—C. Bayet, L'Art byzantin (Paris, 1883, new edition, 1904). See J. Strzygowski, Orient See also:oder Rom (Leipzig, 1901) and other works; Kondakov, See also:Les Emaux byz. (1892), and other works; C. Diehl, Justinien et la See also:civilis. byz. (Paris, 1901), and other works; G. See also:Millet, Le Monastere de Daphne, &c. (Paris, 1899), and other works; L. G. Schlumberger, L'Epopee byz. &c. (1896 seq.); A. See also:Michel, Histoire de l'art, vol. i. (Paris, 1905) ; H. See also:Brockhaus, See also:Die Kunst in den Athos-Klostern (Leipzig, 1891); E. See also:Molinier, Histoire generale See also:des arts, &c. i., Ivoires (Paris, 1896) ; O. See also:Dalton, See also:Catalogue of Early Christian Antiquities . of the British Museum (1901); A. See also:van Millingen, Byzantine Constantinople (1899) ; Salzenberg, Altchristliche Baudenkna¢ler &c. (Berlin, 1854); A. Choisy, L'Art de bdtir chez les Byzantins (Paris, 1895) ; Couchand, Eglises byzantines en See also:Greco; Ongania, Basilica di S. Marco; Texier and Pullan, L'Architecture b. 73 (1864) ; Lethaby and Swainson, Sancta Sophia, Constantinople (1894); See also:Schultz and See also:Barnsley, The Monastery of St Luke, &c. (1890); L. de Beylie, L'Habitation byz. (Paris, 1903). For See also:Syria: M. de See also:Vogue, L'Architecture . dans la Syrie centrale (Paris, 1866–1877) ; H. C. See also: Venturi, Storia dell' arte Italiana (Milan, 1901); G. Rivoira, Le Origini della architettura Lombarda (Rome, 19oi) ; C. Errard and A. Gayet, L'Art byzantin, &c. (Paris, 1903). (W. R. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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