Art History (Chapter 9- Byzantine Art)
Plan of the San Vitale Ravenna, Italy 526-547 CE
Centrally planned like Justinian's churches in Constantinople, San Vitale has a design featuring an off-axis narthex and two concentric octagons. A dome crowns the taller, inner octagon.
Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus interior of Hagia Sophia Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey 532-537 CE
In Hagia Sophia, Justinian's architects succeeded in fusing two previously independent architectural traditions: the vertically oriented central-plan building and the longitudinally oriented basilica. It is about 270 feet long and 240 feet wide. The dome is 108 feet in diameter, and its crown rises some 180 feet above the pavement.
Choir and apse of San Vitale with mosaic of Christ between two angels Saint Vitalis and Bishop Ecclesius Ravenna, Italy 526-547 CE
In the apse vault, a youthful Christ, seated on the orb of the world at the time of his second coming, extends the gold martyr's wreath to Saint Vitalis. Bishop Ecclesius offers Christ a model of San Vitale. The interior is decorated with mosaic-clad walls and vaults. Images and symbols cover the entire sanctuary and expresses the single idea of Christ's redemption of humanity and the reenactment of it in the Eucharist.
Theodora and attendants mosaic on the south wall of the apse San Vitale Ravenna, Italy ca. 547 CE
Justinian's counterpart on the opposite wall is the powerful is the powerful Empress Theodora. Neither she nor Justinian ever visited Ravenna. San Vitale's mosaics are proxies for the absent sovereigns. The frontal figures of the Byzantine mosaic hover before the viewers, weightless and speechless, their position in space uncertain. Tall, spare, angular, and elegant, they have lost the rather squat proportions characteristic of much early Christian figural art. The garments fall straight, stiff, and thin from the narrow shoulders. The organic body has dematerialized and seem to be true portraits. The purpose of religious art was to stimulate spiritual seeing.
Aerial view of the San Vitale Ravenna, Italy 526-547 CE
Justinian's general Belisarius captured Ravenna from the Ostrogoths. The city became the seat of Byzantine dominion in Italy. San Vitale honored Saint Vitalis, a second-century Ravenna martyr. San Vitale is unlike any of the early Christian churches of Ravenna. It is not a basilica. It is centrally planned, like Justinian's churches in Constantinople, and seems to be loosely modeled on the earlier Churches of Saints Sergius and Bacchus there.
Mathematician and Physicist: Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus Aerial view of Hagia Sophia (looking north) Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey 532-537 CE
Justinian's reign was the first golden age of Byzantine art and architecture. Hagia Sophia was the most magnificent of the more than 30 churches Justinian built or restored in Constantinople alone after a fire destroyed the earlier church. The Hagia Sophia is a domed basilica. Buttressing the great dome are eastern and western half-domes whose thrusts descend, in turn, into smaller half-domes surmounting columned exedrae. The result was Byzantium's grandest building and one of the supreme accomplishments of world architecture.
Dome on pendentives (left) and on squinches (right)
Pendentives (triangular sections of a sphere) make it possible to place a dome on a ring over a square. Squinches achieve the same goal by bridging the corners of the square to form an octagonal base.
Justinian, Bishop Maximianus, and attendants mosaic on the north wall of the apse San Vitale Ravenna, Italy ca. 547 CE
San Vitale's mosaics reveal the new Byzantine aesthetic. Justinian is foremost among the weightless and speechless frontal figures hovering before the viewer, their positions in space are uncertain. The positions of the figures are all important. They express the formulas of precedence and rank. In the Justinian mosaic, the emperor is at the center and is distinguished by his purple robe and halo-- which connect him with the Savior in the vault. The positioning of his feet is also important, they're in front of all the others, showing he is most important. The bodies are flat, and do not show the bodies underneath.
Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus plan and restored cutaway view of Hagia Sophia Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey 532-537 CE
The Hagia Sophia is a domed basilica. Buttressing the great dome are eastern and western half-domes whose thrusts descend, in turn, into smaller half-domes surmounting columned exedrae. Justinian intended the new church to rival all other churches ever built and even to surpass in scale and magnificence.
Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus of Miletus Interior of Hagia Sophia (looking southwest) Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey 532-537 CE
The characteristic plainness and unpretentiousness of the exterior scarcely prepare visitors for the building's interior. Pendentive construction made possible Hagia Sophia's lofty dome, which seems to ride on a halo of light. There is a special mystical quality of light that floods the interior. Light is representative of "the good" and the visual image of God.