Art History Exam 3

Mihrab

(Islam) a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the direction of Mecca

mihrab

(Islam) a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the direction of Mecca

Transept

(in a cross-shaped church) either of the two parts forming the arms of the cross shape, projecting at right angles from the nave.

icon

(n.) a representation or image of a sacred personage, often considered sacred itself; an image or picture; a symbol; a graphic symbol on a computer monitor display; an object of blind devotion

cruciform plan

Cross shaped floor plan

Good Shepherd Mosaic

Early Christian

Gallery

a roofed passageway with one or both of its long sides open to the air

Palace of the Lions

- Patio of Lions - More intimate shows how the Kings were more refined - 12 lions (no animals in Islamic art) - represent 12 tribes of Israel - Jewish prime minister gave as a present - 4 channels = 4 channels of paradise One of these is the court of the lion, which stood at the heart of the so-called Palace of the Lions, the private retreat of Sultan Muhammad V (ruled 1354-1359 and 1362-1391). The Court of the Lions is divided into quadrants by cross-axial walkways—a garden form called a chahar bagh. The walkways carry channels that meet at a central marble fountain held aloft on the backs of 12 stone lions (fig. 9-20). Water animates the fountain, filling the courtyard with the sound of its abundance. In an adjacent courtyard, the Court of the Myrtles, a basin's round shape responds to the naturally concentric ripples of the water that spouts from a central jet (see "Ornament"). Water has a practical role in the irrigation of gardens, but here it is raised to the level of an art form.

The Kaaba

A black stone building in Mecca that is shaped like a cube and that is the most sacred Muslim pilgrim shrine (early islamic)

minaret

A distinctive feature of mosque architecture, a tower from which the faithful are called to worship.

Putti

A plump, naked little boy, often winged. In classical art, called a cupid; in Christian art, a cherub.

madrasa

A school for the study of Muslim law and religious science

Parchment & vellum

A writing surface made from treated skins of animals. Very fine parchment is known as vellum.

Cubiculum/cubicula

Affluent families created small rooms, off the main passages to house sarcophagi (see fig. 7-1). The cubicula were hewn out of tufo, a soft volcanic rock, then plastered and painted with imagery related to their owners' religious beliefs

Transfiguration of Christ

Byzantine The mosaics integrate a series of stories and themes into a coherent program around the notion of theophany—the appearance of God to human beings. Two rectangular scenes on the end wall of the nave above the apse (only partially visible in fig. 8-11) picture two local theophanies—Moses before the burning bush and Moses receiving the law. The halfdome of the apse highlights the Transfiguration, an episode from the life of Jesus during which he was transformed "on a high mountain" from human to divine and set between apparitions of Moses and Elijah before the eyes of Peter, James, and John, three of his disciples

Justinian

Byzantine emperor in the 6th century A.D. who reconquered much of the territory previously ruler by Rome, initiated an ambitious building program , including Hagia Sofia, as well as a new legal code

Justinian and his Attendants

Early Byzantine -Located at church of San Vitale -Image located on the right or superior side of christ -has the halo suggesting authority and power -looks christ like w followers behind him, wearing purple = power -on the right the soldiers are holding "chi-ro" (beginning of christs name in greek) The royal couple did not attend the dedication ceremonies for the church of San Vitale, conducted by Archbishop Maximianus in 547, and there is no evidence that they actually set foot in Ravenna, but these two large mosaic panels that face each other across its sanctuary picture their presence here in perpetuity. Justinian (fig. 8-8 ), on the north wall, carries a large golden paten that will be used to hold the Eucharistic bread and stands next to Maximianus, who holds a golden, jewel-encrusted cross. The priestly celebrants at the right carry the Gospels encased in a golden, jeweled book cover, symbolizing the coming of Christ as the Word, and a censer containing burning incense to purify the altar prior to the Eucharist.

Crucifixion and Iconoclasts

Early Byzantine Crucifixion shows a soldier tormenting Christ with a vinegar-soaked sponge. In a striking visual parallel, two named iconoclasts—identified by inscription—in the adjacent picture along the bottom margin employ a whitewash-soaked sponge to obliterate an icon portrait of Christ, thus linking them by their actions with those who had crucified him.

Virgin and Child with Saints and Angels

Early Byzantine Jesus's earthly mother was viewed as a powerful, ever-forgiving intercessor, who could be counted on to appeal to her divine son for mercy on behalf of devout and repentant worshipers. The Virgin and Child are flanked here by Christian warrior-saints Theodore (left) and George (right)—both legendary figures said to have slain dragons, representing the triumph of the Church over the "evil serpent" of paganism. Angels behind them twist their heads to look heavenward. The artist has painted the Christ Child, the Virgin, and especially the angels, with an illusionism that renders them lifelike and three-dimensional in appearance. But the warrior-saints—who look out to meet directly the worshipful gaze of viewers—are more stylized. Here the artist barely hints at bodily form beneath the richly patterned textiles of their cloaks, and their faces are frozen in frontal stares of gripping intensity, addressing viewers directly.

Hagia Sophia

Early Byzantine Most famous example of Byzantine architecture, it was built under Justinian I and is considered one of the most perfect buildings in the world. -The church of Hagia Sophia, meaning "Holy Wisdom" (referring to the dedication of this church to Christ as the embodiment of divine wisdom) is a spectacular exception (fig. 8-2). It replaced a fourth-century church destroyed when crowds, spurred on by Justinian's foes during the devastating urban Nika Revolt in 532, set the old church on fire and cornered the emperor within his palace. Hagia Sophia was thus a gigantic theater for public, imperial worship of God, created by a culture within which Church and state were inextricably intertwined

San Vitale

Early Byzantine Much of our knowledge of the art of this turbulent period comes from the well-preserved monuments in Ravenna. In 526, Ecclesius, bishop of Ravenna, commissioned two new churches, one for the city and one for its port, Classis. In the 520s, construction began on a central-plan church, a martyrium (church built over the grave of a martyr) dedicated to the fourth-century Roman martyr St. Vitalis (Vitale in Italian), but it was not finished until after Justinian had conquered Ravenna and established it as the administrative capital of Byzantine Italy San Vitale was designed as a central-domed octagon surrounded by eight radiating exedrae (wall niches), surrounded in turn by an ambulatory and gallery, all covered by vaults. A rectangular sanctuary and semicircular apse project from one of the sides of the octagon, and circular rooms flank the apse. A separate oval narthex, set off-axis, joined church and palace and also led to cylindrical stair towers that gave access to the second-floor gallery.

Theodora and her Attendants

Early Byzantine On the south wall, Theodora, standing beneath a fluted shell canopy and singled out by a golden halo and elaborate crown, carries a huge golden chalice studded with jewels (fig. 8-9). The rulers present these gifts as precious offerings to Christ—emulating most immediately Bishop Ecclesius, who offers a model of the church to Christ in the halfdome of the apse, but also the three Magi who brought valuable gifts to the infant Jesus, depicted in "embroidery" at the bottom of Theodora's purple cloak. In fact, the paten and chalice offered by the royal couple will be used by this church to offer Eucharistic bread and wine to the local Christian community during the liturgy. In this way the entire program of mosaic decoration revolves around themes of offering, extended into the theme of the Eucharist itself.

Rebecca at the Well

Early Byzantine Rebecca, the heroine, appears at the left walking away from the walled city of Nahor with a large jug on her shoulder, going to fetch water. A colonnaded road leads toward a spring, personified by a reclining pagan water nymph who holds a flowing jar. In the foreground, Rebecca appears again, clearly identifiable by continuity of costume.

Syncretism

artists assimilate images from other traditions—either unconsciously or deliberately—and give them new meanings.

Christ Enthroned

Early Byzantine mosaic, from San Vitale Early Byzantine Golden Age c. 359 Depiction of Christ in the Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus the earliest representation of Jesus showing him as a young man A youthful, classicizing Christ appears on axis (fig. 8-7), dressed in imperial purple and enthroned on a cosmic orb in paradise, the setting indicated by the four rivers that flow from the ground underneath him. Two winged angels flank him like imperial bodyguards or attendants. In his left hand Christ holds a scroll with seven seals that he will open at his Second Coming at the end of time, proclaiming his authority not only over this age, but over the age to come. He extends his right hand to offer a crown of martyrdom to St. Vitalis, the saint to whom this church is dedicated. On the other side is the only figure in the tableau without a halo. Labeled as Bishop Ecclesius, he is the founder of San Vitale, who offers a model of the church itself to Christ. The artist has imagined a scene of courtly protocol in paradise, where Christ, as emperor, gives a gift to and receives a gift from members of the celestial entourage.

Harbaville Triptych

Early Byzantine. 950 Ce. Ivory. Christ is in middle, enthroned. hands of people are covered as sign of respect. angels in medallions. Symmetry is very careful. Deep undercutting. Figures are labelled. Standing slightly over 9 inches tall, the small ivory ensemble known as the harbaville triptych (named after a nineteenth-century owner) was made as a portable devotional object with two hinged wings that could be folded shut for travel. Its privileged owner used this work as the focus for private prayer; its luxuriousness also signaled high status and wealth. When opened (fig. 8-25A), the triptych features across the top of the central panel a tableau with an enthroned Christ flanked by Mary and St. John the Baptist. This is a composition known as the "Deësis" (meaning "entreaty" in Greek), which shows Mary and John interceding with Christ, presumably pleading for forgiveness and salvation for the owner of this work. As a whole, they represent a celestial court of saints attending the enthroned Christ in paradise, categorized into thematic groups in an organization that recalls the ordered distribution of subjects in a Middle Byzantine church (figs. 8-19, 8-20). On the back of the central panel (fig. 8-25B) is a symbolic evocation of paradise itself in the form of a large, stable cross surrounded by luxurious vegetation inhabited by animals, presumably an evocation of the longed-for destination of the original owner, a reminder to focus attention on devotional practice and enlist the aid of the congregation of saints to assure the attainment of salvation.

Santa Costanza

Early Christian

sarcophagus of Junius Bassus

Early Christian

Oratory/Mausoleum of Galla Placidia

Early Christian One of the earliest surviving Christian structures in Ravenna is a magnificent oratory (small chapel) that was attached c. 425-426 to the narthex of the palace church of Santa Croce (fig. 7-19). This building was dedicated to St. Lawrence, but today it bears the name of the remarkable Galla Placidia—daughter of Roman emperor Theodosius I, The oratory came to be called the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia because she and her family were once believed to be buried there. This small building is cruciform, or cross-shape. A barrel vault covers each arm of the oratory, and a pendentive dome—a dome continuous with its pendentives—covers the square space at the center

Sarcophagus of Constantina

Early Christian Within her mausoleum, Constantina (d. 354) was buried within a spectacularly huge porphyry sarcophagus (fig. 7-17) that was installed across from the entrance on the other side of the ambulatory in a rectangular niche (visible on the plan in fig. 7-14; an in-place replica peeks over the altar in fig. 7-15 Here the scenes are framed by a huge, undulating grapevine whose subsidiary shoots curl above and below to fill the flat sides of the box. Striding along its base, peacocks symbolize eternal life in paradise, while a lone sheep could represent a member of Jesus's flock, presumably Constantina herself.

Good Shepherd Statuette

Early Christian/late antiquity

Page from the Qur'an

Early Islamic A page from a ninth-century Syrian Qur'an exemplifies the style common from the eighth to the tenth century (fig. 9-11). Red diacritical marks (pronunciation guides) accent the dark brown ink; the surah ("chapter") title is embedded in the burnished ornament at the bottom of the sheet. Instead of page numbers, the brilliant gold of the framed words and the knoblike projection in the left-hand margin mark chapter breaks.

Calligraphic Plate

Early Islamic These elegant earthenware bowls and plates employ a clear lead glaze over a painted black inscription on a white slip ground (fig. 9-12). Here the script's horizontals and verticals have been elongated to fill the plate's rim, stressing the letters' verticality in such a way that they seem to radiate from the bold spot at the center of the circle. The fine quality of the lettering indicates that a calligrapher furnished the model. The inscription translates as "Knowledge [or magnanimity]: the beginning of it is bitter to taste, but the end is sweeter than honey," an apt choice for tableware made to appeal to an educated patron. Inscriptions on Islamic ceramics provide a storehouse of such popular aphorisms.

Lusterware Jar

Early Islamic The finished lusterware resembled precious metal. Lusterware tiles dated 862/863 decorated the mihrab of the Great Mosque at Kairouan. At first a carefully guarded secret of Abbasid potters in Iraq, lusterware soon spread throughout the Islamic world to North Africa, Egypt, Iran, Syria, and Spain. Early potters covered the entire surface with luster, but soon they began to use luster to paint patterns using geometric designs, foliate motifs, animals, and human figures in brown, red, purple, and/or green. Most common was monochrome lusterware in shades of brown, as in this tenth-century jar from Iraq (fig. 9-13). The form of the vessel is emphasized by the distribution of decorative motifs—the lip and neck are outlined with a framed horizontal band of scalloped motifs, the shoulder singled out with dots within circles (known as the "peacock's eye" motif), and the height emphasized by boldly ornamented vertical strips with undulating outlines moving up toward pointed tops and dividing the surface of the jar into quadrants. Emphasis, however, is placed on representations of enigmatic human figures dressed in dark, hooded garments.

qibla wall

the wall of a mosque that faces Mecca; the wall Muslims face when praying

Illuminations

Hand-colored decorative drawings used to enhance printed text

Great Mosque at Cordoba

Islamic A graceful Mosque that was built on the ruins of a ruined Christian Church, Famous for its horseshoe arches, it provides a striking example of the sophistication provided by the fusion of Jewish, Muslim and Christian art. Is now a museum. The Hispano-Umayyads were noted patrons of the arts, and one of the finest surviving examples of Umayyad architecture is the Great Mosque of Cordoba In 785, the Umayyad conquerors began building the Cordoba mosque on the site of a Christian church built by the Visigoths, the pre-Islamic rulers of Spain.

Illuminated Tugra

Islamic Following a practice begun by the Saljuqs and Mamluks, the Ottomans put calligraphy to political use, developing the design of imperial ciphers—tugras—into a specialized art form. Ottoman tugras combined the ruler's name and title with the motto "Eternally Victorious" into a monogram denoting the authority of the sultan and of those select officials who were also granted an emblem. Tugras appeared on seals, coins, and buildings, as well as on official documents called firmans, imperial edicts supplementing Muslim law. Suleyman issued hundreds of edicts, and a high court official supervised specialist calligraphers and illuminators who produced the documents with fancy tugras Tugras were drawn in black or blue with three long, vertical strokes to the right of two concentric horizontal teardrops. Decorative foliage patterns fill the area within the script.

Painted Ceramic Dish

Islamic Iznik potters specialized in polychrome underglaze painting, used on tiles made for architectural revetment as well as on plates and vessels intended for display. The three-color palette used on this dish (fig. 9-29) is characteristic of their work. The sprawling floral spray that fills the interior—a rose, a tulip, and sprigs of honeysuckle and hyacinth—is a common motif in Iznik decoration, as is the energetic border of circles, spirals, and leaves, inspired by Chinese ceramics. The birds are more unusual. Perhaps they are the nightingales, which—with roses—are popular allegorical imagery in Ottoman love poetry.

Yusuf Fleeing Zulayhka

Islamic includes the story of Yusuf, the biblical Joseph, whose virtue was proven by resisting seduction by his master Potiphar's wife, named Zulayhka in the Islamic tradition (Genesis 39:6-12; Qur'an 12:23-25). Bihzad's vizualization of this event (fig. 9-24) is one of the masterpieces of Persian narrative painting. The dazzling and elaborate architectural setting is inspired not by Sa'di's account, but by the Timurid poet Jami's more mystical version of the story (quoted in an architectural frame around the central iwan under the two figures Jami sets his story in a seduction palace that Zulayhka had built specifically for this encounter, and into which she leads Yusuf ever inward from room to room, with entrance doors locked as they pass from one room to the next. As the scarlet-garbed Zulayhka lunges to possess him, the fire-haloed Yusuf flees her advances as the doors miraculously open in front of him.

Crossing the Red Sea

Israelites escape Pharaoh by crossing the sea.

St. Michael the Archangel

Late Byzantine Archangel One of the four angels mentioned in the Bible by name The angel is outfitted as a divine messenger, holding a staff of authority in his left hand and a sphere symbolizing worldly power in his right. Within the arch is a similar cross-topped orb, set against the background of a scallop shell and framed by a wreath bound by a ribbon with long, rippling extensions. the emphasis here is on the powerfully classicized celestial messenger, who does not need to obey the laws of earthly scale or human perspective. Also from the twelfth century, but made from more precious materials and presenting a saintly image more hieratic than intimate, is a representation of the archangel Michael in silver-gilt and enamel (see "Closer Look"), whose technical virtuosity and sumptuous media suggest it may have been an imperial commission for use within the palace complex itself. St. Michael is dressed here as a confrontational military commander in the heavenly forces, a real contrast with the calmly classicizing angelic form he takes in the large ivory panel we examined from the Early Byzantine period

Annunciation

Late Byzantine The announcement of the birth of Jesus that takes place when the angel Gabriel tells Mary that God has chosen her to be the Mother of the Lord. Among the most dynamic and engaging is a representation of the Annunciation on one side of an early fourteenth-century double-sided icon (fig. 8-35)—the other side has an image of the Virgin and Child—roughly contemporary with the redecoration of the Chora church. This icon was made in the capital, perhaps under imperial patronage, and sent from there to the archbishop of Ohrid. Over 3 feet tall, it was probably mounted on a pole and carried in processions, where both sides would be visible. Characteristic of Constantinopolitan art under the Palaeologues are the small heads, inflated bodies, and light shot-silk clothing of the figures; the forward-projecting perspective of the architecture of background and throne, similar in concept to that of the Chora mosaics

Virgin of Vladimir

Late Byzantine Period, 12th century, tempera on wood The revered twelfth-century icon of Mary and Jesus known as the virgin of vladimir (fig. 8-28) was probably painted in Constantinople but brought to Kiev. This distinctively humanized image is another example of the growing desire for a more immediate and personal religion that we have already seen in the Crucifixion mosaic at Daphni, dating slightly earlier. Here the artist used an established iconographic type known as the "Virgin of Compassion," showing Mary and the Christ Child pressing their cheeks together and gazing at each other with tender affection.

Paris Psalter

Late Byzantine. 950-970 CE. Era of Classicism. Bight colors. usually on vellum The luxurious Paris Psalter (named after its current library location) This personal devotional book—meant to guide the prayer life of its aristocratic owner—includes the complete text of the Psalms and a series of odes or canticles drawn from the Bible that were a standard part of Byzantine psalters. The annotation of the biblical texts with passages from interpretive commentaries gives this book a scholarly dimension consistent with a revival of learning that took place under the Macedonian emperors. This book is best known, however, neither for its learned texts nor for its imperial patron or owner, but for its set of 14 full-page miniatures. The fresh spontaneity of these paintings and the complicated abstraction underlying their compositional structure—salient stylistic features of the Macedonian Renaissance—make this book one of the true glories of Byzantine art

Portrait of a Tetrarch

Late Roman (Imperial) A powerful bust of a tetrarch, startlingly alert with searing eyes (fig. 6-61) embodies this strong stylistic shift away from the suave Classicism Some art historians have interpreted this change in style as a conscious embodiment of Diocletian's new concept of government, while others have pointed to parallels with the provincial art of Diocletian's Dalmatian homeland or with the Neoplatonic aesthetics of idealized abstraction promoted by Plotinus, a third-century ce philosopher who was widely read in the late Roman world. In any event, these riveting works represent not a degeneration of the Classical tradition but its conscious replacement by a different aesthetic viewpoint—militaristic, severe, and abstract rather than suave, slick, and classicizing.

Constantine

Late Roman (Imperial) Emperor of Rome who adopted the Christian faith and stopped the persecution of Christians (280-337) Basilica,Rome -marble -acrolithic

The Tetrarchs

Late Roman (Imperial) Four officials ruling different sections of the empire; formed by Diocletian. To divide up the task of defending and administering the Roman world and assure an orderly succession, in 286 ce Diocletian divided the empire in two. According to his plan, he would rule in the East with the title of "Augustus," while another Augustus, Maximian, would rule in the West. Then in 293 ce he devised a form of government called a tetrarchy, or "rule of four," in which each Augustus designated a subordinate and heir who held the title of "Caesar." Four individuals would rule the Roman Empire, which was now divided into four quadrants. This new mode is famously represented by a sculptural group of the tetrarchs (fig. 6-62). The four figures are nearly identical, except that the senior Augusti have beards while their juniors, the Caesars, are clean-shaven. Dressed in military garb and clasping swords at their sides, they embrace each other in a show of imperial unity, proclaiming an alliance rooted in strength and vigilance. The sculpture is made of porphyry, an extremely hard, purple stone from Egypt that was reserved for imperial use

Basilica Nova

Late Roman (imperial) once housed sculpture of Constantine, massive building with great window paces for light, groin-vaulted main aisle -Maxentius and constantine -government buildings, not religious -nave: -giant statute of Constantine Constantine's rival Maxentius, who controlled Rome throughout his short reign (ruled 306-312), ordered the repair of older buildings there and had new ones built. His most impressive undertaking was a huge new basilica, just southeast of the Imperial Forums, called the basilica nova, or New Basilica A groin-vaulted porch extended across the short side and sheltered a triple entrance to the central hall. At the opposite end of the long axis of the hall was an apse of the same width, which acted as a focal point for the building -Constantine changed the orientation of the Basilica Nova by adding an imposing new entrance in the center of the long side facing the Via Sacra and a giant apse facing it across the three aisles. He also commissioned a colossal, 30-foot statue of himself for placement within an apse (fig. 6-69). Sculptors used white marble for the head, chest, arms, and legs, and sheets of bronze for the drapery, all supported on a wooden frame. This statue became a permanent stand-in for the emperor, representing him whenever the conduct of business legally required his presence. The head combines features of traditional Roman portraiture with some of the abstract qualities evident in images of the tetrarchs (see fig. 6-62). The defining characteristics of Constantine's face—his heavy jaw, hooked nose, and jutting chin—have been incorporated into a stylized, symmetrical pattern in which other features, such as his eyes, eyebrows, and hair, have been simplified into repeated geometric arcs. The result is a work that projects imperial power and dignity with no hint of human frailty or imperfection.

Arch of Constantine

Late Rome (Imperial) Rome, Constantinople spolia- recycled material -commemorates the battle of milvian bridge -in 313 he issues the edict of milan In Rome, next to the Colosseum, the Senate erected a triumphal arch to commemorate Constantine's victory over Maxentius, a huge, triple arch that dwarfs the nearby Arch of Titus

Virgin and Child (Hagia Sophia

Middle Byzantine By 867, mosaicists had inserted an iconic rendering of the Incarnation in the form of an image of the Virgin Mary holding the child Jesus in her lap (fig. 8-16), flanked by angels the Virgin and Child in Hagia Sophia recalls the pre-iconoclastic rendering on a surviving icon from Mount Sinai (see fig. 8-14), but their gracefully modeled faces, their elegantly attenuated bodily proportions, and the jewel-studded bench that serves as their throne all proclaim the singular importance of their placement in Constantinople's principal imperial church.

Crucifixion

Middle Byzantine A mosaic of the crucifixion from the lower part of the church (fig. 8-22) exemplifies the focus on emotional appeal to individuals that appears in late eleventh-century Byzantine art. The figures inhabit an otherworldly space, a golden universe anchored to the material world by a few flowers, which suggest the promise of new life. A nearly nude Jesus is shown with bowed head and gently sagging body, his eyes closed in death. The witnesses have been reduced to two isolated mourning figures, Mary and the young apostle John, to whom Jesus had just entrusted the care of his mother. The elegant cut of the contours and the eloquent restraint of the gestures only intensify the emotional power of the image. The nobility and suffering of these figures was meant to move monks and visiting worshipers toward a deeper involvement with their own meditations. This depiction of the Crucifixion has symbolic as well as emotional power. The mound of rocks and the skull at the bottom of the cross represent Golgotha, the "place of the skull," the hill outside ancient Jerusalem where Adam was thought to be buried and where the Crucifixion was said to have taken place. Christians saw Jesus Christ as the new Adam, whose sacrifice on the cross saved humanity from the sins brought into the world by Adam and Eve.

Christ Pantokrator

Middle Byzantine The main dome of this church has retained its riveting image of the Pantokrator, centered at the crest of the dome like a seal of divine sanction and surveillance (fig. 8-21). This imposing figure manages to be elegant and awesome at the same time. Christ blesses or addresses the assembled congregation with one hand, while the slender, attenuated fingers of the other spread to clutch a massive book securely. In the squinches of the corner piers are four signal episodes from his life: Annunciation, Nativity, Baptism, and Transfiguration.

Lamentation

Middle Byzantine It represents well the growing emphasis on capturing the emotionalism of sacred narrative, already noted at Daphni. In the upper part of one wall, the scene of the lamentation over the dead body of Christ (fig. 8-23)—a non-biblical episode that seems to have been developed during the twelfth century—forges a direct link with viewers' emotions. The narrative emphasis is on the Virgin's anguish as she cradles the lifeless body of her son in the broad extension of her lap, pulling his head toward her, cheek to cheek, in a final embrace. Behind her, St. John bends to lift Jesus's hand to his cheek, conforming to a progressively descending diagonal arrangement of mourners that tumbles from the mountainous backdrop toward resolution in the limp torso of the savior. Such emotional expressions of human grief in human terms will be taken up again in Italy by Giotto over a century later

Dome of the Rock

Muslim shrine containing the rock from which Mohammad is believed to have risen to heaven; Jews believe Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac on the rock In the center of Jerusalem rises the Haram al-Sharif ("Noble Sanctuary"), a rocky outcrop from which Muslims believe Muhammad ascended to the presence of God on the "Night Journey" described in the Qur'an, as well as the site of the First and Second Jewish Temples. Jews and Christians variously associate this place with Solomon, the site of the creation of Adam, and the place where the patriarch Abraham prepared to sacrifice his son Isaac at the command of God. In 691-692, a domed shrine was built over the rock (fig. 9-3), employing artists trained in the Byzantine tradition to create the first great monument of Islamic art. By assertively appropriating a site holy to Jews and Christians, the Dome of the Rock manifested Islam's view of itself as completing and superseding the prophecies of those faiths.

Catacomb of Priscilla

Rome, Italy. Late Antique Europe. c. 200-400 C.E. Excavated tufa and fresco.

Santa Sabina

Rome, Italy. Late Antique Europe. c. 422-432 C.E. Brick and stone, wooden roof.

Glass Oil Lamp

Syria or Egypt, Mamluk Dynasty, 13th c. CE Partly because the mosque in the Sultan Hasan complex—and many smaller establishments—required hundreds of lamps, glassmaking was a booming industry in Egypt and Syria . Islamic artists also used glass for beakers and bottles, but lamps, lit from within by oil and wick, glowed with special brilliance inside expansive architectural interiors

psalter

The Book of Psalms of the Old Testament, which contains 150 Psalms.

Ambulatory

The building is a tall rotunda with an encircling barrel-vaulted passageway

central plan

a church having a circular plan with the altar in the middle tombs provided a model for baptisteries and martyrs' shrines.

Longitudinal plan

a church plan with a long nave and side aisles. If it has a transept, it is more accurately called a Latin cross or cruciform plan. pagan basilicas provided the model for congregational churches

Pendentives

a curved triangle of vaulting formed by the intersection of a dome with its supporting arches.

muqarnas

a honeycomb-like decoration often applied in Islamic buildings to domes, niches, capitals, or vaults. The surface resembles intricate stalactites

Mosaic

a picture or pattern produced by arranging together small colored pieces of hard material, such as stone, tile, or glass.

Minbar

a short flight of steps used as a platform by a preacher in a mosque.

minbar

a short flight of steps used as a platform by a preacher in a mosque.

Martyrium

a shrine built over a place of martyrdom or a grave of a martyred Christian saint

Squinches

a system shaped like an octagon that supports a dome using arches, corbels or lintels to bridge the corners of the supporting wall and form the octagon inscribed in the square

Continuous narrative

a type of narrative that illustrates multiple scenes of a narrative within a single frame

pier

a vertical support that holds up an arch or a vault

Mandorla

an almond-shaped nimbus surrounding the figure of christ or other sacred figure (body halo)

Priestess of Bacchus

commemorates a marriage and joining of two families 390-401 AD - Late Empire ivory diptyzh dedicated to Bacchus - wine shows pagan religious practices typical Roman dress other side = husband's family

Manuscripts

hand-written copies of old documents, specifically those which contain part or all of the Scriptures

iconoclasm

initiating the systematic destruction of images of saints and sacred stories on icons and in churches, as well as the persecution of those who made them and defended their use.

Narrative image vs. iconic image

narrative image is a picture that recounts an event drawn from a story, either factual (e.g. biographical) or fictional. iconic image is a picture that expresses or embodies an intangible concept or idea.

calligraphy

the art of fine handwriting

Qibla Wall

the wall of a mosque that faces Mecca; the wall Muslims face when praying

Scriptoria

writing rooms where monks copied the works of early Christianity, such as the Bible, but also the works of Latin classical authors