Williams 1
Susie R Williams
Arts 1303
Nataly Archbold
9 November 2013
Williams 2
Byzantine Art: Middle and Late Periods
I will first being by saying what Byzantine art is an art that was created during the
fifth and sixth centuries in the Byzantium area of Constantinople. Most of the art was designed
to worship the Eastern Orthodox Church Byzantine art which was excelled in the Justinian
period in the east during 520-540 AD, produced by Ravenna, the art was sectioned off into three
different periods. I will be comparing and contrasting the middle and late periods of byzantine
art.
The Middle Byzantine period resolution of the Iconoclastic controversy favored in the
use of icons in a second flowering of the empire. Art and architecture flourished during the
Middle Byzantine period, owing to the empire's growing wealth and broad base of affluent
patrons. Manuscript production reached an apogee, as did works in cloisonné enamel and stone
The Church of the Holy Wisdom, commonly known as H...
English: The Deesis mosaic in the Hagia Sophia, Is...
Topographical map of Constantinople during the Byz...and ivory carving. An intensified revival of interest in classical art forms and ancient literature
reflected Byzantium's continuous and active engagement with its ancient past throughout the
empire's long history (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009). For the Late Byzantine period
it was centered Constantinople, and then extended westward to northern and central Greece, and
south into the Peloponnesos (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009).
I had a little difficulty finding comparisons of the two periods, however I will list as
many comparisons as I can. The Middle and Late Byzantine can be compared by size,
architecture and its decorations. The finest surviving cycles of the Late Byzantine mosaics and
paintings are found in Istanbul's Kariye Camii, the former Church of Savior in the Chora
Monastery. These particular mosaics and paintings represent the climax of the humanism that
emerged in Middle Byzantine art...