BYZANTINE
95
BYZANTINE
tecture, e. g. the churches of the Nativity, of the
Holy Sepulchre, and of the Ascension, built in
Palestine after the time of Constantino. This is still
more evident in the costly decorations of these
churches. The Oriental love of splendour is shown
in the piling up of domes and still more in facing the
walls with slabs of marble,
in mosaics (either opus see-
tile, small pieces, or opus
Alexandrinum, large slabs
cut in suitable shapes), in
gold and colour decorations,
and in the many-coloured
marbles of the columns and
other architectural details.
Nothing, however, seems to
betray the essentially Ori-
ental character of Byzantine
architecture so much as the
absence of work in the higher
forms of sculpture, and the
transformation of high into
low decoration by means
r of interwoven traceries, in
L which the chiselled orna-
ments became flatter, more
linear, and lacelike. Besides the vestibules which
originally surrounded St. Sophia, the columns with
their capitals recall the antique. These columns al-
most invariably supported arches instead of the archi-
trave and were, for that reason, re-enforced by a block
of stone (impost block) placed on the to) > and shaped to
conform to the arch, as may frequently be seen at Ra-
venna. Gradually, however, the capital itself was cut
to the broader form of a truncated square pyramid, as
in St. Sophia. The capitals are at times quite bare,
when they serve at the same time as imposts or inter-
mediate supporting blocks, at other times they are
marked with monograms or covered with a network of
■•arving, the latter transforming them into basketlike
capitals, flat ornamentations of flowers and animals
are also found, or leaves arbitrarily arranged. Much
of this reminds one of the Romanesque style, but
the details are done more carefully. The fortresslike
character of the church buildings, the sharp expression
of the constructive forms, the squatty appearance of
the domes, the bare grouping of many parts instead
of their organic connexion — these are all more in
accordance with the coarser work of the later period
than with the elegance of the Greek. Two other
types of Justinian's time are presented by the reno-
vated church of the Apostles and the church of
Sts. Sergius and Bacchus. Both churches are in the
capital. The latter somewhat resembles S. Vitale in Ravenna. It is a dome-crowned octagon with an exterior aisle. The former church (now destroyed) was built on the plan of a Greek Cross (with four equal arms) with a dome over the crossing and one over each arm.
During the period of the Macedonian emperors,
Basil 1 (867 886) and Leo VI (886 912), an upward trend in polities, literature, and art set in. The Greek basilica, which is a lengthened structure, bar- rel-vaulted and provided with one or more domes,
is also widely represented in this period, while the western form of basilica, with the W len ceiling,
is completely discarded. A type appearing more frequently is the domical church plan or the Greek- cross plan. The Koimesis, or Dormitio, in Xieaa
(ninth century I has a clear ba Mica plan. This is also true of the church of the Holy Mother of < iod (Hagia Theotokos) al Constantinople, dating from the tenth
century, and of the churches of Mt. Athos. The church at Skripu in Bceotia, of the same period, lias indeed three naves each ending in an apse, but the dome crowns the middle of the building as in the Greek-cross type. The exteriors of these churches.
which are usually rather small, are treated with
greater care and are artistically elaborated with
alternations of stone and brick, smaller domes over
the vestibules, a decidedly richer system of domes, and
the elevation of these domes by means of drums.
The interiors are decorated most gorgeously. It
seems that they could not do enough in this respect.
This can still be seen in the church of St. Luke in Pho-
cis, at Daphni, in the Nea Moni at Chio, and others.
In this period the perfected art of the capital becomes
the model for the empire as well as for regions be-
yond its borders: Syria. Armenia, Russia, Venice,
Middle and Southern Italy, and Sicily. For the
West, it is onlv necessary to mention the church of
St. Mark at Venice (978-1096).
After its occupation by the Crusaders (1204), Con- stantinople partly lost its character and at the same time the far-reaching influence of its intercourse with Western nations. There still remained four cen- tres of Byzantine art: the capital itself. .\It. Athos, Hellas, and Trebizond. The architecture of Mt.
\tlios presents the most faithful reflection of the Byzantine style. The model of the church of the monastery of Laura, belonging to the previous period, is more or less faithfully reproduced. A dome, sup- ported on four sides by barrel vaults, stands directly over the middle of the transept, which is terminated at either end by a round apse. A narthex, or rather two lead into the lengthened main hall. The real architectural ornaments are forced into the back- ground by the frescoes which take the place of the CO tly mosaics and which practically cover all avail- able wall surface. The architecture of this period remained stationary. It continued unchanged in the countries of the Greek Kite after the fall of Con- stantinople (1 153).
Fur the bibliography of Byzantine architecture and Hyzan-
1 1 j i . • : 1 1 t re km ui!\ //. /■ ,' l^iz.'ntith' I. iti ralurr (2mi
ed., Munich, 1897). in the appendix; Mii.i.kt, L'arl byzantin m Mnioi, Hist, dt l>"i Paris, 1905), I; Texier and Pullan, Byzantin* Vrchitecl ■ I *: It: Frothingham, Byzantine
i ■ Italy in Am. J Ircha logy (1894); Siiiy-
qowsk] Orient md Rom 1 '■■p,-!^, 1901 ), In., Klrinasum (Leip- zig, 1903); Hrehier, Eglisee byzantinea (Paris, 1906).
G. GlETMAW.
Byzantine Art signifies the art of the Eastern Roman Empire and of its capital Byzantium, or Constantinople. The term denotes more especially those qualities which distinguish this art from that of other countries, or which have caused it to exert an influence upon the art of regions outside of the I in Empire. Christian .-ut was dependent for
the representation of its new conceptions upon the forms which I he time and place of its origin hap- pened to offer, in ihe beginning, whether al Home, Ravenna, or Byzantium (Constantinople), it was equally influenced by classical art and by Eastern inclination to allegory. If is a distinguishing char- acteristic of Constantinople, however, thai it was able to maintain a more uniform classical tradition in the face of manifold < (riental influences. These two ele- ments, from the lime of Constantine, developed in the Byzantine art more and more of an individual character, though account must also be taken of the friendly intercourse with Western Europe during sev- eral hundred yeai Bi inning with the seventh cen- tury, the contrast between the art of the Eastern
Umpire and thai of 'lie Western grew more marked, and Byzantine art underwent a change. It rose to great splend ■ ler the Macedonian emperors
(867 1056), I hen declined up to 1453, and has since existed in the East in a petrified form, so to speak, up io t he present time The Byzantine Qi estion. In regard to the first
period ol Byzantine art. which closed either I the reign of Justinian or at the end of the sixth cen- tury, scholars differ greatly. Some, like Schnaase,
Strygowski, and Woermann, date Byzantine art
