Gardners Art through the Ages A Global History

many earlier Byzantine frescoes and mosaics are gone in a return to

the fluid delineation of drapery characteristic of the long tradition

of classical illusionism.

Throughout the centuries, Byzantine artists looked back to Greco-

Roman illusionism. But unlike classical artists, Byzantine painters

and mosaicists were not concerned with the systematic observation

of material nature as the source of their representations of the eter-

nal. They drew their images from a persistent and conventionalized

vision of a spiritual world unsusceptible to change. That consistent

vision is what unites works as distant in time as the sixth-century

apse mosaic (FIG. 12-13) at Mount Sinai and the 14th-century fresco

in the Church of Christ in Chora.

OHRID ICONSByzantine spirituality was perhaps most in-

tensely revealed in icon painting. In the Late Byzantine period, the

Early Byzantine templon developed into an iconostasis,a high screen

with doors and tiers of icons. As its name implies, the iconostasis

supported tiers of painted devotional images, which began to be pro-

duced again in large numbers, both in Constantinople and through-

out the diminished Byzantine Empire.

One example (FIG. 12-31), notable for the lavish use of finely

etched silver foil to frame the painted figure of Christ as Savior of

Souls, dates to the beginning of the 14th century. It comes from

Saint Clement at Ohrid in Macedonia, where many Late Byzantine

icons imported from the capital have been preserved. The painter of

the Ohrid Christ, in a manner consistent with Byzantine art’s con-

servative nature, adhered to an iconographical and stylistic tradition

traceable to the earliest icons from the monastery at Mount Sinai.

As elsewhere (for example,FIG. 12-1), the Savior holds a bejeweled

Bible in his left hand while he blesses the faithful with his right hand.

The style is typical of Byzantine eclecticism. Note especially the

juxtaposition of Christ’s fully modeled head and neck, which reveal

the Byzantine painter’s Greco-Roman heritage, with the schematic

linear folds of Christ’s garment, which do not envelop the figure but

rather seem to be placed in front of it.

In the Late Byzantine period, icons often were painted on two

sides because they were intended to be carried in processions. When

deposited in the church, the icons were not mounted on the icono-

stasis but were exhibited on stands so worshipers could view both

sides. The Ohrid icon of Christ has a painting of the Crucifixion on

its reverse. Another double icon from Saint Clement’s, also imported

from Constantinople, represents the Virgin on the front as Christ’s

counterpart as Savior of Souls. The Annunciation (FIG. 12-32)

appears on the reverse. With a commanding gesture of heavenly

12-31Christ as Savior of Souls, icon from Saint Clement, Ohrid,

Macedonia, early 14th century. Tempera, linen, and silver on wood,

3 ^1 – 4  2  21 – 2 . Icon Gallery of Saint Clement, Ohrid.

Notable for the lavish use of finely etched silver foil, this icon typifies

Byzantine eclecticism. Christ’s fully modeled head and neck contrast

with the schematic linear folds of his garment.

12-32Annunciation, reverse of two-sided icon from Saint Clement,

Ohrid, Macedonia, early 14th century. Tempera and linen on wood,

3 ^1 – 4  2  23 – 4 . Icon Gallery of Saint Clement, Ohrid.

Late Byzantine icons often were painted on two sides because they

were intended to be carried in processions. On this icon the Virgin Mary

appears on the front and this Annunciation scene on the back.

Late Byzantine Art 337

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