Research Paper on Art in Byzantine Empire is published for informational purposes only. The free papers are not written by our writers, they are contributed by users, so we are not responsible for the content of this free sample paper. If you want to buy a quality essay paper on Research Paper on Art in Byzantine Empire at affordable prices please use our essay writing services offered by EssayEmpire.

Byzantine art is the term commonly used to describe the artistic products of the Eastern Roman Empire from about the 5th century until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. (The Roman Empire during this period is conventionally known as the Byzantine Empire.)

The term can also be used for the art of states which were contemporary with the Byzantine Empire and shared a common culture with it, without actually being part of it, such as Bulgaria, Serbia or Russia, and also Venice, which had close ties to the Byzantine Empire despite being in other respects part of western European culture. It can also be used for the art of peoples of the former Byzantine Empire under the rule of the Ottoman Empire after 1453. In some respects the Byzantine artistic tradition has continued in Greece, Russia and other Eastern Orthodox countries to the present day.

The finest work, the most elegant, and the most accomplished technically, was, naturally enough, associated with the Byzantine capital, Constantinople, which was the very hub of the civilized world from the foundation of the city as capital around 330 till its conquest by the Turks in 1453. But there were other great centers too. In Rome, Milan, Ravenna, and elsewhere in the West works of the greatest importance that were in no way provincial were executed in the early years of Christendom, though little of quality was produced there that belongs to the period covered by this essay. In Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and elsewhere in the East a great deal was also being done in early times and production continued there till Syria, Palestine, and Egypt were overrun by the Moslems just before the middle of the seventh century. Though little remains on the spot, quite a large number of portable works can be assigned to these places; they mostly found their way to Cathedral Treasuries and monasteries in the West at an early date. Many smaller centers in the East were also far from insignificant, and as we proceed we will have cause to call attention to paintings and carvings in ivory which must have been produced in out-of-the-way places rather than in the great centers; they are naturally less sophisticated, but they nonetheless show the heritage of a great tradition, and sometimes, in addition, they are distinguished by the originality and freshness characteristic of a young art.

Our survey will thus be a wide sweeping one from the point of view of the area it embraces; it will also include works of a very diverse character. Something will be said of architecture, 'the mother of the arts' and the frame in which so many of the other works we speak of were set. The great mosaics and wall-paintings will receive full consideration, and so will book-illustrations and panel-paintings --icons as they are usually called. But in the East Christian world the close distinctions so often drawn in the West between 'art' and craft' were never really applicable, and the things on a small scale, ivory carvings, textiles, works in precious metal or enamels, even pottery, are often just as much works of art as are large-scale paintings or sculptures. The small things, too, will therefore receive attention in the text and figure frequently among the illustrations.

This does not mean, of course, that no large-scale works were produced. The great mosaics of the Byzantine world, the wall paintings of Coptic Egypt or the Balkans, the sculptures that adorn the tympana or even the entire facades of many a church in Armenia and Georgia are all on a major scale. Indeed, the actual area of wall space that was covered by mosaics and paintings in the East Christian world has probably never been exceeded, even in Renaissance Italy, and though much has perished, work that extends over very many square meters still survives. Some of it is, of course, primitive, some of it rather crude, but much also is of very high quality and serves to convey to us, if only vaguely, something of the glory that once characterized the Church art of a whole section of the Christian world. On the evidence of what does remain a picture of what there was that is not wholly inaccurate can be reconstructed.

The adoption of Christianity by Constantine as the official religion of the Roman Empire through the Edict of Milan in 313 marks a turning-point in ecclesiastical history, but hardly in art, for old pagan ideas and motifs were taken over lock, stock, and barrel, and there were few immediate changes in style that could be attributed to the new faith rather than to the inevitable changes which were taking place as the result of the progress of time. The transference of the capital from Rome in Latin Italy to Constantinople in the Hellenistic Greek world in 330 marks another break, which was more significant as far as art was concerned, for it brought the Court and the Church, the two main sources of patronage, into the orbit of a new and distinct culture, in part Greek and in part Eastern. The Sack of Rome by barbarian Goths in 410 is also an important date, as is the year 476, when the last of the independent Roman emperors ceased to rule in the West. But more vital for art than all these was the reign of Justinian ( 527-65), for then the new Byzantine Empire was set on a sure foundation and an art and architecture which were both wholly Christian and also wholly new saw their first flowering. Change had, it is true, set in before Justinian's day, for the new style was already budding when he came to the throne, and the beginning of the sixth century represents perhaps the true turning-point between the end of the old world and the beginning of the new, but it was Justinian's lavish patronage that established the new age firmly and definitely. . .

Free essays are not written to satisfy your specific instructions. You can order a term paper, research paper or custom essay on Research Paper on Art in Byzantine Empire at our site which offers professional essay writing services. Get your high quality custom paper at affordable price. EssayEmpire is the best solution for those who seek help in essay writing related to Research Paper on Art in Byzantine Empire and other relevant topics.