Tag Archives: Byzantine Art

angel: flight and fight of faith

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Dave

Of Jacob’s meeting with the angel, the Bible says only, “And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.” There is no hint here that the stranger was anything but fully … Continue reading →

Posted in Shake Your Hips | Tagged basilica of monreale sicily, Byzantine Art, byzantine icons, Jacob meeting with angel, mosaic basilica of monreale, pillage of constantinople, saint michael the archangel, the crusades | Leave a comment

NOT OUR CROSS TO BEAR

Posted on April 1, 2010 by Dave

Between the material and the temporal, represented in Byzantium by the emperor and the imperial body politic, and the spiritual and the eternal, represented by the saints, there is the image forming world of the soul, the world of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Art History/Antiquity/Anthropology, Feature Article, Literature/poetry/spoken word, Miscellaneous, Visual Art/Sculpture/etc. | Tagged Alexius I Comnenus, Basil I the macedonian, Byzantine Art, Byzantium, Christ at Monreale Sicily, Church of Saint Catherine Mount Sinai, Constantine VII, Constantinople A.D. 330, Empress Irene Byzantium, Giles Constable, Hagia Sophia, Hellenistic art, Heraclius Byzantium, John Skylitzes, Justininian Byzantium, King Solomon, Monastery Daphne Athens, Nea Moni Chios, Ravenna Mosaics, Saint Luke Phocis, Santa Sophia Kiev, Sarsaian empire, Skylitzes manuscripts, Theodosius III Byzantium | Leave a comment

SAILING TO BYZANTIUM

Posted on March 31, 2010 by Dave

”They held in their lifeless hands the riches of their fathers, without inheriting the spirit which had created and improved that sacred patrimony:they read, they praised, they compiled. but their languid souls seemed alike incapable of thought and action. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Art History/Antiquity/Anthropology, Feature Article, Literature/poetry/spoken word, Miscellaneous, Visual Art/Sculpture/etc. | Tagged Alfred North Whitehead, Anastasius Byzantine, Barberini Ivory, Byzantine Art, Byzantium, Constantine The Great, Edward Gibbon, Hagia Sophia, Jesus, Justin II Byzantium, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, True Cross in Jerusalem, True Cross Vatican, W.B. Yeats, William Lecky | Leave a comment

WHERE THE WEST WAS WON

Posted on March 30, 2010 by Dave

The achievement of the Byzantines was to keep barbarians at bay, create a new art, preserve Western culture for a thousand years, and push a little further the limits of piety and depravity. It is only recently that the word … Continue reading →

Posted in Art History/Antiquity/Anthropology, Feature Article, Miscellaneous, Visual Art/Sculpture/etc. | Tagged Alfred North Whitehead, Byzantine Art, Byzantine Mosaics, Byzantium, Constantine The Great, Edward Gibbon, Hagia Sophia, Justinian, Leo VI, William Lecky | Leave a comment

HAIL MARYS AT THE SUPERNATURAL

Posted on February 9, 2010 by Dave

Giotto turned the art of painting from Greek or Byzantine into latin and rendered it modern. Duccio brought the Byzantine style to a fresh late flowering, that stopped short of complete transition. Giotto’s achievement gave painting the direction it was … Continue reading →

Posted in Art History/Antiquity/Anthropology, Feature Article, Miscellaneous, Visual Art/Sculpture/etc. | Tagged Byzantine Art, Duccio, Giorgio Vassari, Giotto, Giotto di Bordone, Hans Belting, Jaroslav Folda, Kathy Jo Wetter, Renaissance Art, Vasari, Vassari | Leave a comment

SOFT & SWEET SUPER BEINGS

Posted on February 9, 2010 by Dave

From today’s point of view, The unrealistic character of Duccio’s style is evident. It can even be relished as an abstract aspect of aesthetic intention. However, a comparison of Duccio to the masters of the Byzantine tradition shows that he … Continue reading →