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Byzantine art

Byzantine art was the art of the eastern Roman Empire and the Orthodox Church. It is known for glowing gold mosaics, sacred icons and domed churches.

Period
Medieval art and global traditions
Approximate dates
c. 330 to 1453 CE
Place of origin
Constantinople (now Istanbul)
Key regions
Eastern Mediterranean, Balkans, Russia, Ravenna
Art forms
Mosaic, icon painting, manuscript illumination, church architecture
Major artists
Mostly anonymous artists

Visual introduction

  • Hagia Sophia

    Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus · 537 CE · Brick, stone and mosaic · Istanbul

    A vast dome seems to float above a ring of windows and shows Byzantine engineering and sacred design.

    Image: Photo: Arild Vågen, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

  • Mosaic of Emperor Justinian and his court

    Unknown · c. 547 CE · Glass and stone mosaic · Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna

    Shows imperial power presented through flat figures and a golden background.

    Image: Photo: Steven Zucker, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

  • Christ Pantocrator icon

    Unknown · 6th century · Encaustic on panel · Saint Catherine's Monastery, Sinai

    One of the oldest surviving icons, showing the severe and the gentle sides of Christ in one face.

    Image: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Historical context

After the Roman capital moved to Constantinople in 330 CE, the eastern empire continued for over a thousand years. Christianity shaped its art, and emperors built great churches such as Hagia Sophia in the 530s. In the 700s and 800s, a long dispute over whether images of holy figures should be allowed, known as iconoclasm, changed what could be made.

Byzantine style spread to Russia, the Balkans and parts of Italy, and it influenced later medieval and early Renaissance painting.

Visual characteristics

Form: figures are flat, frontal and calm, with large eyes, to suggest spiritual presence rather than physical reality.

Colour and materials: gold backgrounds, made with tiny glass and gold tesserae in mosaic, or gold leaf on wood panels in icons, represent heavenly light.

Space: there is little linear perspective. Importance, not distance, decides size and position.

Related movements

Sources and further reading

Further reading: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Tate, Art Terms. Smarthistory.