BYZANTINE SCHOOL OF ART. 



781 



from the ear, in bracelets and in necklaces. The 

 whole mantle was often garnished with precious 

 stones, -and round the edge ran a double row of pearls. 

 Such garments the emperors used to change several 

 times a-day. As such exterior ornaments are foreign 

 from sculpture, which prefers the naked figure, or a 

 simple drapery, it is easy to see why the production 

 of statues ceased so soon. In the lists of Byzantine 

 works of sculpture given by authors of the first cen- 

 turies, there are no images of Christ, no statues of 

 apostles and saints. Instead of them, we find only 

 crucifixes, painted, or ornamented with mosaic work. 

 If there were any such images in earlier times, they 

 must have been destroyed in the time of the Icono- 

 clasts (q. \.), as was the case with the bronze statue 

 of Christ, near that of Constantine, which was demol- 

 ished by Leo the general destroyer of images, and 

 the representations of the Good Shepherd, praised by 

 Eusebius, and that of Daniel among the Lions, with 

 which Constantine adorned the public fountains. An 

 image of the Saviour, surrounded by angels, and 

 worked in mosaic, is described by Photius. We also 

 find mention of the images of two angels upon the 

 forum of Constantine, the representation of Adam and 

 Eve, the bronze statue of Moses, with which Justin- 

 ian is said to have ornamented the curiee, and that of 

 Solomon, of an earlier date. According to Eusebius, 

 the roof of the palace in Constantinople was also de- 

 corated with rich mosaics of gold and costly stones, re- 

 presenting scenes from the passion of Christ ; and an- 

 other, which Justinian erected, in Chalcis, contained 

 representations of events in the war against the Van- 

 dals. The most celebrated of all the mosaics in the 

 interior of St Sophia's church in Constantinople has 

 been preserved in fragments to modern times. The 

 taste of those times inclined, in general, more to mo- 

 saic works than to sculpture ; because the former were 

 rendered attractive by the costliness and colours of 

 the stones. Sculpture was employed particularly in 

 ornamenting altars, tabernacles, holy vessels, and 

 urns, which were made of the most precious marble. 

 The art of engraving on stones was also long pre- 

 served. In the art of painting, which was imitated 

 in mosaic, the taste of this age was the same as in 

 sculpture pleased with gold and lively colours, but 

 careless about truth of representation, and beauty and 

 grandeur of conception. The first germ of a Christian 

 style of art was, however, developed in the Byzantine 

 pictures. The ideal representations of human figures, 

 which the ancient Grecian artists had exhibited in 

 their master-works, were necessarily given up by 

 Christian artists: another ideal was to be formed, 

 which should not recall the odious features of pagan- 

 ism. But the ideal of the Saviour, of the mother of 

 Christ, and of his apostles, could be formed only by 

 degrees. The artists, who had nothing real and ma- 

 terial before them, but were obliged to find, in their 

 own imaginations, conceptions of the external appear- 

 ance of sacred persons, could give but feeble sketches 

 of their ideas by means of their imperfect art. In their 

 representations of Jesus and his apostles, they finally 

 adopted the national features of the Jews. In the 

 figure, and sometimes even in the countenance, they 

 imitated the external appearance of some revered 

 bishop. The hands were often lifted, as in blessing, 

 or one hand was laid upon the breast, or holding a 

 book. Thus the figures of the founders of the Chris- 

 tian church were first represented in paintings. They 

 were also exhibited in mosaic, but not in marble. 

 Christian subjects, indeed, are generally more suited 

 to painting, which gives the outward expression of 

 the mind, by means of light, and shade, and colours, 

 than to sculpture, which, on the contrary, elevates 

 the external form to a kind of spiritual dignity. A s 

 the artists cared but little for a faithful imitation of 



nature, but were satisfied with repeating wliat was 

 once acknowledged as successful, it is not strange thai 

 certain forms, introduced by the authority of some, 

 celebrated artists, and approved by the taste of the 

 time, should be made, by convention, and without 

 regard to truth and beauty, general models of the 

 human figure, and be transmitted as such to succeed- 

 ing times. In his treatise on the continuation of the 

 arts in Constantinople (Comment. Soc., Gotting., vol. 

 xiii.), Heyne remarks, that art continued to be exer- 

 cised here, as far as it consists in mechanical skill, in 

 the use of instruments, in particular rules and gener- 

 al precepts ; but taste, and a sense for truth and sim- 

 ple beauty, had vanished. Delicacy, elegance, and 

 gracefulness in design, proportion of parts, harmony 

 of the figures, and oeauty of form, were lost. The 

 artists did not even aim at an accurate representation, 

 but were contented with rude and general outlines, 

 as may be seen in the coins of the time. These de- 

 formed and meagre figures were slavishly copied, and 

 labour was lavished on costly, and often tasteless, or- 

 naments. A certain propensity to the grotesque pre- 

 vailed, even in architecture. The influence of an- 

 cient works of art continually decreased as their num- 

 ber was diminished by the violences of war, by su- 

 perstition, by avarice, and by the hand of time. Most 

 of the then existing works of antiquity perished in the 

 capture of Constantinople, during the crusades of 

 1204 and 1261 ; and thus the city had long been de- 

 prived of its most beautiful ornaments, when it was 

 taken by the Turks, in 1453. 



This was, in general, the state of art in the Byzan- 

 tine empire. Its influence has been felt ever since ; 

 in earlier times, by the connexion of the imperial re- 

 sidence in the East with the Western Empire, and af- 

 terwards by commercial intercourse and the crusades. 



Let us first consider this connexion of the lower 

 Greek art with the west of Europe, and, in particular, 

 with Italy. According to Stieglitz (on German Ar 

 chitecture), the character of the lower Greek archi- 

 tecture was tranquillity and simplicity, originating 

 from poverty of ideas and materials, and terminating 

 in heaviness. But this architecture, which prevailed 

 till the earlier part of the middle ages, preserved the 

 seed, from which, in later times, a new and better 

 style sprang up. Constantinople became a school of 

 architecture, from which artists issued to all parts of 

 the Roman empire, as far as Britain, to erect church- 

 es after the model of St Sophia. They also pene- 

 trated into the countries of the East, introducing their 

 art among the Arabians, who applied it to the erec- 

 tion of their mosques, and among the Moors in Spain, 

 who formed their own style from it. The lower 

 Greek or Byzantine style kept itself pure and uncor- 

 rupted in Italy, under the Lombards, as well as un- 

 der the Goths, whose artists came from the East ; and 

 thence it spread, during the reign of Charlemagne, 

 to Germany, Gaul, and Britain. The style of archi- 

 tecture introduced by Charlemagne into Germany, 

 was a corruption of that prevailing in the lower 

 Greek empire, from which, together with the Arabi- 

 an and German style, sprang the true German or 

 Gothic architecture, which flourished from the 13th 

 to the 16th century. (See Architecture, History of.) 

 The basso-relievos on the oldest churches in Germany, 

 and some pictures in them, still show the traces of 

 the lower Grecian art. There are also to be found 

 in Gori (e. g., Diptych, vol. 3. p. 33 and 270, tab. iv. 

 and xxiii.) and Ciampini {Vet. Moniment., part ii, 

 p. 104, tab. xxix.), representations of Italian and Gal- 

 lic sculpture, which, in their drapery, ornaments, 

 and architectural forms, betray a Byzantine ori- 

 gin. In regard to painting, we are indebted to the 

 Byzantines for the preservation of some portion of 

 its ancient excellence. As, in the early period of 



