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Justinian and His Retinue, c. 546.

Mosaic. Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy.

Theodora and Her Retinue, c. 546.

Mosaic. Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy.

In a large number of churches from the sixth and seventh centuries, such as the Hagia Sophia, mosaics pour out the wealth of their adornments and are displayed as brilliant works. Byzantine artists loved to depict huge compositions whose details were all distinct; they avoided subjects that involved a large number of figures mingled with one another; they gave preference to those with almost no action, the postures calm and regular, in which the characters could be arranged without at all disturbing the uniformed arrangement of the ensemble. At times they would place the same number on one side as on the other, so as not to disturb the compositional equilibrium. This principle of symmetry had to be maintained in Byzantine art. The painters’ mentality was so imbued with it that it was applied assiduously, even in the smallest works. For this reason this art, even while losing at times something on the side of authenticity and artistic freedom, was so well suited for the decoration of huge structures.

From a technical perspective, Byzantine tile setters had no less understood the demands of their art. While, during the Middle Ages, the number of shades was increased so as to attain the appearance of a fresco, the Byzantine artists only used them in small numbers, juxtaposing contrasting colours, neglecting intermediate shades. Since the mosaic is made to be seen from afar, the harshness of these contrasts is lost within the overall harmony of the work; but on the other hand, everything stands out with an incomparable vigor and brilliance. The figures leap out of a background of blue or intense gold; the vibrant and clear colours of the clothing form a powerful contrast with this uniform shade of the background. Often, a black line traces the outline of the body and facial features to better enhance the picture. Everything in the process contributes therefore to giving the work the look of a well composed piece that captures the attention through striving to create the illusion of poignant definition.

Some mosaics from this time can still be found in the East. In a church in Thessaloniki, which bore the same name and today has been transformed into a mosque, the Ascension of Christ is portrayed on the vault of the cupola, while on the apse, the Virgin, seated on a gem-encrusted throne, bears the Baby Jesus in her arms. One of the famous monasteries of Mt. Sinai preserves some mosaics that have been attributed to the same era, which reenact various episodes from the life of Moses and the Transfiguration of Christ.

Moreover, in Constantinople itself, this genre of decoration was used in more than just the churches: Procopius describes one mosaic found at the Great Palace. “The artists,” he says, “have depicted the wars and battles of the realm, the cities taken in Italy and Africa. Justinian is victorious, thanks to Belisarius, who, returning with his army brought him the loot of kings, kingdoms, and treasures. In the middle, Justinian and Theodora, filled with exultation, celebrate this triumph, while the kings of the Goths and the Vandals beg for clemency. Around them, the senators display their joy.”

St. Apollinare, sixth century.

Mosaic, Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna, Italy.

Christ Pantocrator, sixth century.

Icon. Monastery of St. Catherine, Mount Sinai, Egypt.

St. Peter, sixth century.

Icon. Monastery of St. Catherine, Mount Sinai, Egypt.

Codex Purpureus Rossanensis (Rossano Gospels), the Judgement of Pilate, sixth century.

Painting on parchment, 30 × 25 cm.

Cathedral Treasury, Rossano, Italy.

Genesis, Rebecca and Eliezer, sixth century.

Painting on parchment, 31 × 25 cm.

Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna.

Once again, it is to Ravenna that one must go to find the most beautiful Byzantine mosaics of the era. Of this genre, nothing is equal to the decoration of the apse of San Vitale. Immediately upon entering, the gaze is drawn to two large compositions of historical interest. On one side, Justinian surrounded by dignitaries and guards, and on the other side, Theodora attended by her retinue, offer gifts to the church: the empress crosses the atrium, where the holy fountain is located, while a servant raises before her the veils hung at the door of the temple. Her costume is splendid: large embroidery, depicting the Adoration of the Magi, adorns the hem of her cloak; jewels cover her chest; from her hair, coils of pearls and gems hang to her shoulders; a tall diadem crowns her haloed head. This is a vibrant evocation of the past: these symmetrically arranged figures, who are presented full-face, these women with their regular features, their large, fixed eyes, their uniformed posture, the splendour of their costumes, all this offers, finally, a glimpse of the court of Byzantium, which is impossible to forget, so rich and so elegant, and where a meticulous etiquette ruled.

It would be impossible to describe all the mosaics of San Vitale and the other buildings of Ravenna. However, one of the most remarkable is the long procession of female saints that unfolds atop the arcades of one nave in Sant’Apollinare Nuovo; they bear crowns to the Virgin; their attire is rich, their heads are adorned with mitres, but the regularity of their features, a slight and gracious incline of the head, gives them a particular charm. One involuntarily muses on classical Antiquity and certain works of incomparable perfection, where this idea of order and harmony dominates. Since this beautiful epoque of Greek art, many qualities have been lost; yet in these mosaics, one regains a sense of the relationship between the past and the present.

It is thus no less interesting to study the illuminated manuscripts from this era, which have preserved for us a smaller image of the big picture. One of the oldest, the manuscript of Genesis, kept in the National Library at Vienna, offers well-conceived compositions in which the artist discovered how to introduce life and grace into the illuminations and illustrations. The women in them are draped with an arrangement of elegantly simple folds, reminiscent of Antiquity.

A manuscript of the Gospel, found at Rossano in the south of Italy and dated to around the sixth century, contains an entire series of paintings whose subjects are borrowed from the New Testament.

A manuscript of the works of the doctor Dioscurides, also kept in Vienna, bears its date: it was written for a princess of the imperial family, Juliana Anicia, who lived in Constantinople at the end of the fifth century and the beginning of the sixth. It is not about religious events, and the painter seems to have been especially inspired by secular works. On the first sheet, Anicia is portrayed seated between two personifications, Magnanimity and Wisdom, while a prostrate woman kisses her feet and a winged genie presents her with an open book. Their posture is simple and natural, and the well drawn figures pleasantly stand out from a dark blue background. The framing is particularly exquisite – small Cupids engage in the artistic work, some painting, others sculpting or building. It is correct to say that these figures recall certain paintings from Pompey and Herculaneum; the resemblance is, in fact, surprising, and the technique is as free and as gracious.

The Laurentian Library in Florence possesses a Syriac manuscript, produced in 586 in a Mesopotamian convent, by a monk named Rabbula. Nearly every page is framed with a large architectural drawing, tall porticos, supported by fragile and elegant colonnettes.

On the façade or surrounding these delicate constructions, groups of birds, animals, and trees, treated in a graceful and researched style, then little scenes whose subjects are borrowed from the sacred texts. Toward the end of the volume are some compositions of greater proportions: one is famous because it displays one of the first examples of the Crucifixion.

Basilica of San Vitale, north wall, 527–548.

Mosaic. Ravenna, Italy.

St. Demetrios, seventh century.

Mosaic Thessaloniki, Greece.

Dioscorides, Princess Anicia Juliana, De Materia Medica, 512.

Painting on parchment, 36.5 × 26.6 cm.

Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna.

Rabbula Gospels, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, 586.

Manuscript, 33 × 25.5 cm.

Biblioteca Mediceo Laurenziana, Florence.

Rabbula Gospels, the Ascension, 586.

Manuscript, 33 × 25.2 cm.

Biblioteca Mediceo Laurenziana, Florence.

Codex Purpureus Rossanensis (Rossano Gospels), The Entry into Jerusalem, sixth century.

Manuscript, 31 × 26 cm.

Cathedral Treasury, Rossano, Italy.

The subjects treated in manuscripts are numerous: many belong to the Old Testament, some to the history of Christianity, such as the Lapidation of St. Peter and the Conversion of St. Paul. At the end of the manuscript is placed a large and beautiful illumination that occupies an entire page; at the top, two medallions contain images of Saints Anne and Simeon; beneath, Christ, the Virgin, St. John the Baptist, the great priest Zacharias, and St. Elizabeth are arranged beside each other. The posture of the characters, the religious serenity on their faces, the gold that gleams behind their halos and on their clothing all combine to give this painting an arresting appearance. It seems copied from some mosaic and, furthermore, is not of the same style as the preceding illuminations. These few observations are indicative of how complex the decoration of these manuscripts is. Sometimes they take us further into the past: even in the eighth or ninth century, painters had used ancient manuscripts whose images they repeated. But the artists whose works were being reproduced had by no means themselves created all these compositions: more akin to the third and fourth centuries, they knew those monuments, were inspired by them, so certain illuminations of the more recent edge of the Byzantine Empire can give a sense of the frescos that had decorated the most ancient churches. Previously, the well-known work of a famous artist would become a model that was copied almost exactly; this is why some illuminations appear to be reproductions of mosaics. On this point, one can give clear proof: thus the angel head framed in a medallion located at the Hagia Sophia reappeared many times and is seen again in a manuscript from the twelfth century.

As for mural painting, though the works themselves have been lost, the texts of contemporary writers make some examples known. The mosaic was a mode of decoration that was too extravagant to use always; so they often had to resort to the fresco. A rhetorician, Choricius, described at length those adorning a church in Gaza from the sixth century.