Architecture

ARCHITECTURE.) Decoration.—The glass mosaics which decorated the upper walls and vaults of the typical Byzantine ecclesiastical interior tended more and more to become a flat surface of colour, sym metrically adorned. This tendency may be observed, in the 5th century, eliminating what remains of the classical mosaic tech nique; in the 6th it triumphs. Green, blue and gold dominate in the 4th and 5th centuries; white, purple and gold in the 6th. Early wall-mosaics of the 5th and 6th centuries survive at Ra venna; those in S. Vitale representing Justinian and Theodora are particularly well known; these, unfortunately, have been radically restored. The 6th century work at Parenzo has also suffered. Purer examples of the 5th century survive in Milan (S. Aquilino), and also, more abundantly, in the magnificent dome of S. George and in the Parascheve at Salonika. The Salonika examples are precious witnesses to the quality of early Byzantine mosaic, which cannot be appreciated at Ravenna.

The floor, like all the other surfaces of a Byzantine building, is treated as part of the composition. The colour scheme of the mosaic pavement is duller than that of the surfaces above : earthy browns and yellows are enlivened by black and white, by red and green, and rarely, as at Aquileia, by a few tesserae of coloured glass. On this pavement are set the great white cubes of the bases from which rise columns of grey-green cipollino, red porphyry or dark green verde antico. The lower walls are wainscoted with slabs of similar marbles, to which are often added red cipollino and other marbles, the veins of which are disposed in symmetrical designs. Between the zone of coloured marbles and the mosaic runs a white line of imposts and capitals. Doors are plated with bronze, and enriched with scrolls in relief or with silver inlay. In such a decorative system, built up of precious materials, the painted plaster of frescoes can have no place except where the community is unable to afford anything better.

The system that came to culmination in S. Sophia may also be studied in SS. Sergius and Bacchus in Constantinople; in S. Sophia in Salonika and in S. Vitale at Ravenna. Fifth and 6th century basilicas in which the same principles are applied to a simpler scheme of construction exist in Ravenna, Grado and Parenzo; at Salonika ; in Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine and North Africa.

Sculpture.

Little sculpture in the round remains from the early period. Indeed the general scheme of the Byzantine church does not require figure sculpture. The remains are chiefly f rag ments of imperial portraits. Plate I., fig. 5 shows a highly accom plished head in the Castello at Milan, which may represent the Em press Theodora. With the exception of a porphyry head at Venice mentioned below, this is the last Byzantine imperial portrait in the round known to us. We have some 3o pieces of 4th century imperial sculpture, of which may be mentioned : a colossal bronze head, probably of Constantius II., in the Conservatori Museum at Rome, a colossal bronze statue, perhaps of Valentinian I., at Barletta, the reliefs on the base of the obelisk of Theodosius in the Hippodrome at Constantinople, and a porphyry torso in the Archbishop's palace at Ravenna (possibly 5th century). Three female heads in chalky white marble, one in the Louvre and two in Rome, probably represent the Empress Ariadne (c. 500), and are inferior to the heads reproduced on Plate I. Early Byzan tine religious sculpture is even rarer. A series of busts of prophets from Asia Minor, now in the Constantinople museum, show a tolerable 4th century Byzantine style, and a white marble head from Ephesus in the Vienna National Museum (Pl. I., fig. 6) is one of the very rare examples of quality. A group of sarcophagi apparently carved in Asia Minor, and taking their name from one found at Sidamara, show Byzantine characteristics in some of the later examples. Small figures representing the Good Shep herd in the Constantinople museum may also be mentioned. Egypt, then a province of the empire, has given us carved tomb stones and a certain amount of decorative sculpture, which can only be dated by reference to 5th and 6th century monuments in the capital. The flat carving of the tombstones is a provincial variation of the Constantinople style. Small figures disporting themselves among the architectural ornament of doors and win dows show a more local manner with a predilection for the nude treated in a rather jocose spirit. The dry soil of Egypt has also preserved early wood-carving. In wood and ivory-carving, as well as in the woollen textiles, great numbers of which survive, showing a wealth of decorative motive, this Copto-Byzantine art merges into the early Islamic art of Egypt.

Decorative Arts.

In the middle of the 6th century, the Chi nese monopoly of silk-growing was broken, and silk-weaving became a Byzantine industry. The Cluny Museum possesses a typical textile of this period, showing a chariot-racer in the hippo drome. This scene, which was repeated in the other medallions, is perfectly symmetrical. The style is that of dated consular diptychs of the earlier 6th century. The spandrels, however, have a Persian look about them. Thus, at the very inception of Byzan tine silk-weaving, a phenomenon, later common, appears : the choice of Sassanian subjects. To what extent the result can properly be described as Oriental is uncertain. No known textiles can be proved to be Sassanian, and few of the Sassanian monu ments, such as rock-reliefs and figured silver dishes, show the balanced composition characteristic of Byzantine textiles. Such compositions do appear on the reverses of the 4th century Byzantine coins and, for instance, on the 4th century silver discs of Valentinian II. (at Geneva) and of Theodosius (at Madrid). The Cluny charioteer silk is lead-blue shot with red, the design being in tawny yellow. It has been supposed that this rather simple scheme of colour is characteristic of Constantinople, and that brighter and more varied hues mark Alexandrian manu facture. However, other textiles in which simple, sombre colours prevail have also been found in Egypt. Fragments illustrating these may be seen in most of the big museums and church treasures.

Ivory carving takes on new life in the 4th century. Panels cut out of large tusks were carved with Christian, secular and even Pagan scenes. A series of dated consular diptychs, of which the earliest is that of Probus (406) at Aosta, and none later than 541 when the consulate was abolished, assist in dating other carvings. The qualities of the material lead the ivory carver to use round contours, and perhaps for this reason, even in the 6th century, his work keeps a superficial resemblance to the antique. The most important example of this art is the throne of Maximian at Ravenna, probably made between 545 and 556. (Pl. II., fig. 5.) In silver plate, the Byzantines allowed the metal to produce its effect in simple masses, instead of covering it with the typical Roman naturalistic ornament. Plain round, square and triangular dishes with pearl borders, and large votive discs are typical of the 4th century. For the 5th and 6th we have mostly church plate, much of it bearing religious scenes. Some of the best 6th century examples appear to have been made in Syria. The compositions on them, although symmetrical, are dramatic, and recall paintings on Syriac manuscripts such as the Rabula Gospels at Florence (dated 586).

Few illuminated manuscripts of this period have come down to us. Two Virgils in the Vatican and one in Milan are probably of the late 4th century or of the early 5th, and have about them little that is Byzantine except a vivid scheme of colouring which Wickhoff has conveniently called impressionistic. The Rabula Gospels are not only dated but are known to have been written in Mesopotamia. Their artistic merit is small, but they help to date better examples: a codex preserved at Rossano, and the Sinope fragment in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. These illuminations are as gorgeous as mosaics : the parchment is stained a deep imperial purple, the lettering is gold or silver and the other colours are intense. White is much used as in 6th century Mosaics. A Genesis in Vienna and the charred remains of the Cotton Bible in the British Museum show a style like that of the Rossano codex.

Sixth century representations of imperial personages in mosaic (S. Vitale) or sculpture, on ivory carvings and coins, display masses of heavy jewellery and ropes of enormous pearls. Examples of such jewellery exist : gold earrings with pearl, garnet or sap phire pendants, and gold and silver gilt brooches enriched with stones, paste or enamel. Votive crowns hung over the altar of S. Sophia, perhaps not unlike those preserved in the treasure at Monza and in the Cluny museum. The gold circlets are studded with sapphires, garnets, emeralds and pearls, and long pendants hang from them. The Byzantines never cut precious stones into small regular facets which, while making the jewel sparkle, detract from the colour and the quality of the stone. Very few existing examples of enamel (q.v.) can be dated as early as the 6th century.