Byzantine

A large portion of the art we see coming from the Byzantine and Early Medieval periods are very stylized. The artworks that are depicting a holy figure or event seem to lack a realistic look more so than any of the other art coming from these periods. We see this probably because the artists are not focused on the naturalism of the piece, but rather depicting a holy figure and representing the power they hold or what they are capable of.

In the image of Christ Enthroned, flanked by angels, Saint Vitalis and Bishop Ecclesius, found on page 239, we see several characteristics that make the image come off as very stylized. This image is located in the halfdome of the sanctuary apse in the Church of San Vitale and stands out greatly due to its gold background. The gold background is something in the image that does not come off as naturalistic. While it makes this image standout and look very grand, which was most likely the purpose behind the gold background, it is not something that we see in real life. If this was a naturalistic mosaic chances are we would be seeing the background blue as if it were the sky. Something that also makes this mosaic appear to be stylized is that Christ seems to be sitting or floating atop of a blue orb. This again is not something we would see in a naturalistic mosaic or in real life. They are showing him atop the blue orb as a representation of the four rivers that flow underneath him, however it is a very literal representation of him being above the rivers. One last thing that makes this appear as a stylized work of art is the landscape beneath the figures. The landscape represented is very small in comparison to the figures. The trees appear to be the same height as the figure’s ankles, which is quite clearly not a naturalistic representation of the trees or the figures. The use of hierarchy of scale makes it quite clear that the figures are the most important component to the mosaic and everything else is small in size so they don’t take away from the figures. The use of hierarchy of scale is generally not something we see in realistic pieces of art.

 Similarly, in the Virgin and Child with Saints and Angels, found on page 245, we see several characteristics that make this image appear to be more stylized rather than realistic. First off we see one of the main things that attract our eyes, which is the gold disks or halos behind the figures heads. This is quite obviously something that we do not see in the real world or in our day to day lives. These figures are shown with these halos to represent that they are in fact holy. In a naturalistic painting we would see the figures more realistically represented so we could tell who they are and that they are holy. Another stylized characteristic that we see is that the figures are elongated. We specifically see this elongation in the legs of the figures. As you can see both the men standing on either side of the Virgin have very long thighs and in comparison the distance from the knees to their ankles are very short. The human form in realistic paintings are shown in proportion. The last characteristic that we see in this artwork that is stylized is that the faces of these figures are outlined. This takes away from the realism however, it makes each face standout and attract attention.