Find Visual Feast of Works that Will Inspire Your Day

Become immersed in a bygone era of Byzantine Art with a two-hour virtual art tour. As the Roman Empire became Christianized, a new type of art began to displace Classical Greco-Roman Art. You will begin by learning about how this provincial style from Eastern provinces began and eventually took over all other art forms in the new Christian Roman Empire. The Classical Art form was dying out. But you will see it was only in the background waiting to be reborn as a reformed eclectic style which eventually helped to rebirth art in the High Middle Ages.

You will see third-century murals from Dura Europus, mosaics, and murals of late Byzantine Churches from Constantinople and Mystras, artworks from the churches of Hagia Sophia and Saint Vitale in Ravenna. There will also be a focus on sculptural and relief work that show elements of Classicism from the pagan Roman Empire with developments in Christian style. You will see examples of the fusion of Christian Art and Roman imperial ideology by viewing mosaics from Ravenna, Sinai, and Thessaloniki. We will delve into the explanation of how iconoclasm interrupted Byzantine art forms with the Arabic and Slavic invasions in the 7th and 8th centuries. Heading into the ninth century, you will see murals, mosaics, illuminated manuscripts, and paintings from this period. You will end your tour with an explanation of how the sacking of Constantinople in 1204 by the Crusaders created both an ending and a prelude for the Renaissance and Mannerism periods.

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Byzantine Art