Byzantine icon painting - Essay Example

Byzantine Icons. Byzantine art is the term used to refer to the artistic products of the Eastern Roman Empire from about the fifth century to the fall of Constantinople in 1453. It differs from classical art in its emphasis on Christian ethic and morality. The most important and dominant form of Byzantine art is the Byzantine icon. The word icon is derived from the Greek eikones and refers to sacred images representing Christ, the Virgin Mary and the saints. Although the contemporary term has come to represent wooden panel painting, icons could be crafted in all media, including marble, ivory, ceramic, gemstone, precious metal, enamel, textile, fresco, and mosaic.

Icons had various forms and functions. The size ranged from the miniature to the monumental. They could be church frescoes and mosaics, pendants, triptychs (with two hinged panels), or serve as mounted frames. (Metropolitan Museum of Art web site). Icons served as church decorations and also as personal images of devotion in homes. Icons are essentially devotional images, used as objects of veneration. They have profound spiritual meaning. In line with the spiritual nature of icons, they exhibit simplification and stylization.

Icons are characterized by vivid colors and often have gold backgrounds. They conform to prototype. They emphasize symbolic representation, rather than reality. There are no shadows and the subject emits light. They lack the dimension of depth. Due to their rejection of the temporal, physical world, the “backgrounds are dematerialized with shimmering gold, settings are schematized, and figures often appear timeless and static” (The National Gallery of Art web site). Works Cited. Brooks, Sarah.

“Icons and Iconoclasm in Byzantium.” Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2011. Retrieved from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/icon/hd_icon.htm “Tour: Byzantine Art and Painting in Italy during the 1200s and 1300s”. The Collection. National Gallery of Art. 2012. Retrieved from http://www.nga.gov/collection/gallery/gg1/gg1-over1.html#jump “Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep”. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. 2007. NIH Publication No.06-3440-c. 21 November, 2011.

Retrieved from http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/brain_basics/understanding_sleep.htm 2007 Subject: History and Political Science    Topic:  Byzantine icon painting Instructions: Byzantine art, especially the icons. Using your own words, first explain what an icon is and what it was used for. Then describe the style of Byzantine icon painting. How would you characterize the look of this distinctive religious paintin