LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Byzantine Art: Byzantine Empire
built 627 days ago
The subject matter of monumental Byzantine art was primarily religious and imperial: the two themes are often combined, as in the portraits of later Byzantine emperors that decorated the interior of the sixth-century church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. These preoccupations are partly a result of the pious and autocratic nature of Byzantine society, and partly a result of its economic structure: the wealth of the empire was concentrated in the hands of the church and the imperial office, which therefore had the greatest opportunity to undertake monumental artistic commissions.
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The art of mosaic achieved its fullest development in the Byzantine Empire, beginning in the early 5th century. Mosaic and church architecture were closely related, as certain subjects became identified with particular parts of the structure—Christ and the virgin Mary, for example, typically appearing in the central dome and apse respectively.
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Coptic art is quite often treated as isolated, but Egypt and its art are in the Byzantine and early Islamic Period part of the Byzantine and then Arab empires. Christian art in Egypt was always very much influenced by Byzantine art; only after the Arab conquest of Egypt (AD 641) did this influence become less important. Only for this period would the term 'Coptic art' seem to be accurate.
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Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire. The empire gradually emerged as a distinct entity after AD 330, when Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire to Byzantium, which was later renamed Constantinople and is now Istanbul.
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Eight hundred years of continuous Byzantine culture were brought to an abrupt end in 1204 with the sacking of Constantinople by the knights of the Fourth Crusade, a disaster from which the Empire never recovered. Although the Byzantines regained the city in 1261, the Empire was thereafter a small and weak state confined to the Greek peninsula and the islands of the Aegean.
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This exhibit departs from the viewpoint traditionally taken by exhibitions of Byzantine art which focus on the spirituality and splendor of the empire. “Byzantine Women and Their World” instead examines their daily activities by presenting “all facts of the female experience—religious and secular, public and private, noblewoman and commoner.” The theme of “Women at Work” links the two major categories of objects, public and private. The public sphere focuses on “female images of authority, such as empresses, the Virgin Mary, female saints, and personifications of cities.” Objects reflecting the private lives of Byzantine women depict women working at home, spinning and weaving, or engaging in activities related to marriage, home, and adornment.
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