Icon with the Archangel Gabriel, one of more than 350 works in the Met
show. Loaned by the Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine, in Sinai, Egypt
A new exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is
perhaps the largest show ever assembled of late-Byzantine art, with
works created in the medieval empire that extended from what is now
Russia and Ukraine, to the Balkan states, to Turkey, Greece and Egypt.
Byzantium: Faith and Power is on view through July 4.
Byzantium, the eastern half of the Roman Empire, has been called the
most brilliant of medieval civilizations. At its height, the
thousand-year Byzantine empire encompassed lands ranging from what is
now Russia to Egypt. Its capital was Constantinople, the "New Rome" -
the city that is now Istanbul, Turkey. Founded upon Eastern Orthodox
Christianity, the works created by Byzantium's far-flung artists were in
the service of that mystical faith.
Icon with the Hospitality (Philoxenia) of Abraham, late 14th century,
loaned for the Met show by the Benaki Museum, Athens
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's vast new show of late-Byzantine art
begins in 1261 and ends in 1557, a century after Byzantium had fallen to
the Ottoman Turks. "What we have done," says curator Helen Evans, "is to
bring together not only the art of the empire itself, but from all its
immediate rivals, to show us how they are competing for political
authority, they patronize the arts and create magnificent works of
art -most of which that survive are for the church."
The show includes 350 paintings, mosaics, decorated manuscripts, and
works in textiles, gemstones, and precious metals, even some
architectural relics. Many have rarely been seen in public or never
shown outside the churches or monasteries where they've been preserved.
"We've worked in one way or another on this show for seven years," Ms.
Evans says. "We've borrowed from nearly 30 countries. We've borrowed
from 123 institutions. The countries we've borrowed from range from
Egypt in the south to Russia in the north, from Syria, to England. We
have a number of works from countries that were central to the imperial
Byzantine state: from modern Greece, from modern Turkey, from the states
in the Balkans, Serbia, Bulgaria."
The Holy Face of Laon, a 13th century Slavic icon, now on view at the
Met
Byzantine art looks away from the natural world, attempting instead to
represent what's eternal, divine and unchanging. The signal pieces in
the show are icons, religious images thought to be holy in themselves,
that are meant to be worshipped. They may be icons of individual saints,
like Saint Theodosia, or Russia's patron saints, Boris and Gleb.
Curator Helen Evans, next to 14th century icon of Russia's native saints
Boris and Gleb
Photo - C. Weaver
Ms. Evans describes one such icon, a large red and gold painting of the
two saints made in the 14th century. "This [is a] marvelous image of the
two men standing with their crosses of martyrdom and their swords
protecting Rus,' and dressed in robes that refer to the Byzantine world
of the court, particularly the red shoes that are the Byzantine symbol
of the royal family," she explains.
Diptych with Saint Prokopios and the Virgin Kykkotissa, ca. 1280s, on
loan to the Met from the Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine, Sinai,
Egypt,
Gold and gold paint were often used in the creation of this art, for
light was thought to signify divine presence. Most often, the figures
shown include Mary, the mother of Christ, and Jesus himself - both as an
infant and man. More than 40 precious icons and other objects were lent
by the ancient Monastery of Saint Catherine in Sinai, Egypt. They're
displayed in a gallery specially built to resemble the sixth-century
church where they usually hang.
In the 300 years covered by the Met exhibition, Serbia's kingdom emerged
as a major power in the Byzantine sphere. Serbia and Montenegro's Museum
in Belgrade, as well as the Serbian Orthodox Church, have lent a number
of major pieces to the Met show, says Ms. Evans.
Christ as the Man of Sorrows, ca. 1490, Brussels, on loan to the Met
from Musée de Brou, Bourg-en-Bresse, France
"Monumental and important works that speak for this culture at its peak,
and also speak for the whole of the Byzantine sphere," she says. "This
rosette window is an architectural fragment, as the label shows, from a
large building - so that people coming to the show have a sense of the
scale of the architecture of the period, they don't see Byzantium as
only small and delicate objects."
Byzantine art also influenced - and was influenced by - Islamic culture.
And as the last two galleries of the Met show illustrate, western
European art of the Renaissance was in turn influenced by the Byzantine
aesthetic - as can be seen in the work of El Greco, a Spanish artist,
born in Crete, who began as an icon painter.
