ART 336 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Barberini Ivory, Theotokos, Pendentive
Document Summary
Classical style and motifs lived on in byzantine art in ivories such as this one. Justinian rides a rearing horse accompanied by personifications of victory and earth. Hagia sophia: justinian"s reign was the first golden age of byzantine art and architecture. Hagia sophia was the most magnificent of the more than 30 churches justinian built or restored in. Constantinople alone, fused two previously independent architectural traditions: the vertically oriented central-plan building and the longitudinally oriented basilica, domed basilica. Buttressing the great dome are eastern and western half-domes whose thrusts descend, in turn, into smaller half-domes surmounting columned exedrae, pendentive construction made possible hagia sophia"s lofty dome, which seems to ride on a halo of light. A contemporary said that the dome seemed to be suspended by a golden chain from heaven. San vitale: dome-covered, clerestory-lit central space defined by piers alternating with curved, columned exedrae, creating an intricate eight-leafed.