HAA 0010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Ergotism, Kachina, Polyptych
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15 Mar 2015
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February 23
Art and the Sacred: Objects and Rituals
•split of the Roman Empire
osplit in 395
oone part centered in Constantinople
Byzantine Empire
thought of as a direct descendent of Roman Empire
•Constantinople is the new Rome
Eastern Orthodoxy centered in Constantinople
•Icons: from Greek “eikones”
oactive images that allow you to talk directly to the saint/spirit/figure
oimages are very powerful
•Archeiropoieta: icons not made by human hands
oVirgin Hodegetria: “She Who Shows the Way”
first made by Saint Luke from life
•not a piece of art, but an actual image
•came with miraculous creation story
•hard to distinguish between idolatry and iconography
ohave to view it as a medium, not the actual figure
ogave it a uniform style
holiness of original image can be transferred by copying
•artists are not supposed to leave their mark
Christ Pantocater Icon
•means Christ the Almighty
oall powerful judge of humanity
•encaustic on panel
oused in Roman-Egyptian mummy portraits
ocolored beeswax heated and applied to medium to work a texture into the object
•beard references the power of Zeus
•focus on eyes: window to the soul
ogives the viewer a direct connection to Jesus
Iconoclasm
•destruction of images
•images are too powerful and it’s bad to used them
•thought that god favored the Muslims, who conquered the Christians, because they didn’t use icons
•Empress Theodora led to Triumph of Orthodoxy, allowing for images to exist again
Icon of the Triumph of Orthodoxy
•focuses not on naturalism, but on other messages
•hierarchical registers
•uses gold leaf on tempura, because encaustic technique was lost following the Iconoclasm
oHodegetria being worshipped
•Byzantine Empire fell, but Orthodoxy continued