Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/852

BYZANTINE ART. 752 bad not brought to the West all portable works of Byzantine art and themselves become impreg- nated with the artistic atmosphere of the P^ast; and tiiially, if the Crusades had not opened up before the barbarous West superb vistas of the artistic civilizations of Byzantines and !Moham- luedans — if all this had not liappencd as it did, the torch of j)roi,'ress would not luive been handed on and the great Gothic and Renaissance eras would not have been wliat they were. Arcuitectlke. Byzantine arcliitecture is the complete monumental ex])ression of Hellenic Christendom. The Greek Cliurch in most higher branches of culture imposed itself upon the Latins, but it began by accepting the Latin scheme of basilical architecture. After experi- menling with it for a while (Fourth to the Fifth Century), the Greek genius selected the Roman dome as its fundamental unit, in place of the wooden roof, and by the use of lofty piers and pendentive was able, in the Sixth Century, to suspend the dome and use it with any kind of ground-plan, even multiplying domes at will in the same interior. (See Dome.) It was in the abstract a higher forai of architecture than either Roman or early Christian, and was the real link between Rome and the Jtiddle Ages, because it showed liow the vaulting systems of Rome could be adapted to the form of the Chris- tian Church, and, taking uj) the dome at the point to which the Roman architects had devel- oped it, carried it a step further and made possi- ble all styles of architecture that have come, even after the Renaissance. The Romans had gone no further in weakening the solid circular wall that supported their domes than to cut niches in it; the early Christian architects had gone a step further and turned the lower part of this wall into a colonnade, which opened into one or more concentric aisles. But the Bj-zautine architects of Asia ilinor invented the pendentive, which made it unnecessary that the supports should follow the outline of the dome. The preliminarj' stages are shown in buildings like San Vitale at Ravenna, the cathedrals of Ezra and Bosra in Syria, and Saints Sergius and Bacchus at Con- stantinople, all Iniilt early in the Sixth Century. Then came the masterjiiece, Saint Sopliia (q.v.) at Constant ino])lc. Iniill by Anthemius (q.v.) and Isidore, arcliitects of Asia Jlinor, who here sus- pended the I'antheon dome in the air far more truly than Jlichelangelo did at Saint l^eter's. Its two great semi-domes Hanking the central dome made possible an oblong plan without breaking the unity. The apse, side aisles, and galleries are all more thoroughly subordinated to the central nave than in any oilier Christian structure. (For details, see under Saixt Sopiii..) No other Byzantine ehurcli undertook to rival or imitate, even in plan. Saint Sophia. The great variety in plan and elevation of Byzantine churches is in strong contrast to the tiniformity of early Chris- tian churches. Some are in the form of a (Jreek cross, like Saint Mark's in Venice, with fivo domes ; the commonest form is oblong, with each bay covered by a small dome. I'sually there is a central dome, raised on a drum above the rest, and sometime;^ cross-vaults or tuniud-vaults take the place of minor domes. In course of time the churches became smaller, the domes were erected on higher drums, the closed porch or narthex became larger and was usually doiiied. the ex- teriors, instead of being of plain bricks, had alter- BYZANTINE ABT. nate courses of brick and stone or marble, and «ere diversified by inset panels and patterns in relief, as well as by pilasters and arcades. Saint Irene represents the middle and the Theotokos and Pantokrator the final stage of this develop- ment at Constantinople. The churches of the Apostles, of Saint Klias, and of the Virgin at Saloniea are among the most exquisite of this class in proportions and details, with tower-like domes and eli'ective exteriors. In (ireece proper the city churches, like the cathedrals at .thens and Mistra, are very small, and are excelU'd in size and decoration by the monastic churclios, such as those of the Basilians at Chios, Mount Helicon (Saint Luke), Daphne, and Mount Atlios, built between the Tenth and Fourteenth centuries. On a somewhat larger scale were the churches in the East. Syria, as shown by such churches as those of Damascus, Dana. Antioch, Edessa, held mainly to the basilical style up to the time of the Persian and Jlohamniedan in- vasions of the Si.xth and Seventh centuries, which put an end to Christian architecture in that region. But Asia jSIinor, the source of By- zantine domical construction, still shows many churches of this style, such as those at Jlyra, Ancyra, Cassaba, Ephesus, Nictea; Armenia, Georgia, and the Caucasus adopted for a period a pure Byzantine style, while at other times they develo])cd local peculiarities, such as stone con- struction, pitched roofs, polygonal domes, carved ornamentation, etc. Churches Eft Ani, Dighnr, Pitzunda, Etchmiadzin, etc., show how active this region was under its kings between the Tenth and the Fourteenth centuries. Near them was Trcbizond. which shows churches belonging to the time in the Thirteenth Century when it was the Byzantine capital, while Constantinople was oc- cupied by the Crusaders. Passing eastward, we find that the Byzantine style has penetrated into the northern provinces connected with the Em- pire of the East, into Sei-via and other Danubian provinces (as at Kurte d'.'rjish, Studenitza, and Scmendria), and into Russia (Saint Sophia at Kiev), where Slavic taste degraded it gradually until the bulbous domes and exaggerated and overloaded details placed Russian Byzantine architecture upon a level with Mongol and Indian monuments. Byzantine architecture existed even beyond the jiolitical limits of tlic Empire. Parts of Italy were pervaded by it between the Sixth and Twelfth centuries. Ravenna is a well-known exam- ple of the earliest period, with its San Vitale. its mausoleum of Oalla Plaeidia, and its baptis- teries. Venice also was an outpost of the East. Saint Mark's was a reprodm-lion of (he Church of the Apostles at Constantinople, with its five domes on a Greek cross and with its superb series of mosaic and marble decorations. It is decoratively at least a better representative of Byzantine art than Saint Sophia. The earliest palaces of Venice also are thoroughly Byzantine, not only in style, but in plan, as, for instance, the Fondaco dei Turchi and many of smaller size but better jirescrvation. Santa Fosca at Torcello is also ])urely Byzantine. Farther south it is common to find Byzajitine inlluence combined with Mohammedan. This is the case in Sicily — as in the Eremitani and San Cattaldo at Palermo — and in Campania. But tlirougliout Calabria the churches are as jiurely Byzantine as in Greece, and other examples are scattered