Byzantine Art dominated during the reign of Emperor Constantine. The primary characteristic of the Byzantine art is religious. All the images created by the Byzantine artisans strongly links to the existence of religion in their lives. In an era lacking scientific knowledge, any viewer of art will eventually conclude how strong the influence of Christianity on Byzantine art was. For instance, the Byzantine relief titled, Icon with the Koimesis (see fig. 1) which dates back to 900 A.D. tells the story of the death of the Virgin Mary; her death was lamented by the apostles of Christ. The image of the baby is metaphor for the Virgin’s soul being treated tenderly by her son Jesus Christ. The rest of the characters can be seen lamenting and tending the body of Mary while the angels fly over the scene symbolizing her soul’s ascension to heaven. What makes this sculpture a Byzantine relief? By looking closely, this is a low-relief sculpture and the images were carved slightly onto the ivory; therefore the rest of their body remains intact on the surface. Furthermore, the manner of character portrayal remains analogous and less realistic; the scale of the body is not proportioned to the sizes of the heads; the faces were not humanized and remained comical in a sense that the iconography less resembled the facial features of the real person. In other words, what the Byzantine Icon with the Koimesis illustrates was to educate the public through visual imagery about some facets of the life of the Virgin Mary but the semi-realistic portrayal of the images was a far cry to the humanist versions of religious images of the Renaissance. Hence, there are three evidences that made this image a Byzantine relief; first it is religious; second, less focus on realism, third the presence of the symbolic objects such as the baby representing Mary’s soul. As a conclusion, the Icon with the Koimesis is a Byzantine relief because it fits the above description about the characteristics of the Byzantine work.
WORKS CITED
Icon with the Koimesis. c.900 A.D. Ivory. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.
