by Sarah Huth

Created on: June 21, 2008   Last Updated: June 23, 2008

You can tell a lot about a culture by looking at the art they produce, and often times, political and religious views tend to get mixed in with the paint. This couldn't be more true of Byzantine art. It mimicked the political and religious beliefs that it grew out of, and was heavily influenced by Christianity, the emperors of the Byzantine era, and the work of the ancient Greeks. The capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople, was heavily adorned with Greek art, mainly statues. However, while they believed in the value of keeping their heritage alive, it was clear that a new style was emerging out of it. One of the most obvious signs of this new style is the somewhat "abstract" nature of much of the art. While classical art was meant to copy realism to an exact detail, the art of the Byzantine era favors more of a symbolic approach than a realistic one.

Byzantine art is heavily used in the Eastern Orthodox religions, common in the countries Bulgaria, Serbia, and Russia, along with the Republic of Venice and Kingdom of Sicily. It involves the art produced during the Byzantine Empire, of which all of those countries had ties to, from the 4th century until roughly the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. The art produced by Eastern Orthodox Christians living in the Ottoman Empire is sometimes called "post-Byzantine", and many of the artistic traditions that originated during the Byzantine Empire are still practiced in Greece, Bulgaria, Russia, and other Orthodox countries today.

As far as content goes, Byzantine art is mostly religious and often times very imperial or regal as well; these two styles were sometimes combined in portraits honoring Byzantine emperors that decorated churches in Constantinople. The reason for this was probably due to the economic structure of the society, for much of the wealth was possessed by both the church and the imperial offices. Therefore, they had the means of financing these great commissions in their honor. Religious art was not simply limited to churches, however, and was everywhere during the Byzantine era, with one of the most important genres being the icon. Icons were images of Christ, the Virgin Mary, or a saint that is used as a holy object of worship in both churches and personal homes. Icons were extremely sacred and much more than mere portraits of these figures; they were believed to manifest the "presence" or spirit of the individual being depicted. In Serbian Orthodox churches today, going up and kissing an icon

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