Extra Credit - Byzantine

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
  1. Discuss the development of pictorial form from Roman illusionism to Byzantine pattern, noting the changes that you see in the treatment of the spacial setting and the solidity of the human body. Consider the Dionysiac frieze, Christ as the Good Shepherd, The Miracle of the Loaves and the Fishes, and the mosaic of Sant' Apollinare in Classe.
  2. The apse mosaics of San Vitale have been said to embody the Byzantine ideal of "sacred kingship." What iconographic features of the mosaics illustrate this concept?
  3. Select a Byzantine mosaic or painting from the Early, Middle and Late periods. What features do they have in common that makes them Byzantine?
  4. Discuss the development of Byzantine architecture considering Hagia Sophia, Hosias Loukas, and the Church Of Saint Catherine In Thessaloniki. In what way are these buildings related to each other and in what ways is each different?
  5. Compare the scene of David Composing the Psalms from the Paris Psalter with the classical painting from the Ixion Room in Pompeii. What similarities and differences do you see? Note the way space is depicted and the way the figures are modeled. What features of the Paris Psalter show the influence of classical painting?
  6. Discuss the influence that Early Antiquity frescoes, such as the ones found in Dura Europas, had on Byzantine Art. Identify three features in examples from both periods citing specific examples.
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