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Course: Medieval Europe + Byzantine > Unit 5
Lesson 3: Middle Byzantine- Illuminated Gospel-books
- Book illumination in the Eastern Mediterranean
- Illuminating the Psalms in Byzantium
- Theotokos mosaic, apse, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul
- The Paris Psalter
- Middle Byzantine church architecture
- Regional variations in Middle Byzantine architecture
- Mosaics and microcosm: the monasteries of Hosios Loukas, Nea Moni, and Daphni
- Middle Byzantine secular art
- Middle Byzantine secular architecture and urban planning
- Byzantine frescoes at Saint Panteleimon, Nerezi
- Saving Torcello, an ancient church in the Venetian Lagoon
- Cross-cultural artistic interaction in the Middle Byzantine period
- Saint Mark's Basilica, Venice
- Mobility and reuse: the Romanos chalices and the chalice with hares
- A Byzantine vision of Paradise — The Harbaville Triptych
- A work in progress: Middle Byzantine mosaics Hagia Sophia
- Byzantium, Kyivan Rus’, and their contested legacies
- The visual culture of Norman Sicily
- The Cappella Palatina
- The Melisende Psalter
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A Byzantine vision of Paradise — The Harbaville Triptych
Harbaville Triptych, mid-10th century, Constantinople, ivory with traces of polychromy, 28.2 x 24.2 x 1.2 cm (Musée du Louvre)
A conversation with Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker. Created by Smarthistory.
Video transcript
(upbeat music) - [Lady Narrator] We're in the Louve looking at a small
exquisite Byzantine ivory that dates from the mid 10th century. - [Man Narrator] This is
the middle Byzantine period soon after the iconophiles won their battle with the iconoclasts. - [Lady Narrator] From the
700ths through to the mid 800ths the Byzantine emperor had
instituted a policy of Iconoclasm that is disallowing images in churches, disallowing religious imagery. - [Man Narrator] But
when this was overturned artwork flourish throughout the Empire. - [Lady Narrator] And this is
a period that art historians referred to as the Macedonian revival. - [Man Narrator] We're
looking at a triptych, which is to say it is
a three paneled ivory and you can see that it's
hinged so that the doors could actually close and
protect the interior scene. It's carved on both
the front and the back. - [Lady Narrator] At the top center, we see a scene that is common
during this middle Byzantine period called the Deesis. - [Man Narrator] John the
Baptist and the Virgin Mary, the bearer of God, come to Christ and ask for his protection
for his blessing on behalf of humanity. - [Lady Narrator] This
triptych then formed a private devotional object that could be opened and looking at this top
center panel of the Deesis one could engage in prayer
and ask John and Mary for intercession with
Christ on their behalf. - [Man Narrator] We see Christ seated on an elaborate throne, his
right hand, his blessing, his left hand holds the Bible and we see his feet on
a foot rest that appears really quite architectural. - [Lady Narrator] Above
Christ, on either side we see roundels with figures of angels. What we noticed throughout
the triptych is that all the figures have
inscriptions next to them indicating who they are. - [Man Narrator] I'm
struck by just how fine the carving is look, for
instance, on the right side of Mary's gown, you can
see the fringes clearly and carefully rendered, as well
as the folds of the drapery. - [Lady Narrator] And also in the back of the throne behind Christ. - [Man Narrator]
Extraordinary craftsmanship. - [Lady Narrator] Now, there
are five figures below Christ and they represent five of the apostles, the center one is St. Peter. - [Man Narrator] Who we
can see grasping a scroll with his left hand and
pointing up to Christ with his right. - [Lady Narrator] All the figures
stand on little platforms. - [Man Narrator] The only exception are in the upper registers of the wings, where we see warrior saints
who stand on the ground plane below them are rondels and
then again, standing figures. Here we see saints and martyrs. - [Lady Narrator] The
warrior saints seem to have a classical pose to
them, they seem to stand in a kind of contrapposto,
although the proportions of their bodies are a little
bit off, but they do have that sense of leaning to one
side of having their weight born on one side of having one knee bent of their hips a little bit out a sense of asymmetry to their bodies. - [Man Narrator] The ease to their stance, they seem quite relaxed. In fact, despite the
formality of the Deesis and of all of the figures,
there's a sense of individuality to each figure that's being rendered, which has been achieved only because of the very fine nature of the carving. Let's go take a look at the back. The back is more shallowly carved. Here we see saints and church fathers. - [Lady Narrator] We have
a symbolic representation of the garden of paradise. - [Man Narrator] It's a
marvelous rendering with lots of detail and a real sense of the vertical as if the plants themselves
on the ground plane are reaching up to heaven. - [Lady Narrator] Up toward the cross. - [Man Narrator] Which is long and elegant and has rosettes not only at the center but at its four points. - [Lady Narrator] We have cypress trees, with vines and circling them and grapes. - [Man Narrator] Leaning
in as if the cross itself was almost magnetic. - [Lady Narrator] A real sense
of the beauty and abundance of paradise of the promise of salvation of the
promise of eternal life and a sense that from
the very cross itself from Christ's sacrifice, life blooms. - [Man Narrator] And
look at the orderliness of the stars in the heavens. This is a sense of solemnity, a sense of beauty and a
sense of the spiritual in the natural world,
which we tend to think of in more modern terms but here
it is in the 10th century. (upbeat music)