III. The Byzantine Renaissance.
The Golden Age of Byzantine Art commences about the beginning of the tenth century, and, roughly speaking, coincides with the rule of the great Macedonian dynasty, a period when the warrior emperors, usurpers or otherwise, kept the invading barbarians at bay.
The Byzantine chroniclers expatiate at great length on the unparalleled luxury of the Court and how the “Sacred Palace” was filled with art treasures; and they also tell us that Constantine VII., Porphrygenitus (911-959), was an enthusiastic amateur, and even employed his “sacred” fingers in carving and painting beautiful objects; it was about the only thing he did do, for the government was entirely taken out of his hands by a series of usurpers who were nominally his colleagues.
Ivory carving was only one small portion of this great stream of decorative work, but an important part, as there was practically no sculpture in stone. In the new basilica at Constantinople were some animals carved on the marble fountains, and a few inferior bas-reliefs have been found in the Crimea and Mount Athos, but the technique is merely an enlargement of the tiny reliefs, with a complete loss of that delicacy and loving finish which is the greatest charm of the ivory craft.
The number of examples of carved ivory during the tenth and eleventh centuries is so great that it is most difficult to make a selection. The Reliquary of the True Cross in the Franciscan Church at Cortona is valuable for comparison with other carvings of the tenth century, for it is dated by an inscription mentioning the Basileus Nicephorus, Conqueror of the Barbarians, who can be no other than Nicephorus Phocas (963-969). The reliquary is divided in the usual manner into four compartments by the arms of the great central crucifix, and owing to the shallowness of the space the figures are not so disproportionately tall as was mostly the case. In the research for dignity and reverence the figures became less and less earthly, the shoulders sloping away to nothing, and a growing tendency crept in to exaggerate the height out of all proportion; also the calm expression on the delicate oval faces grew more and more solemn, till on some of the later ivories it is positively lugubrious. Yet the quiet grace and exquisite dignity of a figure like that of the Virgin on the Harbaville Triptych ([Fig. 17]), is hardly to be found in the finest Italian art. The pose of this figure and that of John the Forerunner, Πρόδρομος, are almost identical with those on the Cortona Reliquary; the Virgin’s gesture of adoration is simple and spontaneous, and it is only when it is repeated by St. John that the balance of the pattern becomes too exact and pains the eye. The figure of Christ, grandly posed on the highbacked throne, is the type of nearly every other representation of the Saviour throughout the whole period (cf. [Fig. 19]) and traces back directly to the Roman official diptychs. The drapery is elegant and well considered, though the folds have a hard flatness in spite of the soft finish of the technique. The features inherit much from the antique, the well-cut brow and deeply set eyes, but the noses have increased in length and have that slight curve at the tip which is so characteristic, and becomes so pronounced, in later Byzantine Art. The fine heads, framed in their rugged mane of hair, are very picturesque, but there is such a strong family likeness among them, that it is quite refreshing to meet a bald forehead like that of St. Paul or St. John Theologus, here represented as an aged man and not as the beardless stripling of Western art. Above all, it is the hands and the well-proportioned muscular feet, which show the power of the real artist escaping from the conventionality of his subject. On the back of the panel he has freed himself entirely from the spell of classical antiquity and drunk deeply of new oriental ideas, creating a most decorative design, illustrating the “Triumph of the Cross,” which rises, ornamented with roses, above the flowering earth, stretching up to the skies, which are thickly covered with stars, and bear the Greek inscription Jesus Christ Victorious. Two tall cypresses, tightly bound by the symbolical vine and by ivy, bow before it, whilst from the ground spring small trees and reeds, among which wild animals run in and out.
A. GIRAUDON PHOTO.][LOUVRE, PARIS
17. TRIPTYCH D’HARBAVILLE
Byzantine, tenth century
The trees may be contrasted with the fruitful olives on the Bargello plaque of the Ascension ([Fig. 18]). The composition of this scene is grand in character, in spite of its small size, and there is great freedom of movement in the lower group, each pose being cleverly characterized; the grouping is scarcely freer in the Italian conception of this subject, and the upraised hand of the apostle on the Virgin’s left is to be seen, centuries later, in the famous “Assumption of the Virgin” by Titian. There are many other plaques with scenic pictures. The elaborate carving of the Death of the Virgin is still fixed to the Bamberg Missal, which belonged to Cunigunda, wife of the Emperor Henry II. (1002-1028). The scene is crowded, and takes place under a richly pierced canopy. Christ holds the Infant Soul of the Virgin, whilst two angels with veiled hands fly down to receive it.
Perhaps the most beautiful of all these pictorial sculptures is a diptych now unfortunately divided. Each leaf has two scenes, the first, representing the Holy Women kneeling before the risen Christ and the Resurrection, is at Dresden, while the other, with the Crucifixion and the Deposition, is in the Provincial Museum at Hanover. The various scenes are treated with much freedom, and the proportions are excellent. It is enough to glance at the appalling length of the two Maries in a twelfth century plaque with the Resurrection (Bargello) to realize how much we have to be thankful for in the earlier periods.