The paintings in the Church of Christ in Chora are representative of the style of painting produced in the last centuries of the Byzantine Empire. Large murals were painted over expanses of architecture. Many icons at this time were panels painted on both sides. Icons were painted this way since they were used in processions, and therefore seen from two directions. In churches, they were often displayed in special stands to allow for the viewing of both sides. Even after the Byzantine shrank and eventually fell, its artistic traditions continued in many former territories. The most famous example is the Cretan School.
Iconostasis
During the Late Byzantine period the iconostasis fully developed. This was a screen or wall that stood in the nave, separating the space from the sanctuary and altar of the church. This wall was covered in icons and usually had three doors that allowed access into the sanctuary and viewing of the altar. Icons were placed on the iconostasis following a general guideline that included the presence of a Deesis, Christ enthroned surrounded by John the Baptist and the Theotokos. Other icons included images of angels, saints, Old Testament prophets, the Apostles, and the patron saints of the church and city. The presence of the icons and the iconostasis was not to separate but to provide a bridge or a connection between the earthly and heavenly realms.
Iconostasis of the Church of the Annunciation
Theophanes the Greek. Iconostasis. Gold leaf and tempera on wood panels. c. 1405. Church of the Annunciation, Moscow Kremlin, Russia.
Ohrid Icons
The Ohrid Icons (early fourteenth century) were produced in Constantinople and were later moved to Ohrid in Macedonia. One icon depicts the Virgin Mary on one side and the Annunciation on the other side. The Annunciation portrays the Virgin Mary seated on a throne as the angel Gabriel approaches her to deliver the news of her conception of the son of God. The background is typically Byzantine: gold leaf background that mimics the golden backgrounds of mosaics. The architecture is rendered in a later Byzantine style. The buildings are painted with an attempt at perspective that is more skewed than correct but which still provides a suggestion of space. This was also seen in the Theotokos of the Hagia Sophia, but in this case the architecture provides more of a place setting, as in the landscape of the Lamentation from Nerezi. The figures themselves are rendered with Byzantine faces—small mouths and long, narrow noses. The faces, hands, and feet are carefully shaded and modeled. The clothing is also follows the Byzantine style with dramatic, deep folds and a schematic patterning that renders the body underneath. The bodies, however, differ from their earlier Byzantine predecessors. They have weight and appear to exist underneath their clothing.
Annunciation
The Annunciation portrays the Virgin Mary seated on a throne as the angel Gabriel approaches her to deliver the news of her conception of the son of God.
The scene also takes cues from Late Byzantine styles, since it is dramatically depicted. The Virgin's rigid pose single gesture signify her unease at the angel's approach. Gabriel, meanwhile, appears to have just landed. He strides forward, with an arm outstretched. He places his weight completely on his left foot, while he prepares to plant his right foot on the ground. We are witness to the moment of his arrival. The momentum of his arrival is further emphasized by the placement of his wings. One wing has settled down onto his back while the other reaches upwards, balancing his flight. The movement and emotion in the scene can be related to the Anastasias scene of the Chora Church. Both images have a single, central figure full of motion that provides energy to the different scenes depicted.
Monastery of the Virgin at Studenica, Serbia
The Serbian Monastery of the Virgin was built in the twelfth century outside the city of Kraljevo. While the monastery's churches do not appear from the outside to follow Byzantine architectural styles, the interior painting of the Katholikon, the Church of the Virgin, is painted in the Late Byzantine manner. The Crucifixion, painted on the western wall overlooking the altar, represents the mastery of Serbian art and the development and spread of the Late Byzantine style from the center of Byzantium in Constantinople. The figures are less elongated than their earlier counterparts, and the background is painted in a brilliant blue with golden stars. The central image of Christ on the cross is surrounded by mourners, including his mother. The figures in this calm scene have mass. While the Virgin Mary still appears to be a mass of robes, her drapery is more subtly rendered. The bodies of the other figures are more easily denoted by the modeling of their robes. The drapery is still reliant on deep folds, but the folds are no longer contorted and are less schematic. While less dramatic and more serene, there is an underlying emotion of sadness that subtly depicted by the sway of Christ's body.
Crucifixion
The Crucifixion painted behind the altar of the Katholikon of the Monastery of the Virgin at Studenica.
The Cretan School
Over the course of the thirteenth through fifteenth centuries, the Byzantine Empire lost much of its territory. However, its artistic traditions continued for centuries in areas such as Crete. Established, in the fifteenth century, the Cretan School is known for its distinct style of icon painting influenced by both Western and Eastern traditions. Even before the fall of Constantinople, leading Byzantine artists were leaving the capital to settle in Crete. This migration continued in the following years and reached its peak after the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
Early icons produced by the Cretan School follow many of the earlier Byzantine traditions. Over the course of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as the styles of Italian and Northern Renaissance artists grew in popularity, the rendering of the human body and illusionistic space became increasingly realistic. However, many icons retained the traditional gold backgrounds. The influence of the Renaissance, in which the notion of the artistic genius arose, can also be seen in the increasing attachment of artists' names to their creations.
In the following examples by El Greco (1541-1614) and Emmanuel Tzanes (1610-1690), we can see the transition from the Late Byzantine style (in which the contours of the body were acknowledged beneath the drapery and attempts at realistic perspective were still evolving) to the Post-Byzantine style, which depicts a realistic recession of space and dynamic bodily poses.
El Greco, Dormition of the Virgin
Late Byzantine realism in the rendering of the body is evident here, as the mourners assume a variety of poses. Solemn facial expressions and body language reflect the somber mood of the final sleep of the Virgin Mary. Before 1567.
Emmanuel Tzanes, St. Mark the Evangelist
In this icon, St. Mark assumes a dynamic pose, including the dramatic head turn, which would become a common attribute in images of the inspired artist over the course of the next few centuries. Tzanes's stylized rendering of the lion can be explained by his never having seen one in nature or in visual culture. Seventeenth century.