iconoclasm
Art History
(noun)
The destruction of religious icons and other images or monuments for religious or political motives.
World History
Examples of iconoclasm in the following topics:
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Icons and Iconoclasm
- The First Iconoclasm, as it is sometimes called, lasted between about 730-787.
- The Second Iconoclasm was between 814-842 .
- Traditional explanations for Byzantine iconoclasm have sometimes focused on the importance of Islamic prohibitions against images influencing Byzantine thought.
- On the other hand, the wealthier Greeks of Constantinople and also the peoples of the Balkan and Italian provinces strongly opposed Iconoclasm.
- Define iconoclasm, and describe what led to the the two Iconoclasm periods of the Byzantine Empire.
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Iconoclasm in Byzantium
- The Byzantine Iconoclasm was the banning of the worship of religious images, a movement that sparked internal turmoil.
- Iconoclasm, Greek for "image-breaking," is the deliberate destruction within a culture of the culture's own religious icons and other symbols or monuments.
- The "First Iconoclasm," as it is sometimes called, lasted between about 730 CE and 787 CE, during the Isaurian Dynasty.
- The "Second Iconoclasm" was between 814 CE and 842 CE.
- A depiction of the destruction of a religious image under the Byzantine Iconoclasm by Chludov Psalter, 9th century CE.
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Architecture and Mosaics in the Middle Byzantine Empire
- Architecture and mosaic decoration thrived during the Middle Byzantine period following Iconoclasm's stifling of the arts.
- Broadly defined, iconoclasm is defined as the destruction of images.
- As a result, aniconic sentiment grew, culminating in two periods of iconoclasm -- the First Iconoclasm (726-87) and the Second Iconoclasm (814-42) -- which brought the Early Byzantine period to an end.
- Byzantine Iconoclasm constituted a ban on religious images by Emperor Leo III and continued under his successors.
- When the Iconoclasm controversy came to an end in 843, Byzantine religious art underwent a renewal.
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Impact of the Protestant Reformation
- The Protestant Reformation induced a wave of iconoclasm, or the destruction of religious imagery, among the more radical evangelists.
- For the most part, however, Reformation iconoclasm resulted in a disappearance of religious figurative art, compared with the amount of secular pieces that emerged.
- Martin's Cathedral, Utrecht, attacked in the Protestant iconoclasm in 1572.
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Religion as a Theme
- Christian, Buddhist, and Islamic artistic traditions have used elements of symbolism, narrative, ritual, iconoclasm, and authorship to express the tenets of their beliefs throughout history.
- While incredibly large and varied individually, we can identify certain elements that Christian, Buddhist, and Islamic artistic traditions have used to express the tenets of their beliefs using symbolism, ritual, iconoclasm, and authorship.
- Throughout time, most Christian sects have used art to some extent, though there have been definite periods of iconoclasm within the history of the religion.
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The Emperor Irene
- Irene of Athens, the first woman Emperor of the Byzantine Empire, fought for recognition as Imperial leader throughout her rule and is best known for the ending of Iconoclasm in the Eastern Church.
- She is best known for ending Iconoclasm.
- Irene's most notable act was the restoration of the veneration of icons, thereby ending the first Iconoclasm of the Eastern Church.
- As Empress, Irene made determined efforts to stamp out iconoclasm everywhere in the Empire including within the ranks of the army.
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The Isaurian Dynasty
- The Isaurian dynasty is characterized by relative political stability, after an important defeat of the Arabs by Leo III, and Iconoclasm, which resulted in considerable internal turmoil.
- The Isaurian dynasty is chiefly associated with Byzantine Iconoclasm, an attempt to restore divine favour by purifying the Christian faith from excessive adoration of icons, which resulted in considerable internal turmoil.
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Sacred Objects
- Throughout time, most Christian sects have used art to some extent, though there have been definite periods of iconoclasm within the history of the religion.
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The Great Schism of 1054
- By the turn of the millennium, the Eastern and Western Roman Empires had been gradually separating along religious fault lines for centuries, beginning with Emperor Leo III's pioneering of the Byzantine Iconoclasm in 730 CE, in which he declared the worship of religious images to be heretical.
- Therefore, the Iconoclasm widened the growing divergence and tension between East and West, though the church was still unified at this time.
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Sculpture
- Late Gothic sculpture continued in the North, with a fashion for very large wooden sculpted altarpieces with increasingly virtuoso carving and large numbers of agitated expressive figures; most surviving examples are in Germany, a result of extensive iconoclasm (image destruction) elsewhere.