Iconography...Icon-what-ery???
So the first thing you need to do is go over to your online dictionary and look up what Iconography is? Yes, I am serious go, right now!
Iconic art marks an important shift in the artwork of the early Christian church and it is well worth studying. As we move along our time line in history from the Ancients into the Middle Ages there is a struggle in the empire and the Roman Empire begins to fall. This opens the way for the Byzantine Empire to reign. We see the Muslim religion find its place in many buildings that were once ruled by the Roman Catholics and Christians. Along with this we see artistic ideas reshaped and many of the beautiful mosaics of Christ, the early church, and biblical depictions of people and stories are demolished. This lasted for more than 100 years during the Byzantine Empire.This is called the Iconoclastic period.
"Both Muslims and Jews perceived Christian images (that existed from the earliest times of Christianity) as idols and in direct opposition to the Old Testament prohibition of visual representations. The first commandment states,
You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image – any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth. You shall not adore them, nor serve them (Exodus 20:3-5)."
(Text by Dr. Davor Džalto,
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Watch this video on one of best examples from this time period of Iconic Mosaic work. It is found inside the San Vitale Catherdral in Ravenna, Italy. It is so amazing it just takes my breath away. We will be making a paper version of a Christus iconic mosaic, which dates back to between
546-556 AD
Also make sure you know what the following words mean:
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The Christus as a young man
Justininan Emperor of the Byzantine Empire
His wife Theodora
Mosaic tile work in traditional patterning