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Byzantine Icons
Byzantine icons are the central medium of Orthodox worship and visual theology, depicting Christ, the Virgin, and the saints in egg tempera and gold …
Timeline
- 1300–1440Constantinople · TurkeyAfter the Palaiologos dynasty restored the throne in 1261, icon painting blended classical revival tastes with fine linework; increased court and monastery commissions laid the technical foundation for the flourishing workshops of the fifteenth century.
- 1441–1450Constantinople · TurkeyAs imperial territory shrank, Constantinople's icon workshops still took church and private devotional commissions; their works emphasized restrained emotion, gold grounds, and delicate faces, while spreading to Thrace, the Morea, and elsewhere.
- 1453–1600Crete · GreeceAfter the fall of Constantinople in 1453, painters fled to Venetian-held Crete and elsewhere, forming the Cretan School, which combined late Byzantine canons with Western perspective elements and exported icons to Italy and Eastern Europe.
Sources
- Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium: Icon (1991)
- Byzantine Art and Renaissance Europe — Robin Cormack (2013)