← Explore on the interactive map

Byzantine Icon Painting

Type Object Region Byzantium Time c. 600–700

Byzantine icon painting is a religious image tradition on wood or walls, following strict Orthodox theological formulas and anti-naturalistic formal …

Timeline

  1. c. 550–600Constantinople · Byzantine EmpireCourt and church workshops in the age of Justinian formed compositional norms for icons; gold grounds, frontal figures, and sacred proportions became standards of Orthodox imagery, with early exemplars surviving at St. Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai and elsewhere.
  2. c. 601–700Constantinople · Byzantine EmpireIcons were widely used in liturgy and private devotion, and the theological dispute over whether their veneration amounted to idolatry sharpened in the late seventh century, foreshadowing the eighth-century iconoclast movement.

Sources