THE AGE OF JUSTINIAN In January 532 at Constantinople a fight be- tween cieus factions suddenly flared up into a full-scale riot against the imperial sdministra- tion, Police and guards were Iynched, Pro- copius reports that ‘the ety war put to the flames just as ie had fallen into the hands of te enemy’, and the Sacred Palice was threst- ened. ‘Wishing to win over the people’ Justinian dismissed Eudaemon, the prefect of the city ‘whos frm but severe action in the initial stages had been wholly admirable, John of Cappa- Aocin, the prectorian prefect ofthe East, and the ‘qusestor Tribonian. The last two ministers were strongly disliked by the aristocracy but there is no reason to think that they were par= ticularly unpopular with the lower classe, and it may be that the agitation against them was ‘encouraged by the patrcians. The nephews of the old Emperor Ansstasius, Hypatius and Pompeius, may also have come under suspicion, since they were ordered to leave the palace, and, indeed, on the noxt day Hypatius was acclaimed Emperor by the people. By the sisth day it bbegan to look as though the roter* watchword ‘Nita (conquer) had been wellchosen Justinian, ina state of panic, took counsel. Al his minise ters advised flight from the Saered Palace and the city until she whom the iv servant John Lydus judged as ‘surpassing in inceligence all men who ever lived’, the Empress Theodora, intervened. Procopius gives the gist of her words on that erucial day. ‘As to whether itis ‘wrong for 2 woman to pur herself forward among men or show daring when others are faltering, I do not think that the present crisis allows us to consider one view or the other. For when a cause isi the utmost peril chere seems to be only one course to make the very best of the immediate sicuation. I hold that new if ever flight is inexpedient even if it brings safety When a man has once been bara ino light is inevitable that he should meet death, But for an Emperor to become a fugitive is a thing not bbe endured. May Tnever put of this purple or cutlive the day when men cease t0 call me Augusta. Ifyou wish to fee co safety, my Lord Emperor it can easily be done, We have money inabundance; over there i the ea; here are the ships. However ... as for me, [hold with the ld saying that purple makes a fine shroud.” At once her audience gained hears, ‘The Ihouschold troops could not be trusted but Dalisarius, supreme commander of the East, and Mundus, magister milion per Uyricum, with their ows bodyguard made their way to the Hippodrome and surprised the mob which had gathered there. Thirty thousand are said to have perished in the massacre. Hypatius and Pompcius were arrested and on the next day executed and their bodies, like those of the vie~ tims of so many later Emperors and Sultans, were thrown into the sea. The patricians who ‘had supported therm wore exiled and their property confiscated, Justinian was seldom for long vindictive and later, according to Pro- ‘opis, he restored to chem al, including the children of Hypatius and Pompeius, ‘both the distinctions they had previously enjoyed and allof their wealth that he did not happen to have presented to any of his frends”. Tae ministers Aismissed ~ Eudaemon, John of Cappadocia, and Tribonian ~ were soon restored to office ‘That was the end of the Nika revolt. But the city of Constantine, embellished by Theo- esis, was a smoking ruin. More than half of the metropolis, including the Constantnien foundations of Holy Wisdom, Holy Peace, and the Twelve Aposies, lad been laid waste * Jastinian at once began to rebuild, The litle ‘church of St Sergius and St Bacchus had been begun before his accession in 527 and was the ‘centre of «complex which included the church of St Peter and St Paul, begun before 519, and the Hormisdas Palace, justinian’s residence as Incr tothe throne. St Sergius and St Bacchus, however, adumbrated many’ of the principles ‘which were to govern the great undertakings of the teign. Built on a central plan, the space x jpanding into niches and floating into galleries, the church wae iconoclastic in its severity. AS faras we know there wore noimages in mosaic; ‘only expanses of gold tessera bordered prob- bly with floral and vegetable ornament. The ‘Shapes of the eapitals, the relation of architec- rural deal the ornamental motifsare ether an innovation or a change of presentation. The traditional lonie, Corinthian, or composite ‘pital has become a basker-shaped form over which spreads a icy necvork of stylized leaves, eoply undercut. Later, in other buildings, these capitals were to changeinto swirls of wind blown acanthus, lush, rippling, fantastic. The ‘cnament, nearly always a distillation of the scanthus form, may spread farther over impos bck and entablature, runaig counter 10 the vertical thrust of column or pier A superb in- seription referring to Justinion and Theodora marches round the building on the frieze be- neath the gallery, and their monograms occur ‘on the capitals. Subrle planning, elegant orna~ ment, harmonious use of marble, semi-precious ‘tones, and colour, visual and tactile contrast between marble and mosaic, between light and ark, mass and void - these were the principles which guided the sructures of Justinian His crowning monument in architecture is the great church of Hagia Sophia, buile between 532 and 537. Whoever planned St Sergius and ‘St Baechus was elerlya genius andanew spirit, although the awkward proportions and the ‘clumsy use ofthe ste suggest that a second-rate raster mason was in charge ofthe construction perhaps the dream of a brilliant engineer rarred by an insensitive architect. Not so Hagia Sophia. Built apparently by an engineer eather than an architect ~ Anthemius of Tralles was “the man most learned in what is called the mechanical science nor only ofthe ren of his time but of all men for many generations back? {THE AGE OF JUSTINIAN + 103 (Procopius): he ‘applied geometry t0 solid matter’ (Agathias)~ the church was technically daring, perfect in harmony, ‘marvellous and terrifying’, and one of the Igest in Christen dom, It-was a court church. The vast central space enveloped by the huge dome and half= domes ws reserved forthe clergy of the Pari- arch and fer the Emperor and his retinue. The Empress and her cortége sat inthe gallery atthe ‘west end facing the distant alter. The public and one wonders hoy many of the common people were admitted in the sixth century ~ ‘were confined o some ofthe aisles and galleries. (Once again there is no evidence to suggest that, there were relisios images inthe mosaic which covered the upper pars of the walls, vaults, and domes ofthe church, Vast areas of gold tesserae ‘were confined by borders of flat sprays, fui ‘and geometric ornament. The first dome was ‘coated in plain gold mossi. After icollapsed in 538 and.a new dome was constructed on differ= tent principles by he younger Isidore of Miletus, the mosaic bore the outlines of a huge cross. Below this mosaic camopy the walls were sheathed with carefully chosen, care ‘matched sheets of marble, porphytyy and other stones, In his panegyric onthe church Paul the Silentiary places particular emphasis on this choi: ‘the fresh green from Carystus, poly chrome marble from che Phrygian range, i ‘which a rosy blush mingles with white, o it shines bright with flowers of deop red and silver. There isa wealth of porphyry, t00, pow ‘dred with bright stars, that ones ad laden the iver boat on the broad Nile... There isthe precious onys; as if gold were shining through its and the marble thatthe land of Atrax yields, not from some upland glen, bu from the level plains; in parts fresh green a the sea or emerald ‘one, or again lke blue cornflowers in grass, with hore and there 2 drift of fallen snow ~ a sweet mingled contrast onthe dark shining su face? ‘Phe groups of columns in the nave and sgilleries are Hnkod by a horizontal mesh of ‘isting curving, stylized seanthus leaves floe- ing, sit were, from the capitals which ae ofthe new basket form on which the monograms of1g + BARLY CHRISTIAN AND BYZANTINE ART Justinian and Theodora abound, The total effect was rich in ligt and colour enhanced by the silver-plated synthronon rising in three rs inthe apse over the golden altar nlid with precious stones and raised on columns of gold, by the silver-plated sereen before the chancel, by the golden lamps hanging berween columns over the altar, in the aisles and galleries, the spolden votive crowns hanging over the alae, by the great pulpit faced with ivory inlaid with silver, by curtains of silk and gold. There were presumably isolated images in Hagin Sophia, Paul the Silentiary describes a hanging placed by Justinian in the church which appears to have been embrafdered with the images of Crise berwoon St Peter and Se Paul and bor- dered by representations of imperial philin- thropy, The Sileniary also states that the altar serean boce relies of Chis, the Virgin, angel, prophets, and saints. ‘Nor had the crafismen forgotten the forms of chase others whose child- hood as withthe fishing basket and the net! In short, Hagia Sophia was the largest and mest capensive religious theatre imaginable, built and furnished for the semi-private perform- tances of the sacred and imperial liturgy. ‘The tudience was God Procopius in his Buildings gives an astonish- ing list of the churehes, hospitals, and palaces thrown up by Justinian after the Nika riots. OF the larger churches Hagia Irene was begun on the site of the former basilica. Rebuilding ot repairs were necessary after another fie in 4, and more repairs after an earthquake about 740, ‘Today, the handsome domed basilica is litle more than an impressive shell with vestiges of an Iconoclast cross in mosaic in the apse but otherwise stripped of its adornment. The church of the Holy Apostles was rebuilt on the site of Constantine's Apostoleion about 536 and dedicated in 550. By the tenth century the church was in need of repair, and somo recon- struction was done shorly after 960, Further repair was needed in 1300 after the Latin Incer- regnum, but the church was in a ruinous stare by che fifteenth century. When Buondelmonti visited Constantinople in 1420 the church of the Holy Apostles was ‘ecclesia iam derupta’ Finally the whole building was cleared away in +409 to make room for the mosque erected in honour of Mehmet IT the Conqueror (al Pati ‘The church of the Holy Apostles was of great Importance. Not only was its plan followed at Ephesus when Justinian built the church of St John the Evangelist, completed about 56, but it served as 4 model forthe three consecutive basiliess of $. Marco at Venice, which in eurn inuenced the building of the cathedral of ‘Saint-Prontat Périgueux in thetwelfth century: Apart from housing the zelies of che Apostles Andrew, Luke, and Timothy, the church was ‘the pantheon of the Byzantine emperors unit the early eleventh century. The ast Emperor to ‘be buried there was Constantine VIII (d, 1038) ‘Nikolaos Mesarites wrote a description of the church some time betscen 1198 and 1205, but like most Byzantine panegyies the text is more tevocative than enlightening from an art-hisori= «al point of view. Procopius makes it abundantly plain that Justinian’s mania for building was not confined to his capital, nor was this mania necessarily generated by uesthetic reasons. A large part of Use Buildivgs (Books II-VI) is concerned with ‘owns rebuilt, frontier fortifications, agueducts, roads, bridges, but churches were always a ‘majorconcera: Ephesus, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Subratha in. Tripoli, Carthage, churches in Bithynia and Galatia, churches in the Balkans ‘Building the provinces under Justinian rarely shows the full impact of the contemporary architecurein the capital Local traditions were ‘maintained by local eafismen, but sometimes there was a wholesale export of masons and ‘materials from the metropolis. Sometimes only the marble furnishings, panclings, capitals, screens, were exported from the imperial ‘quarries inthe Proconnesus. Thus, of the coast of Sicily a sunken ship has been discovered, loaded with columns of Praconnesian marble, ambo, chancel sereens, all - to use a modern teem ~ prefabricated for some church in the West. On Mount Sinai Justinian built chureh which he dedicated to the Mother of God and Ng The Tanager Noant Sina, manatry of St Cater, hare “a very strong fort and stationed there an im portant garrison so that the wild Saracons tight not be able to take advantage of the dis- trict being uninbabited and use the place a5 2 base for invading with all possible seerecy the tistics towards Palestine”, Today, within the ‘monastery of Sc Catherine on Mount Sinai, Jestinin’s church is one of the best preserved fall his undertakings. Insriptions referring ro the Emperor snd ‘his late Empress! and to the architect Stephen of Aila establish a date be- teen 548 and 565. Asin the churches st Can- stantinople the walls were sheathed with tarefilly marched marble panels, but unlike Hagia Sophia the apse was decorated with a ‘magnificent representation of the Transfigura- tion in mosaic [8s]. Christ is represented between Elias and Moses, an epiphany shim~ ‘mering in whiteand gold framed by a mandorla, Monsie inv apse. Betwcen 518 and 565, in shades of blue from which emerge broad says of light. Below this awe-inspiting apparition the Apastles John and James knee! and make iestures of atonishment and acclamation; St Perer sprawls beneath the feet of Christ. The whole scene is framed by bands containing ‘medallions; these in tum frame busts of the twelve Apostles, siteen Prophets, King David, and two incumbents, Longinus the Hegou- ‘menes and John the Deacon, the spandrels ‘owo angels fly towards a medallion containing the Agnus Dei and below two more medallions frarme busts ofthe Virgin and St John the Bap- tis. Above,on either side of twosmmall windows, Moses takes off his sandals before the burning bush and receives the ‘Tables of the Lave. Alchough the capitals and the columns in the ‘church are of poor local workmanship, chere ‘seems every reason to suppose that the ream ofJob» EARLY CHRISTIAN AND BYZANTINE ART '86,"The Last Supper. Mosse inthe nave. Esty snth century. Ravens, Apolvere Naoto ‘msaicists and the materials were sen from the rietropolisand that at Mount Sinai is preserved the only example of pure Byzantine style in ‘mosaic dating from the mile ofthe sixth con- tury. Certainly the treatment of form and drapery and the modelling of the faces appear to differ from che style at Ravenna (S. Vitale) ‘or at Salonika (Hosios David), both cities with local traditions of craftsmanship. Indeed, ic is not without interest ro note thar che tendeney ‘© outline the form, the elliptical rendering of the thigh, the sssembling ofthe form by a sort of justapostion of the component parts, is reflected inthe genre scenes in the mosaic floor ‘of the Great Palace at Constantinople [142] which dates probably from the second half of the sisth century Although there is no evidence of direct im= peral patronage in the building and decoration ofthe churches, Ravenna isthe next important mirror ofthe age of Justinian In gps the Goths had entered che city butcher king Theodaric, who had been 2 hostage for en years at Con stantinople duting the formative period of his life builtand decorated under the fll influence of te metropolis. As matter of course he used fecal workmen, In all che monuments at Ravenna there i inevitably an intricate sy thesis ofthe old imperial traditions ofthe Theo osian court, the legacies of Rome and Milan, and the new stream of inspiration from Con stantinople. Theodarie, whose minister was Cassiodorus, was the classic example of the enlightened’ barbarian, Although Arian in ‘THE AGE OF JUSTINLAN = 107 7. The Garden of Gethsemans. Mosicin the nave Early sixth entry, Rane, S. Apalinare Nuns bie, he was impartial in religious matters. He acknowledged Byraorine suzerainty and his feign, after the initial wars against the Goths, ‘wasa time of happiness and prosperity through ot Italy. Agriculture was improved, marshes were drained, harbours formed, and taxes were lightened. ‘Theodoric understood something of the Byzantine mystique but he was equally sensitive to patrician thought in Italy. Thus, the church of S. Apollinare Nuovo, which was nally dedicated to the Saviour, a court church attached to the palace, was built on a Western basilican plan in a brick technique originating at Milan, sheathed in marble by ‘workers summoned according to Cassiodorus from Rome, and the capitals were presumably imported from Constantinople. Beautiful though the church i= in structure alone, its chief glory isthe mosaic decoration i the nave, ‘where the walls are covered in thre ters. The Iighest ter, above the windows, consists of a serie of ewenty-sis panels ~ thirteen on each Side ofthe nave ~ depleting senes from the life of Christ, the aldestsurviing in mosaic. Each panes linked by similar motifs which by their Similarity strike a chythmie beat: the motif i 2 [kind of niche surmounted by asmal silver eross flanked by doves. The scenes follow in chrono logical order staring from the apse and raov- ing towards the fagade, Some scholars have suggested that these scenes correspond with ‘Syro-Jacebite or North Italian liturgical texts bt, in fact, the order does not fit the texts; it seems reasonable to suppose thatthe intention106 ~ EARLY CHRISTIAN AND BYZANTINE ART THE AGE OF JUSTINIAN + 107 '86, The Last Supper, Mossi inthe nae. Hatyssth eentory. Raseane, S.Apelnare Naoto ‘mostcists and the materials were sent From the ‘metropelisand that at Mount Sinai is preserved the only example of pure Byzantine style in ‘mastic dating from the middle ofthe sixth cen- tury. Certainly the treatment of form and Arapery and che modelling of the faces appear to differ from the style at Raventa (S. Vitale) ‘or at Salonika (Hosios David), both ci local traditions of craftsmanship. Indeed ‘not without interest to note thatthe tendeney 1 outline the form, the elliptical rendering of the thigh, the assembling ofthe form by a sort of juxtaposition of the component parts is reflected inthe genre scenes in the mesa foot ‘of the Great Palace at Constantinople (142) which dates probably from the sscond half of the sixth century there is no evidence of direct im= in the building and decoration of the churches, Ravenna isthe next important imieror ofthe age of Justinian. In 493 the Goths hnad entered the city but thei king Theodoric, ‘who had been a hostage for ten years at Con ssantinople during the formative period of his life, built and decoraced under the full influence ofthe metropolis. Asa matter of eourse he used Joel workmen. In all the monuments at Ravenna there is inevitably an intricate syne thesis ofthe old imperial traditions ofthe Thee Aosian court, the legacies of Rome and Milan, and the new stream of inspiration from Con stantinople. Theedarie, whose minister wat Cassiodorus, was the classic example of the calightened barbarian, Although Arian in ‘8, The Garden af Gethsmane, Monsen the ave. Ealy sth century. Ronen, S. Apne Noro belie he was impartial in religious matters. He acknowledged Byzantine suzerainty and his reign, after the initial wars against the Goths, ‘vasa time of happiness and prosperity thro cout Italy. Agriculture was improved, ma ‘were drained, harbours formed, and taxes were lightened. Theodoric understood something of the Byzantine mystique but he was equally sensitive to patrician thought in Tely. Thus the church of S. Apolinare Nuovo, which was originally dedicated to the Saviour, a court church attached to the palace, was built on « Western basilcan plan in a brick technique ‘oviginating at Milan, sheathed in marble by workers summoned according to Cassiodorus from Rome, and the capitals were presumably imported from Constantinople, Beautiful though the church is in structure alone, its chief glory isthe mosaic decoration inthe nave, ‘where the walls are covered in three tiers. The highest tier, above the windows, consis of a series of twenty-six panels ~ thirteen on each side ofthe nave ~ depicting scones fram the life of Christ, the oldett surviving in mossic. Fach ‘panel is flanked by similar motifs which by their similarity strike a hythmic beat: dhe mots a kind of niche surmounted bya smal silver cross flanked by doves. The scenes follow in chrono logical order starting (rom the apse and mov ing towards the fagade. Some scholrs have suggested that these scenes correspond with ‘Spro-Jacobite ot North Telian liurgical cexss bat, in fact, the order does not ft the cess; it sceme reasonable to suppose thatthe intention58. Proceso of Virgins, Mosse he nave Beaween 536 and 565, Ravenna, 5. Apolnare Nao ar merely etek i of Ce. Gifrones fs in he panel The moss sppatetie vot of wo eas soe ve Shine ha one matron the Miracles and ote forthe Pasion These ofboth ean depends on Roman meds nd teadtins itis ec iow intet hata come parton hs hen de ith che represen date fom his time, Alter the Byzanti cof the Miracles carved in ivory on the Andrews dipeych (38), Roman work of about 46 ~ with ‘an economy in relsting an historical event reminiscent of moses in S. Maria Maggiore, S, Paolo fuori le Mura, and SS. Giovanni © Pola, A scene may be the merest notation of ‘vent, a inthe Last Supper [86], or it may ex- and intoa landscape as inthe Garden of Geth- THE AGE OF JUSTINIAN * 109 semane [87]. Chris is usually beardless, some- ‘imesshort-sometimes long-haired, and dressed in the imperial purple. The representation of the Apostles in a number of these extracts of narrative recalls those in the apse ofS. Aquilina at Milan [15]. Between the upper windows, the second tier present isolated figures of Apostles and Prophets. The ehird ties, the largest and ott striking ofall (88), shows on ane side the procession of Virgins mocing along the wall from Cassis, the port of Ravenna the and Child enthroned, adored by the three Mi land on the other side Mareyes mosing in pro= cession from the Palace of Theodoric cowards Christ enthroned. ‘The Virgins are dressed in the costume of an Augusta, and some scholars fave detected Constantinopolitan influence in the representations af Christ and che Virgin, ‘which date from the time of Theodoric. The Virgins and Martyzs and the three Magi do not ‘quest in 54o the church was eventually con= verted from Arianism to orthodoxy. This reser filets occurred duting che episcopate of Agnellus (536-66) following an edict of Jus- finian, ‘The church was rededicated to. St Martin of Tours, the haramer of the heretic, snd the Virgins and Martyrs led by St Martin tnd the three Magi replaced the previous figures, which, consider ing away from che palace and the Ravens, probably represented ‘Theodoric ne his court and possibly other Arian worthies. In spite of drastic restoration the lofty beauty of these mosses, gleaming in shades of white and rey, green, blue, red and gold, haunt the mind Tong after the visitor has let the church. Also dating from the time of Agnes, probably about 561, a porteait of Justinian represents him older and stouter than the poctait in S Vitale and, indeed, at chat time the Emperor svauld have been i is late seventies, During the second quarter of the eighth century, 38 the result ofan earthquake, the rot af che apse collapsed. Tn the ninth century a crypt was added, and, probably because of the translation fof relics, the church was finally dedicated 0 Sant’Apollinare?“The Arian Baptstery, built during the reign ‘of Theodore =the present church ofS. Spitito tas the Avian Cathedral ~ was decorated with Inostics in the dome which depend upon but diter from these in the Orthodox Baptistery. Te has been argued that the decoration of the dome was done in two periods af time (the dis- tance bersrecn the to periods is difficlt to de~ termvine) by five mosaicsts. Asin the Orthodox Baptistery [24] the centre of the dome i domi= rated by the Baptism of Chrise (89) around ‘which the Apostes, holding crowns or garlands, rove in stately procession. Unlike the Ortho= however, the Apastles move tiurth chapter ofthe Apocalypse, frst appears ton the triumphal arch ofS, Maria Maggiore in Rome, but no doubs chere were earlier epre~ sentaions in the East in Constantinian tives. Te ssl ofthe mosaics inthe Avian Baptistery is more simplified, both in form and drapery, than that inthe Orthodox Bapristery’subileties nflightand shade, of modelling and movement, ‘ncompositon and sense of space reall missing inthis nonetheless impressive vision Probably one of the most beautiful of al shurch interiors, even chough posterity has meddled and marred, is that of S. Vitale at Ravenna, There is no evidence, inspite ofthe a, The Baptiso of Christ; below the Apostles. ‘Messi inthe dome, Ealy sixth eeu. Face, Arica Bapiery THE AGE OF JUSTINIAN + #1 imperial portraits in the apse, of imperial pateonage for the construction, although the plan comes very close to Justinian’: court churches. The church was begun after the recurn of Bishop Eeclesius (521-32) from an cmbssy to Constantinople about $25 and was financed by a loca! banker, Julianus Argen- tarius, When Eeclesius died the construction ‘vas continued under Bishop Vitor (538-43), ‘whose monogram appears with cha of Becesius ‘onthe capitals of the ground floor. The church ‘vas not completed and consecrated until 547, atthe beginning of Masimnan's episcopate (546+ 50) whose portrait appears in the imperial suite Jn the apse and whose ivory chair which bears his monogram stands today in the Archiepis= e copal Palace. Centrally planned, octagonal, with an apsc,a narthex, and galleries, S. Vitae is un- {questionably Byrantine in conception and has ‘often been considered a sister building of St ‘Sergius and St Bacehus at Constantinople, The plan is close enough, but the construction is more subtle than that of the metropolitan ‘church, with is breathtaking swoops inco space, its elegant loftnes, its caressing light. There i rnedoubs thatthe column shafisand capitals were ‘imported from the Proconnesian workshops (On the other hand, the workmen appear to have ben local, much of the maceril used i local leven though the bricks imitate those of Cor stantinople, and its posible thatthe archivasa La in the sloryis chancel. Since Bishop Eeclesius is depicted at the left hand of Christin the apse 90) itis srguable that this part of the mossic decoration dates from his lifetime, but many scholes con- sider the entie decoration to have been done under -Masimian. Christ, beardless, short- Iized, cross-nimbe purple, i seated o1 n who had served his apprentices tropes. Once again the ero mosaic and marble decoration i ‘St Vitalis stands on the right of Christin court ‘ess with hands veiled by the chlamys ready 10 receve-the craven offered by Christ; on the lft se. rst enthroned between St Vials and Bishop Fexesius, Mos inthe pes Second qunter ofthe ith century. Raceway S. Piles of Christ Bishop Ecolesius offers his chareh, Beneath the globe isa flowery terre on which the archangels, the saints, and the bishop stand, and from which the Four Rivers af Paradise emerge. Above, in the spandrel, are the cities of Jerusalem and Bethlchem, The theave of the other seenes in the chance! i, on the whole, eucharistic. On the left tympanum Abssham receives the three Angels under the oak at Mame and prepares to sacrifice Isa [gt] in the spandrels chere is representation of Jere- minh and Moses receiving the Tables of the Law with che Isralites below; atthe tp of the tympanum two angels besr x medallion con taining jewelled crass. On the right tympanum ‘91. The Sucre of Revema, S-Viale Abel and Melehisedek make sacrifices; in the 5 Moses unlooses his sandal before the bush and tends the leks of Jethro and there is a representation of Isaiah; the angels ‘bearing the cross and medallion are repeated Inthe vault of the chancel four anges on globes support a central garkind framing the Agnus Dai. On the soit of the arch ac che centrance to the chancel a chain of medallions with busts of Aposties and Saints, including St Geevase and St Protas sons of Se Vitsis~ Milanese inf nce here ~ mount to the crowning bust of Christ, bearded, long-haited. On the walls be- tnreen the gallery openings and the entranceand atthe apsidal ends of thechanee the four Evan THE AGE OF JUSTINIAN © 115, fesse on the let ermpanum, Second quarter ofthe sith centers sclists are revealed soated in a rocky landseape ‘with their symbols above them. In becween these major seenes chere is an astonishing svealth of ineidental ornament: vases filled with fruit pecked by birds, peacocks, erossed cornu opine, lowers acanthus-serallsinbabited by 2 positive 200 of birds and beasts ~ the whole a bare of gold and rich colour which waxes and wanes with the light oF day, 2nd night - with ll, the silver and gold lamps which must have hing within the chancel area ~ overwhelming in flickering radiance, And then the imperial portraits ‘Within the apse, to the left and right of the lange windows, above the marble and porphyry11g + EARLY CHRISTIAN AND BYZANTINE ART 92 Justinian and his suite, incuding Archbishop Masinian, Mosse peel inthe cancel. Peabbly 65. Baccus, Viale sheathing of the walls which serves esa baek= ground to the bishop's thane, the imperial epiphanies are revealed to the people. On the Gospel side the Emperor Justinian [92] haloed, sands in full regalia holding great gold dish On his right and slightly behind hima on his left stand two ministers of sate and a secretary; on his eft again Archbishop Masimian and two members of his clergy, one of them holding 2 great book bound in gold and precious stones; ‘on his far right, a group of the imperial guard. ‘They stand poised on a green ground, caught for a moment and, we hope, for numbers of years, in the slightly swaying movement of a slow procession which has suddenly turned as ‘one man to confront the spectator. In thie ae of slightly swaying, suddenly turning, all members ‘ofthe imperial cortége bend thei proud, stern, Yet kindly gauze onthe subject faithful, There is nn attempi, 2s there i in the Theadosian Mis- sorium, to differentiate the Emperor by height or isolation. Justinian appears to be slightly shorter than Maximian, and his retinue erowd in closely round the ‘central figure, whose cblamys, purple with a great gold, green, and red tablion and pinned with an outsize gold and jewelled fibula, is nevertheless slowed more 00m in width and scope of gesture ~ the veiled Jefc hand supporting che bows moves in front of Maximian’s elbow, But the contrast between this richly jewelled, purple-draped fgure and the rest ofthe suite, whose dress is predomi- nantly white, is dramatic enough. Allthe figures are slightly elongated and thir length is accen~ tated by the straight-flling, severe fines of {het robes, which mask the form and and em- phase the sharp characterization of the heads above them. At the same time the natural and ‘is Theodora and her suite. Mose pal iS. ale the supernatural image is evoked, Justinian, the Vicar of God, isthe imperial ideal incarnate. In the setting of the seene there is no tempt to place, The imperil epiphany is r= ‘cle before a golden background on « green floor. Te finite forms, che attributes of power, the porrsits from life, suggest 2 moment of time, but this vision emerges from and radites Hight, colour, and harmony in infinity ‘On the Epistle side the Empress Theodora {ggh 4 towering figure bedizened in jewels, dia- dem, catatheiste, necklace, her purple chlamys embroidered in gold with che figures of the ‘three Magi ~ note the accent oa epiphany ~ holding a great gold chalice, preceded by 10 chamberlains and followed by seven Tedies in snsting, also pauses in procession. AS in the opposite panel, the whole cortege seems to have turned ina moment of procession to bend their THE AGE OF JUSTINIAN the chancel Probably 47 sve on the faithful. Bur there is less concert of intensity. Some ofthe ladies have their eyes on the Augusta, others gaze in differen directions; ‘one of the chamberlains is reaching out 10 @ knotted curtain in the doorway But looks t0- wards the Empress. Only Theodora, the chief chamberlain, and the prinepal ladies in wating are engeging the onlooker with their proud, m= passive stare. Except for her exaggerated height in the panel, Procopius's description of the ‘Augusta reverberaces through time: ‘she was fair of face and charming as well, but short and inclined to pallor, not indeed completely with- ‘oat cofour but slightly sallow. The expression ‘of her eyes was always grim and tense’. In this ppanc time and place tend to obtrude as inciden- tals, When and where is this scene supposed 10 have occurred? ‘The Empress is standing in a niche surmounted by 2 conch, the ladies wait116 © EARLY CHRISTIAN AND BYZANTINE ART ‘under a swathed canopy, a small fountain plays ‘onthe left in front of the doorway the setting appears to be wholly seeulsr, as though the Augusta were about to leave the palace for & dedication ceremony, Some have argued that the background isnot to be taken for an ‘archi= ‘cual reality” but merely an imperial attribute and symbol. Some have assumed the bach- ground tobe ecclsiasicand thatthe two panels shouldbe interpreted as the Grand Encey of the Emperor during the Mass - the portraits would then fit in tothe general eucharistie scheme of ecoration in the chancel. Others have flatly denied this theory, maintaining thatthe Grand Entry ofthe Emperor yas not introduced until the time of Justin If and thae st no time did the Empress take pare in the procession of ablates = no woman was permitted to crass the choir barrier. This agsin has been countered by the assertion that the Grand Entry was in practice before Justin 1, and tha the panels portray the procession before entering the sunetvary so that the presence of the Empress was possible. On the other hand, at Constantinople when the Empress went in state to Hagia Sophia she usually moved from the palace tothe gallery at the west end and did not descend into the nave fof the church. Most of these discussions are really disagreements over the interpretation of Constantine VII's Book of Ceremonies, com piled inthe tenth century and aced not detain tus here. The panels more ikely record imperial interest in the recent Byzantine recanguest of lua, their support of the viceroy Maximian, an imperial nominee, the presentation of gifts to the church of S. Vital, and the stressing of the evo spheses of authority, the imperinn and the cacerdovu, Tes certain that Justinian and ‘Theodora never went ro Ravenna; the portraits ‘must have been seat from Constantinople to be copied in mosaic as a lauraton to confem the imperial presence and, since ‘Theodora died in 548, they were presumably executed ia time for the dedication of the church by Maximisn ingz (fall the gifts sent by Justinian this viesroy ‘Maximian only one remains: an ivory chair carved on the front with the monogram of the bishop. Moreover, Maximian’s chair is the onl ‘one co have survived almost in its entirety from the Early Christian period, ‘The carved ivory panels which eover the wooden core present 2 series of styles within 2 strang hellenste rede tion, and. series of scenes from the life of Christ, and from the life of Joseph St John the Bapris. between the four Evangelists dominates the front of the chair; in addition, there is a vich vocabulary of incidental ornament (o4]. Unfor- tunately the chair is no longer in its original sae. The panels depicting the life of Joseph appear to be intact ~ perhaps the parallel to be EARLY CHRISTIAN AND BYZANTINE ART “The Legishtion on Mount Sinai and the Tabernacle. From the Ashburnham Penteuch, 2S, nowy. ag. fat 2334 fl 76 ret, Probably Ty, te ith or seventh century Pacis, Biche Nationale eed ‘The illastrations of the Ashburnham Penta- teuch, dating probably ftom the late sisth or seventh century, ate more ambitious bur are equally tafling as to their model and their provenance. Again paleographers agree on the date of the uncial serps, which was apparently writen in a centre outside the main Latin Ae stream, possibly east of Healy, but art-historins have been ata loss when faced by the miniae tures, of which some are eneaustic, and Spain, southern Gaul, Ualy, and North Africa have all, ‘peen mooted, The text of the Seriptures i the Vulgite, but the lbele under the miniatures fellow the old Latin version, The ttle page on fol, 2 ecto presents alist of the sacred books ‘ith her Jewish and Latin namesina fame bo- teen parted cherey-red curtains draped round cofummes, believed by some 1 be a reference ro the Torah in a synagogve. Nineteen full-page miniatures have survived, ranging from the Creation of the World to’ Moses expounding the Law to the Jews. In some eases one scene such as the Flocd (fl. 9 recto) may occupy the whole page, bur more frequently a number of scenes follow upon each other reading from left to right (although there are exceptions to this), which presupposes a Western tradition. Never= theless, more than one scholar has invoked Jewish traditions and influences on the Penta tech, and most scholars consider that the artist yas familiar sith the East ~ oF North Africa Characteristic of the decoration isa petsstent and complex use of architecture with incidental curtains, hanging crowns, and lamps [121] sshich looks forward to aspects of Carolingian ‘THE AGE OF JUSTINTAN * 145 ilumination and drawing. The manuserip: was ‘stored in eastern France in the eighth century, and by the ninth century it had reached Tours, where it seems to have evercsed no influence at alluntlthelatecleventh eentury. The Moutiers= ‘Grandval Bible exceuted at Tours between 834 and 843 clearly followed a uifferent model, and the Bamberg Bible with its Genesis eyeleread= ing from right to Ieft suggests that there was some other Syriae model ia the seriptorium, ‘The costume ofthe wogven in the Ashburnham Pentateuch, particularly the mancilla draped over high, braided hair, recalls the orant ladies in Roman catacombs of the Foueth century [6) tnd the vertical bande on the long tunics run ning fom shoulder to foot may beseen on many optic grave-clothes dating ffom the fourth to the early seventh eentury. Much of the male costume looks uncompromisingly Western, almost Frankish, Wherever che Ashburnam Pentstcuch was copie, i seems probable that a fourth-century Roman model was at hand, and whatever else was brought to bear on iin the course of production, the result is far re- moved from the Eastern manuscripts which have survived. The artist ofthe Vienna Gene- sis, though equally retrospective, were fving in a different world.)