Exhibitions

Exhibitions

Byzantium 330-1453
An exhibition at the Royal Academy, London, in association with the Benaki Museum, Athens.
25th October 2008 - 22nd March 2009

When the idea of the exhibition ‘Byzantium 330-1453’ was first conceived five years ago, one could have hardly imagined that the number of visitors would reach approximately 300,000 four months after its opening, and that the exhibition would be included in the top ten art exhibitions of 2008 from across Britain (Richard Dorment, Daily Telegraph).

In January 2007, I was offered by Professor Maria Vassilaki, one of the curators of the exhibition, the wonderful opportunity to join the exhibition team at the Benaki Museum (Panorea Benatou). The process of securing the long list of exhibits and making available to viewers such a variety of artworks was definitely not an easy task. The exhibition that the main galleries of the Royal Academy of Arts housed was splendid and unique in bringing together a host of archaeological treasures - over 350 objects from 72 institutes in 20 countries - including mosaics, jewellery, icons, manuscripts etc. In addition, ‘Byzantium 330-1453’ was the first exhibition to be devoted to the whole course of Byzantine civilization since the famous show that David and Tamara Talbot Rice organized for the Edinburgh Festival and the V&A half a century ago (Masterpieces of Byzantine Art. Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh, 23 August – 13 September 1958 & Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1 October – 9 November 1958). The collaboration between the Royal Academy and the Benaki Museum made possible the presentation of a wider and much more impressive range of artifacts.

Celebrating the artistic legacy of the Byzantine Empire over a period of eleven centuries, the exhibition dazzled visitors with the richness of materials such as gold, precious stones, enamel and ivory. Some of the artworks had never before travelled from their home countries and can never be lent again due to their fragile nature, such as the items from the Treasury of San Marco in Venice.

Every single exhibit told its own story and all together invited the viewer to trace the history of Byzantium through its art. The first two chronologically organized galleries were followed by seven thematic sections, and they all together guided one through a magnificent display of artifacts and succeeded in providing a coherent view of Byzantine culture while also respecting its numerous and diverse aspects. Each section presented information about the commissioners, donors or owners of the objects, their artists and the society in which they were produced. The history of change and development within a long lasting Christian society was unfolded.

While the Central Hall was dominated by a magnificent chandelier, the first room, entitled ‘The Beginnings of Christian Art’, showed how a new world looked to one God for salvation by drawing strength from its foundations in pagan culture. The Graeco-Roman tradition on which Christian art relied was evident in the marble sculptures of the salvation of Jonah, created in the middle of the third-century in Asia Minor. These exquisite marble carvings tell, in classical style, Jonah’s story, which prefigures Christ’s death and resurrection. Other major pieces included an excellent mosaic floor from Thebes with personifications of the months, and an impressive early fifth-century tomb from Thessaloniki complete with wall paintings showing the Old Testament story of Susanna and the Elders, which stands as an allegory of the triumph of the Christian church over heresy.

The next section, ‘From Constantine to Iconoclasm’, looked at the early Byzantine art, from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 to the end of Iconoclasm in 843. A mixture of past traditions and new forms and types was represented in a gathering of excellent pieces such as ivory diptychs, the Projecta Casket, the silver David Plates of the seventh-century from the Lambousa Treasure in Cyprus, the Khludov Psalter with its portrayals of iconoclasts, the icon with the Triumph of Orthodoxy and, of course, the Antioch Chalice, the enigmatic work from the Metropolitan Museum in New York, which for fifty years was believed to be the Holy Grail.

The section ‘At Court’ focused on imperial patronage and devotion and bore witness to the luxury of the court. Stunning objects in ivory as well as enamels and manuscripts celebrated the art of the Great Palace in the tenth century. Major pieces included the enamel gold glass cup from the Treasury of San Marco, the Veroli Casket and the exquisite ivory box decorated with hunting scenes, which has been in the treasury of Troyes cathedral since the Crusaders looted Constantinople in 1204. The last exhibit of this section was the magnificent early thirteenth-century icon of the Archangel Michael in cloisonné and relief enamel and solid gold, precious and semi-precious stones. All artwork exhibited here bespoke the splendor of the imperial court.

The next gallery, entitled ‘At Home’, was dedicated to domestic objects, many of which travelled from the Benaki Museum. Ceramics and silver of everyday life, a child’s tunic with a hood, a pair of sandals and figurines in bone (dolls?) familiarised the viewer with items the Byzantines used on a daily basis. In spite of the fact that religion pervaded Byzantine culture, exquisite pieces of jewellery and adornment vividly show that life could be glamorous too.

The section ‘At Church’ celebrated the divine within the church, the space that was regarded as ‘heaven on earth’. On display here were liturgical and sacred objects such as processional crosses, a part of a marble screen epistyle carved in 873-4 for the church of the Koimesis at Scripou in Greece together with two double-sided closure panels from the church of St Gregory the Theologian in Thebes, both of the same date and workshop. All these items illustrated that inside the church everything, from decoration to sacred objects, was working together with a view to translating the church into heaven. The exquisite twelfth-century perfume-brazier from Constantinople in the shape of a square-planned church (now in the Treasury of San Marco in Venice), which became a reliquary once it arrived in Venice, is representative of the spiritual and sensuous character of Byzantine culture.

The next section was dedicated to ‘Icons’, the most significant and distinctive aspect of Byzantine culture and religion. Major items included the spectacular icons from Ohrid, the one of Christ Pantocrator and the one of the Virgin Psychosostria (‘she who saves the soul’) both of which once decorated the same wooden screen, the micromosaic icon with the Man of Sorrows at the centre of a Renaissance case which contains the relics of many saints of the Catholic church and the icons from the Byzantine Museum in Athens signed by the Cretan painter Angelos Akotantos who flourished around 1425-50.

The gallery entitled ‘Byzantium and the West’ addressed the question of the impact of Byzantium on the west and especially on early Renaissance Italy. A characteristic example here was the diptych of Christ as Man of Sorrows from the National Gallery in London, which was displayed alongside the two-sided icon of the Mother of God and Man of Sorrows from Kastoria. Quite impressive were also the bronze doors (now at the entrance of the Church of San Salvatore de Birecto in Atrani) commissioned for the church of San Sebastiano dei Mangani by Pantaleon in Constantinople in 1087.

The next section, ‘Beyond Byzantium’, explored the centrality of Byzantine art in the Eastern Mediterranean. Objects from neighbouring countries such as Armenia, Syria, Georgia and the Slavonic world testified to the influence of Byzantium and indicated the cultural exchange with Islam. Key works on display here included the embroidered icon with the miracle of the Hodegetria from Moscow, the fresco copy from the King’s Church, Studenica monastery with patrons and saints as well as the Armenian miniature with St Luke and Theophilos from the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.

The show culminated in a set of stupendous icons made for ‘The Monastery of St Catherine at Sinai’, a site of continuous pilgrimage and worship since its foundation by Justinian between 550 and 565. The viewers were able to enjoy five icons from the monastery dated in the 12th and 13th centuries, including one of a young, beardless Moses and the vita icon of St George. Because it was too dangerous for one of the encaustic icons at Sinai to travel to London, it was decided to bring the two icons of the sixth-century from the Kiev Museum - the icon with Christ with saints Sergios and Bacchos and the icon with the Virgin and Child - which left the monastery in the middle of the nineteenth century. The final artifact was the extraordinary work known as the ‘Heavenly Ladder’ by St John Klimakos with a strikingly real message.

The splendidly illustrated and comprehensive exhibition catalogue, edited by the curators Robin Cormack and Maria Vassilaki, contains entries on each exhibit by leading Byzantinists from all over the world in addition to featuring thirteen introductory essays also by authorities in the field. To accompany the exhibition, a programme of lectures and events was prepared while the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies scheduled a series of one- and two-day colloquia to coincide with the show. The 42nd annual Spring Symposium of Byzantine studies, to be held in London between 20th and 22nd March, will be devoted to the exhibition too as its title ‘Wonderful Things: Byzantium through its Art’ shows.

The exhibition ‘Byzantium 330-1453’ succeeded not only in allowing the viewer to experience diverse aspects of the complex Byzantine civilization, but also in inviting non-experts from all around the world, who may have not even heard about Byzantium before, to come into contact with a part of European history which has been unjustly neglected and in which many of the foundations of our modern Western civilization were laid.

Dr Vassiliki Dimitropoulou
Benaki Museum

For more information, visit the Royal Academy website: http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/
For events associated with the exhibition, see http://www.kcl.ac.uk/kis/schools/hums/byzmodgreek/ByzantiumtoBritain.html