
The Palaeologan Renaissance or Palaiologan Renaissance is the final period in the development of
Byzantine art
Byzantine art comprises the body of artistic products of the Eastern Roman Empire, as well as the nations and states that inherited culturally from the empire. Though the empire itself emerged from the decline of Rome, decline of western Rome and ...
. Coinciding with the reign of the
Palaiologoi
The House of Palaiologos ( Palaiologoi; , ; female version Palaiologina; ), also found in English-language literature as Palaeologus or Palaeologue, was a Byzantine Greek noble family that rose to power and produced the last and longest-ruling d ...
, the
last dynasty to rule the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...
(1261–1453), it was an attempt to restore Byzantine self-confidence and cultural prestige after the empire had endured a long period of
foreign occupation
Military occupation, also called belligerent occupation or simply occupation, is temporary hostile control exerted by a ruling power's military apparatus over a sovereign territory that is outside of the legal boundaries of that ruling powe ...
. The legacy of this era is observable both in Greek culture after
the empire's fall and in the
Italian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance ( ) was a period in History of Italy, Italian history between the 14th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Western Europe and marked t ...
. Scholars of the time utilized several classical texts.
History
Following the
Sack of Constantinople
The sack of Constantinople occurred in April 1204 and marked the culmination of the Fourth Crusade. Crusaders sacked and destroyed most of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. After the capture of the city, the Latin Empire ( ...
in 1204, the
Crusaders
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...
established a
Latin Empire
The Latin Empire, also referred to as the Latin Empire of Constantinople, was a feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. The Latin Empire was intended to replace the Byzantin ...
to rule what had been Byzantine territory. Extensive looting took place in the fallen capital, and many
relic
In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains or personal effects of a saint or other person preserved for the purpose of veneration as a tangible memorial. Reli ...
s and art treasures were shipped back to Western Europe. Seeking refuge in unconquered remnants of their empire, the Byzantine elite formed governments-in-exile at
Nicaea
Nicaea (also spelled Nicæa or Nicea, ; ), also known as Nikaia (, Attic: , Koine: ), was an ancient Greek city in the north-western Anatolian region of Bithynia. It was the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea (the first and seve ...
,
Trebizond
Trabzon, historically known as Trebizond, is a city on the Black Sea coast of northeastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. The city was founded in 756 BC as "Trapezous" by colonists from Miletus. It was added into the Achaemenid Em ...
, and
Epirus
Epirus () is a Region#Geographical regions, geographical and historical region, historical region in southeastern Europe, now shared between Greece and Albania. It lies between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea, stretching from the Bay ...
.
[Cormack 2000, pg. 198.] These new political entities continued to commission works of art, which however bore marks of limited resources and fragmented imperial authority. Craftsmen worked with less rare and expensive materials than before— an example is the use of
steatite
Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a talc-schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is composed largely of the magnesium-rich mineral talc. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occur in subdu ...
in sculptures that would formerly have been made of ivory— and sponsorship came from a multitude of private patrons instead of being dominated by the emperor. One of the emperors of Nicaea,
John III Doukas Vatatzes
John III Doukas Vatatzes, Latinized as Ducas Vatatzes (; 1192 – 3 November 1254), was Emperor of Nicaea from 1221 to 1254. He was succeeded by his son, known as Theodore II Doukas Laskaris.
Life
John Doukas Vatatzes, born in about 1192 i ...
(r. 1222–1254), undertook projects to ensure the survival of traditional culture. He commissioned public libraries in all the cities of his possessions and ordered municipal leaders to allocate salaries to scholars of medicine, mathematics and rhetoric. In 1238, he also instituted a school of philosophy directed by
Nikephoros Blemmydes
Nikephoros Blemmydes (Latinized as Nicephorus Blemmydes; , 1197–1272) was a 13th-century Byzantine author.
Biography
Blemmydes was born in 1197 in Constantinople as the second child of a physician. After the conquest of Constantinople by the for ...
.

Constantinople was recaptured in 1261 by
Michael VIII Palaiologos
Michael VIII Palaiologos or Palaeologus (; 1224 – 11 December 1282) reigned as Byzantine emperor from 1261 until his death in 1282, and previously as the co-emperor of the Empire of Nicaea from 1259 to 1261. Michael VIII was the founder of th ...
(r. 1261–1282), founder of the Palaeologan Dynasty and former co-emperor of Nicaea. Amid triumphal ceremonies, he declared the Byzantine Empire restored and instituted a campaign of renovation in the capital. Made necessary by the damage done to the city under Latin rule,
the renovation was also intended to symbolize the empire's recovery from the destitution and humiliation it had just undergone. The conception of the Palaeologan period as a cultural "renaissance" owes much to Michael's efforts to revive the glory of Constantinople; in Byzantine lands unconquered by the Crusaders, art production had never been so seriously disrupted as to require a period of "rebirth".
Certain conditions established by the sack persisted after the recovery of Constantinople. The imperial boundaries had been permanently diminished, and the rulers of Trebizond and Epirus remained independent of the central government. In the aftermath of the Crusades there was unprecedentedly close contact between the Greek world and Western Europe, and Byzantine and Western artists borrowed each other's techniques. Fluency in multiple styles was useful for catering to a more diverse group of patrons, but these borrowings were also motivated by interest in foreign artworks and a desire to learn from them. As in the era of exile, much Palaeologan art was funded by the aristocracy instead of the emperors. Pictorial works from this era feature an unprecedented number of non–imperial
donor portrait
A donor portrait or votive portrait is a portrait in a larger painting or other work showing the person who commissioned and paid for the image, or a member of his, or (much more rarely) her, family. ''Donor portrait'' usually refers to the portr ...
s. The Palaeologan period was also the first in which Byzantine painters regularly signed their works; it is not clear why this custom developed, since innovation and stylistic individuality continued to be discouraged in
Orthodox
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...
art.

Michael VIII ordered work in
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia (; ; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (; ), is a mosque and former Church (building), church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively ...
, which had been converted to a place of
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
worship by the Latin emperors. The church was re-furnished for the performance of Orthodox rites, and a colossal mosaic of the ''
Deesis
In Byzantine art, and in later Eastern Orthodox iconography generally, the Deësis or Deisis (, ; , "prayer" or "supplication") is a traditional iconic representation of Christ in Majesty or Christ Pantocrator: enthroned, carrying a book, and ...
'', 5.2 meters in length and 6 meters wide, was installed in its south gallery.
[Cormack 2000, pgs. 201-202.] Among the other objects of Michael's patronage were the
Blachernae Palace
The Palace of Blachernae (). was an imperial Roman residence in the suburb of Blachernae, located in the northwestern section of Constantinople (today located in the quarter of Ayvansaray in Fatih, Istanbul, Turkey). The area of the palace is now ...
and several sections of the city defenses, along with public service projects. Private patrons sponsored restorations of Constantinople's churches, many of which were maintained for the next two centuries even as the residential portions of the city fell into neglect.
Between 1316 and 1321,
Theodore Metochites
Theodore Metochites (; 1270–1332) was a Byzantine Greek statesman, author, gentleman philosopher, and patron of the arts. From c. 1305 to 1328 he held the position of personal adviser ('' mesazōn'') to emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos.
Life ...
, deputy of Michael's successor
Andronikos II, sponsored an extensive rebuilding of the
Chora Church
The Chora Church or Kariye Mosque () is a Byzantine architecture, Byzantine church, now converted to a mosque (for the second time), in the Edirnekapı, Istanbul, Edirnekapı neighborhood of Fatih district, Istanbul, Turkey. It is famous for ...
. An artist, whose name is not preserved, was called away from a project in
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...
to design Chora's frescos and mosaics, which emerged as one of the foremost achievements of Palaeologan art.
David Talbot Rice
David Talbot Rice (11 July 1903 – 12 March 1972) was an English archaeologist and art historian. He has been described variously as a "gentleman academic" and an "amateur" art historian, though such remarks are not borne out by his many achi ...
points out that, contemporaneously, "
Giotto
Giotto di Bondone (; – January 8, 1337), known mononymously as Giotto, was an List of Italian painters, Italian painter and architect from Florence during the Late Middle Ages. He worked during the International Gothic, Gothic and Italian Ren ...
was decorating the
Arena Chapel
The Scrovegni Chapel ( ), also known as the Arena Chapel, is a small church, adjacent to the Augustinian monastery, the ''Monastero degli Eremitani'' in Padua, region of Veneto, Italy. The chapel and monastery are now part of the complex of ...
at
Padua
Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...
. The Byzantine painter
orking in Chorahad other ideas and a different outlook, but in his own way he was just as great a genius". Andronikos II had Hagia Sophia's walls reinforced with
buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...
es in 1317.
Late in his reign there was a decline in the empire's fortunes, and little building was undertaken in the capital after 1330.
[Mango 1978, pg. 148.] The optimism fostered by Michael VIII gave way in subsequent times to a sense that "the present generation had sinned and was inferior to its predecessors".
In 1346 an earthquake damaged the domes of Hagia Sophia, which were repaired by
Andronikos III.
Manuel II (r. 1391–1425) created an institution called the ''Katholikon Mouseion'' in the early 15th century. It was located in a hospital and attached to the monastery of St. John Prodrome, whose rich library had at its disposal numerous teachers including Georges Chrysococè and
Cardinal Bessarion
Bessarion (; 2 January 1403 – 18 November 1472) was a Byzantine Greek Renaissance humanist, theologian, Catholic cardinal and one of the famed Greek scholars who contributed to the revival of letters in the 15th century. He was educated ...
, who later settled in Italy. The library welcomed many Italians who came to Constantinople to learn
Greek language
Greek (, ; , ) is an Indo-European languages, Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic languages, Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece, Cyprus, Italy (in Calabria and Salento), south ...
and culture. Also during the reign of Manuel II, the scholar
Demetrios Kydones
Demetrios Kydones, latinized as Demetrius Cydones or Demetrius Cydonius (; 1324, Thessalonica – 1398, Crete), was a Byzantine Catholic theologian, translator, author and statesman. He served an unprecedented three terms as '' Mesazon'' (Im ...
wrote several texts such as the ''Discourses'' and ''Dialogues'' on the relationship between Christianity and Islam, on politics and on civil subjects such as marriage and education. He also made a treatise on the seven ecumenical ''councils'', a poem on how to convert unbelievers, and a refutation of Catholic doctrine on the procession of the Holy Spirit.
Notable contributors
Under the impetus of the Palaeologan emperors, many politicians, scholars and writers took part in projects of literary revival and the expansion of knowledge. Among these were the judge and historian
George Pachymeres
George Pachymeres (; 1242 – 1310) was a Byzantine Greek historian, philosopher, music theorist and miscellaneous writer.
Biography
Pachymeres was born at Nicaea, in Bithynia, where his father had taken refuge after the capture of Constantinop ...
(1242 –
c. 1310), and four great philological scholars of the time of
Andronikos II:
Thomas Magistros,
Demetrius Triclinios,
Manuel Moschopoulos
Manuel Moschopoulos ( Latinized as Manuel Moschopulus; ), was a Byzantine commentator and grammarian, who lived during the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th century and was an important figure in the Palaiologan Renaissance. ''Moschop ...
, and the theologian
Maximus Planudes
Maximus Planudes (, ''Máximos Planoúdēs''; ) was a Byzantine Greek monk, scholar, anthologist, translator, mathematician, grammarian and theologian at Constantinople. Through his translations from Latin into Greek and from Greek into Latin, ...
(c. 1255/1260 – c. 1305/1310). The scholar and statesman
Nikephoros Choumnos
Nikephoros Choumnos (, 1253 – 16 January 1327) was a Byzantine scholar and official of the early Palaiologan period, one of the most important figures in the flowering of arts and letters of the so-called "Palaiologan Renaissance". He is notab ...
(c. 1250/1255 – 1327) was one of the most important figures of the renaissance, while Theodore Metochites (1270–1332) was a philosopher and a patron of the arts and sciences, considered the most complete scholar of his time. He studied
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural History of Europe, European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the inter ...
, although not with the same intense interest as his contemporaries in
Trecento
The Trecento (, also , ; short for , "1300") refers to the 14th century in Italian cultural history. The Trecento is considered to be the beginning of the Italian Renaissance or at least the Proto-Renaissance in art history. The Trecento was als ...
Italy.
[Cormack 2000, pg. 210.] The fourteenth-century poet
Manuel Philes
Manuel Philes (; –1345) was a Byzantine poet from Ephesus. He was "the most prolific author of the late Byzantine period".
Biography
At an early age, he moved to Constantinople, where he was the pupil of George Pachymeres, in whose honour he c ...
wrote pieces commemorating a wide variety of artworks and the aristocrats who had sponsored them. His work gives some insight into the creative activity of his time and place, although it is also full of "clichés or the praises and lineage of his noble patrons". A tradition of
polemic
Polemic ( , ) is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called polemics, which are seen in arguments on controversial to ...
also existed during the time, exemplified by the historian
Nikephoros Gregoras
Nicephorus Gregoras (; Greek: , ''Nikēphoros Grēgoras''; c. 1295 – 1360) was a Byzantine Greek astronomer, historian, and theologian. His 37-volume ''Roman History'', a work of erudition, constitutes a primary documentary source for the 1 ...
, who expanded the criticism of
Aristotle
Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
in his dialogue ''Phlorentius.''
Gemistos Plethon
Georgios Gemistos Plethon (; /1360 – 1452/1454), commonly known as Gemistos Plethon, was a Greek scholar and one of the most renowned philosophers of the Late Byzantine era. He was a chief pioneer of the revival of Greek scholarship in West ...
was exiled by Manuel II to the
Despotate of Morea
The Despotate of the Morea () or Despotate of Mystras () was a province of the Byzantine Empire which existed between the mid-14th and mid-15th centuries. Its territory varied in size during its existence but eventually grew to include almost a ...
, an important intellectual center; his lectures there revived
Platonic thought in Western Europe.
Plethon had offended the emperor by studying heretical and even pagan doctrines, and thus displaying an openness of mind "very similar to
Renaissance humanism".
Art and architecture
The Palaeologan style
Cyril Mango
Cyril Alexander Mango (14 April 1928 – 8 February 2021) was a British scholar of the history, art, and architecture of the Byzantine Empire. He is celebrated as one of the leading Byzantinists of the 20th century.
Mango was Koraes Profess ...
describes "a distinctive new style" in Palaeologan painting, "marked by a multiplication of figures and scenes, by a new interest in
perspective (however strangely rendered), and by a return to much earlier models such as
illuminated manuscripts
An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared manuscript, document where the text is decorated with flourishes such as marginalia, borders and Miniature (illuminated manuscript), miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Churc ...
of the 10th century". These mannerisms appear with equal frequency in works of all sizes.
[Rodley 1994, pg. 314.] Contemporary trends in church painting favored intricate narrative cycles, both in fresco and in sequences of icons;
to serve this need, the traditional large, portrait-style holy images were partially superseded by landscape scenes with comparatively small figures, often depicted in motion.
[Mango 1978, pg. 167.] The landscapes themselves are barren, perhaps intended to invoke the wilderness traditionally occupied by prophets and ascetic hermits.
There are informal attempts at using foreshortening to create the illusion of three dimensions, notably in the curious buildings which sometimes form a backdrop for figures. The scholar Lyn Rodley refers to "lurching architectural forms that suggest distant, and none too committed, reference to the formulae of perspective drawing". In the mosaics and frescos of Chora Church, as well as certain other works from Constantinople, foreshortening is used for narrative purposes, making buildings lean toward the intended focus of the viewer's attention.
In depicting people, Palaeologan artists favored a "small-headed, wide-bodied, 'boneless' figure style".
Kurt Weitzmann
Kurt Weitzmann (March 7, 1904, Kleinalmerode (Witzenhausen, near Kassel) – June 7, 1993, Princeton, New Jersey) was a German turned American art historian who was a leading figure in the study of Late Antique and Byzantine art in particular ...
speaks of "over-elongated figures", placed in "swaying poses" and wearing draperies which "bulge slightly, giving the impression of detachment from the frail bodies underneath".
Hard, geometrically patterned highlights are used to give figures the appearance of volume, albeit without interest in depicting realistic anatomical construction or a coherent light source. This technique was extensively employed by
Cretan School
Cretan school describes an important school of icon painting, under the umbrella of post-Byzantine art, which flourished while Crete was under Venetian rule during the late Middle Ages, reaching its climax after the fall of Constantinople, beco ...
artists and thus became a standard in post-Byzantine icon painting.
Icons
Tempera
Tempera (), also known as egg tempera, is a permanent, fast-drying painting medium consisting of pigments mixed with a water-soluble binder medium, usually glutinous material such as egg yolk. ''Tempera'' also refers to the paintings done in ...
paintings on wooden panels had always made up part of the corpus of Byzantine
icon
An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic, and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, mother of ...
s, but they proliferated in the Palaeologan period; the word "icon", formerly used to describe any image employed in a religious context, became increasingly associated with this kind of panel painting.
The phenomenon was probably linked to new customs related to the
templon
A templon (from Greek language, Greek τέμπλον meaning "temple", plural ''templa'') is a feature of Byzantine architecture, Byzantine churches consisting of a barrier separating the nave from the chancel, sanctuary near the altar.
The solid ...
, a screen used in churches to separate the congregation from the
sanctuary
A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred space, sacred place, such as a shrine, protected by ecclesiastical immunity. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This seconda ...
where priests conducted rituals. The practice of affixing icons to this screen dated back to at least the 8th century.
As part of a general increase of paintings in late Byzantine church interiors, more panels were added and the templon evolved into the
iconostasis
In Eastern Christianity, an iconostasis () is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a Church (building), church. ''Iconostasis'' also refers to a portable icon stand that can be placed anywhere withi ...
, "a solid wall of icons... between the worshipper and the mystery of the Christian service".
By the 12th century, usage in this important and highly visible context had made panel paintings into a more prestigious art form, suitable for wealthy patrons to commission. Even quite large icons, 1.2 to 1.8-meters high or more and depicting figures greater than life size, began to be executed in tempera, rather than in the traditional media of fresco or mosaic.
Small icons were also made in quantity, most often as private devotional objects personalized with dedicatory inscriptions or donor portraits.
They were the late Byzantine art form most likely to partake of Western influences. Expensive portable icons in
micromosaic
Micromosaics (or micro mosaics, micro-mosaics) are a special form of mosaic that uses unusually small mosaic pieces (tesserae) of glass, or in later Italian pieces an Vitreous enamel, enamel-like material, to make small figurative images. Survivi ...
were collected by rich patrons in both Byzantine and Western lands. This art form had been part of the Byzantine repertoire at least since the twelfth century, but after 1204 there was a renewed interest which has left over 20 extant examples. Often less than 25 centimeters in height, these later icons were made as impressively small as possible, composed of
tessera
A tessera (plural: tesserae, diminutive ''tessella'') is an individual tile, usually formed in the shape of a square, used in creating a mosaic. It is also known as an abaciscus or abaculus.
Historical tesserae
In early antiquity, mo ...
e "no bigger than a pin's point... set in wax on a wooden ground". Some incorporated luxury materials such as gold and
vitreous enamel
Vitreous enamel, also called porcelain enamel, is a material made by melting, fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between . The powder melts, flows, and then hardens to a smooth, durable vitrification, vitreous coating. The wo ...
, but all micromosaics were rendered precious by the time and skill required to build them.
Illuminated manuscripts
The majority of scribes who worked on
manuscript illumination
An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is decorated with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers and liturgical books such as psalters and ...
remain anonymous: only 17 of the 22 manuscripts preserved by
Theodore Hagiopetrites (a copyist who lived around 1300 in
Thessalonica
Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area) and the capital city, capital of the geographic reg ...
) are signed. The production of books is rarer, probably because many copyists went into exile under
Latin domination. Nevertheless, the ''
scriptoria
A scriptorium () was a writing room in medieval European monasteries for the copying and Illuminated manuscript, illuminating of manuscripts by scribes.
The term has perhaps been over-used—only some monasteries had special rooms set aside for ...
'' of the monastery of
Panaghia Hodegetria in Constantinople remained active throughout the 14th century.
Monumental mosaics
Grand churches of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries continued to receive
mosaic decoration, including the ''Deesis'' of Hagia Sophia.
This work gives its figures a gentle and compassionate aspect, and uses tiny tesserae to achieve fine modeling on their faces, evocative of painting; despite its monumental size, it seems intended to possess the personality of an icon.
Large mosaics from Palaeologan Constantinople also survive in the
Church-Mosque of Vefa, Chora Church, and the
Pammakaristos Church
The Pammakaristos Church, also known as the Church of Theotokos Pammakaristos (, "All-Blessed Mother of God"), is one of the most famous Byzantine church buildings in Istanbul, Turkey, and was the last pre- Ottoman building to house the Ecumenica ...
. All three buildings feature a distinctive figural arrangement in the interiors of their domes, which have bust portraits of
Christ Pantokrator
In Christian iconography, Christ Pantocrator (, ) is a specific depiction of Christ. or , literally 'ruler of all', but usually translated as 'almighty' or 'all-powerful', is derived from one of many names of God in Judaism.
The Pantokrator i ...
or the Virgin Mary at their apexes. Ribs of masonry radiate out from the apexes, and the
flutes
The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...
, or flat surfaces between the ribs, display full-length portraits of
Christian prophets or
ancestors of Jesus. This compositional motif, evidently dictated by "the preferences of high ecclesiastical circles in the Capital",
required coordination between the churches' builders and iconographic planners, to ensure that a dome had the right number of flutes to accommodate the intended group of figures. Elsewhere in the Byzantine world, mosaics were installed in the
Holy Apostles Church of
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...
, the
Porta Panagia church of
Thessaly
Thessaly ( ; ; ancient Aeolic Greek#Thessalian, Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic regions of Greece, geographic and modern administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient Thessaly, a ...
, and the
katholikon
A ''katholikon'' or catholicon () or ''sobor'' () refers to one of three things in the Eastern Orthodox Church:
* The cathedral of a diocese.
* The major Church (building), church building (temple) of a monastery corresponding to a conventual ...
and chapel of
Saint Nicholas
Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...
in the
Vatopedi
The Holy and Great Monastery of Vatopedi (, ) is an Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox monastery on Mount Athos, Greece. The monastery was expanded several times during its history, particularly during the Byzantine period and in the 18t ...
Monastery of
Mount Athos
Mount Athos (; ) is a mountain on the Athos peninsula in northeastern Greece directly on the Aegean Sea. It is an important center of Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox monasticism.
The mountain and most of the Athos peninsula are governed ...
.
Architecture
Starting in the period of the Latin Empire, breakaway Byzantine states sought to dignify themselves by building churches and palaces in their capital cities. Their varying demographics and resources produced distinctive regional styles of architecture: Epirus built grandiose monuments incorporating much
spolia
''Spolia'' (Latin for 'spoils'; : ''spolium'') are stones taken from an old structure and repurposed for new construction or decorative purposes. It is the result of an ancient and widespread practice (spoliation) whereby stone that has been quar ...
from Roman ruins, and the
Despotate of the Morea
The Despotate of the Morea () or Despotate of Mystras () was a province of the Byzantine Empire which existed between the mid-14th and mid-15th centuries. Its territory varied in size during its existence but eventually grew to include almost a ...
, held by the Crusaders until 1262, showed a pronounced Western influence.
The plan and decoration of
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia (; ; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (; ), is a mosque and former Church (building), church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively ...
, in diversely-populated Trebizond, mixed Byzantine, Western,
Georgian, and
Seljuk Turkish motifs.
By contrast, Constantinople itself employed a conservative architectural style, showing strong continuity with previous centuries.
The capital was short of funds, and obliged to concentrate upon repair work; most of its Palaeologan churches were enlargements of existing structures,
usually in the form of "annexes enveloping earlier churches on three sides". This practice first appeared in Epirus and
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...
before being adopted in Constantinople. The annexes in Thessaloniki may have been used for church ceremonies, while those in Constantinople housed lavish tomb monuments for the aristocrats who had sponsored their building. Among the refurbished buildings were Chora, the Church-Mosque of Vefa, the Pammakaristos Church, and the principal church of the
Lips Monastery
Fenâri Îsâ Mosque (full name in ), known in Byzantine times as the Lips Monastery (), is a mosque in Istanbul, made of two former Eastern Orthodox churches.
Location
The place of worship is located on Adnan Menderes Boulevard, also known as V ...
. The nobility commissioned mansions as well as churches,
but the only secular building to survive from Palaeologan Constantinople is the so-called
Palace of the Porphyrogenitus
The Palace of the Porphyrogenitus (), known in Turkish as the ''Tekfur Sarayı'' ("Palace of the Sovereign"), is a late 13th-century Byzantine palace in the north-western part of the old city of Constantinople (present-day Istanbul, Turkey). An ...
.
Unlike their precursors, which were inward-looking and often had solid, austere facades, Palaeologan churches were extensively decorated on the outside. More attention was paid to the external appearance of the domes on their roofs, and the walls were "enlivened plastically by means of
niche
Niche may refer to:
Science
*Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development and growth
*Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species
*Niche differentiation, in ec ...
s,
arcade
Arcade most often refers to:
* Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game
** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game
** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware
** Arcad ...
s,
corbel
In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...
s, and strings of
dentil
A dentil (from Lat. ''dens'', a tooth) is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice. Dentils are found in ancient Greek and Roman architecture, and also in later styles such as Neoclassical, Federal, Georgian Rev ...
s− that is, elements that create a play of light and shadow". Many of these walls are also covered with patterns of multicolored stones and bricks, but it is not definitively known whether these were left visible or concealed beneath painted plaster.
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...
s often appear on late Byzantine buildings, and were also popular in contemporary
Venice
Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...
. Mango says that one of these cultures passed the fashion for porticos to the other, but reserves judgement on which was the originator.
Dress

Two–dimensional artworks from the Palaeologan period— including the aforementioned donor portraits— show people dressed in elaborate costumes, giving evidence for personal adornments which have otherwise disappeared. Thus, the scholar Aimilia Yeroulanou suggests that late Byzantine jewelry was more abundant and sophisticated than one would gather from the sparse examples which survive. The pieces that were lost may have been similar to those made in Greek lands after the empire's fall: distinguished by "technical and aesthetic excellence rather than... the sumptuousness of the materials". The same secondary evidence leads David Talbot Rice to assert that the
Byzantine silk
Byzantine silk is silk woven in the Byzantine Empire (Byzantium) from about the fourth century until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453.
The Byzantine capital of Constantinople was the first significant silk-weaving center in Europe. Silk was one ...
industry survived into this period, and continued to produce garments decorated with the traditional
tapestry
Tapestry is a form of Textile arts, textile art which was traditionally Weaving, woven by hand on a loom. Normally it is used to create images rather than patterns. Tapestry is relatively fragile, and difficult to make, so most historical piece ...
technique. He adds, however, that tapestry was gradually supplanted by decorations in
embroidery
Embroidery is the art of decorating Textile, fabric or other materials using a Sewing needle, needle to stitch Yarn, thread or yarn. It is one of the oldest forms of Textile arts, textile art, with origins dating back thousands of years across ...
, which did not require specialized equipment to produce.
[Talbot Rice 1959, pg. 88]
References
Bibliography
*
*
Fryde, Edmund. ''The Early Palaeologan Renaissance (1261 – c. 1360).'' Leiden: Brill, 2000
* Helen C. Evans (Hrsg.): ''Byzantium. Faith and Power (1261–1557).'' New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004
* Geanakoplos, Deno John. ''Constantinople and the West: Essays on the Late Byzantine (Palaeologan) and Italian Renaissances and the Byzantine and Roman Churches.'' Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1989
* ''Late Byzantium Reconsidered: The Arts of the Palaiologan Era in the Mediterranean,'' edited by Andrea Mattiello and Maria Alessia Rossi. London: Taylor and Francis, 2019
*
*
*
*
Runciman, Steven. ''The Last Byzantine Renaissance.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008
* Ševčenko, Ihor. ''The Palaeologan Renaissance.'' Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 1984
*{{cite book , last=Talbot Rice , first=David , title=The Art of Byzantium , publisher=Harry N. Abrams, Inc. , location=New York , year=1959
Byzantine art
Palaiologos dynasty
Culture in the Balkans