A műemlékek sokszínűsége (A 28. Egri Nyári Egyetem előadásai 1998 Eger, 1998)

Előadások / Presentations - Georgiosz PROKOPIU: The polychromy in byzantine art church decoration, origin, form and technique

Christian decorations of architectural edifices, a theatrical interpretation of the architecture, which developed in the latter centuries of the Roman Empire. The form of art, thus, acquired an aesthetic independence and individuality, which became more pronounced with the „inverted perspective" of the Byzantines, a perspective which, rather than pushing the objects and figures into the background and depths of the scene, brought them out, on to the first place, to emphasize that the creative space of art was limited to only the two dimensions, on the wall surfaces. It was in this way that the three-dimensional perspective of hellenistic art was, gradually, transformed into the two-dimensional perspective of Byzantine art. The shapes of the saintly figures also lost their three-dimensional aspect. They were delineated in the new space of art, by a simple and strong line, set on one level, on an empty and bare background. The use of colour and outline in the works of Byzantine art was much developed aesthetically. Pure colour and pure lines dressed the tragic heroes of iconography, in robes without material weight, without threedimensional aspect and volume. Physical anatomy became an illusory outline in only two dimensions. Landscape and architectural decoration, perspective and shading, all disappeared behind the curtain of gold, which had been dropped into the stage of the drama, to detach man from the mundane things of the earth and to elevate him to another world, wherein time and place were undefined. The field of gold in the mosaic permitted the observer to concentrate his interest and thoughts, undistractedly, on the dramatic essence of icon representation. The art of Byzantium appealed directly to the vision with its pure colour. It excited the senses with its solar colours and mesmerized with its magic, long before it began to speak of the symbolism used in the senes in iconography. Tied down by limitations and prohibitions, enclosed within a „magicai circle," to secure a moral code and discipline for the warm-blooded peoples of the Mediterranean and Asia, the art of Byzantium, compensated for the abandonment of the pagan tradition (in sculpture) by passionately embracing, riotous and lavish colours, precious stones, coloured marbles, faiences, mosaics, enamels, embroidery, pearls, silver and gold. Together with the allegorical animal and plant subjects of the East, the curve brought back to Christian ar the very ancient feeling and yearning for pure colour. Dionysus does not hide behind only the vine and vineyard of Christian iconography. He is resurrected by the polychromy of colours which cover the insides of mausoleums, baptistries and churches with an exciting symphony. The band of the revellers of colour consist of mosaics, marble cladding, columns in red and green marble, and floor opus sectile, with countless hues. And, quoting the late prof Ang. Prokopiou: „The fauvist movement of modern art is but a small tributary, when compared with the huge flow of exciting polychromy, which floods the domes and apses on the surface and the interiors of palaeo-Christian and Byzantine churches, with their pure and vigorous contrasts in colour values. The yearning of the senses for pure colour constitutes the liveliest and most spirited evidence for the popular force of Christianity, which overthrew the largest Empire of the ancient world, by replacing the empire's rationality with its illogical faith in the resurrection of the dead. But it was also the psychological counter-balancing of the moral renunciation of the senses, with the aesthetic satisfaction of the sight, which secured the harmony of the soul within the Christian art of Byzantium."