bizantine mosaic of ravenaThe technique is deceptively simple but of great complexity: a small colored tiles are placed with care and detail to form figurative scenes of great realism and beauty are used. It is an art unchanged since the pieces do not lose power or degrade color in any way. Only in the case of detachment or deliberate action can be altered.
Ravenna is a city on the Adriatic coast during the Middle Ages became a powerful cultural focus first early Christian and Byzantine after. In its numerous churches and baptistery we can admire, still unchanged, majestic mosaics coating walls, niches and apses. The theme is fundamentally religious but not the propaganda aspect of power is neglected and thus appear figures of great political significance as the Emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora surrounded by their respective entourages, or imperial palace, etc. However are frequently purely religious scenes: the Virgin, Jesus Christ, saints, apostles, martyrs ... |
San vitale churchIn San Vitale shown as in any other church, breaking the space that the difference in the spatial unit, eg the Pantheon: the succession of arches, marbles of different colors, the golden glow of the mosaics, all contribute to create a space that is more illusion than reality. But most significant of the repertoire of mosaics (covering floors, walls, ceilings, lunettes, etc.) is perhaps the couple that unfold mosaics in the apse, on the sides of the altar: the Emperor Justinian with his entourage and opposite, Empress Theodora with his entourage.
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