Islamic and Byzantine Empires

Forrest Webber

December 10, 2013

A block

Byzantine art versus Islamic art

The Byzantine and Islamic empires had different styles of artwork; However Both of these empires took pride in the arts and created many masterpieces. One such painting from the Byzantine Empire was a Mosaic of John the Baptist. A painting from the Islamic empire was Calligraphy from the Islamic Empire. This Calligraphy said “In the name of God, Most Merciful, Most Gracious.” These were just two of the many masterpieces from both empires.

Religion was the art for the Byzantine. They were scolded if they used any creativity at all so most pictures or mosaics from the Byzantine Empire were religious based. The way they painted on the canvas was very astonishing. They became incredibly advanced in their painting skills as time went on, and that translated into their painting styles. The painting of John the Baptist was a painting of true amazement during the time. He was thought of as a father figure (not nearly as much as god though) at the time. His face projected a type of wisdom and peace to the people of Byzantine. In the painting of John the Baptist he holds his right hand up to signal a blessing, which was a very powerful signal to the Byzantines. He was most likely being depicted as giving (or preparing to give) a baptism. A baptism in many churches is when a young child is either emerged completely or lightly sprinkled with water on their forehead. This symbolizes the purification of the body and this that then grants admission to the church. John the Baptist performed very unique baptisms that continued to inspired many of the practices in the church today to still practice in many of the same ways. The scroll he is holding in his left hand was most likely scripture from the Bible, which he recited in the church. Most scholars believe that John baptized Jesus, this making him that much more important to the Byzantine people. This was one of the many reasons why there were many pictures or mosaics painted of him.

Calligraphy was the foundation of Islamic artwork. Calligraphy was the design of letters or words in a beautiful drawing form using a type of a paintbrush. The words were usually from the Arabic Language. They used this form of art to represent artwork of their god. They believed they could not draw a figure that physically represented their god. A piece of calligraphy from the Islamic empire says the words “In the name of God, Most Merciful, Most Gracious.” The Islamic culture is a very religious culture but very artistic as well. For reasons of breaking their religion Islamic people usually aren’t aloud to express their religious ways. These words or letters are very, very powerful to the Islamic people, and Calligraphy a big role in the artwork of the Islamic culture.