The Greek and Syrian origins of medieval iconography

The Lion and the Cardinal posted an informative selection on the origin and development of iconography.

Up to now, Byzantine art has scarcely been mentioned; there has been no reason to do so. In fact, we observed that our twelfth-century French works were inspired by much earlier models than Byzantine originals. All can be explained by Hellenistic or Syrian prototypes which we traced to Egypt, Syria and Cappadocia. In the Merovingian and Carolingian epochs, illuminated manuscripts had been brought from the East, and they transmitted the first Christian art to Gaul, which drew on these ancient sources until the twelfth century.

The name of Byzantine art, once evoked at every turn, must thus be used only sparingly. Now that the Eastern sources of Christian art are better known, Byzantine art appears a bit like a newcomer who garners a rich inheritance.

It is nonetheless true that from the ninth until the eleventh century, Byzantine art – the art of Constantinople – had reclothed the old models in a most noble beauty. The foundation of Byzantine art is almost always Eastern, that is, Palestinian, Syrian, or Cappadocian, but its form is Greek. It ennobled the realism of Eastern art, and sometimes it seems even to recapture the spirit of Greece.... The somewhat severe art of the Eastern monks was purified, undergoing an initiation before being given the keys to the city.

Byzantine art had its greatest and widest influence during the eleventh and twelfth centuries; it reached Russia, Italy, and Sicily.... It is not surprising that in France, at this time, certain scenes from the Gospels were known in their Byzantine form and that these new models were imitated....

Complete article here.