Editing Medieval art (section)

==Byzantine art==
{{Main|Byzantine art}}
[[File:Psautier de Paris, MSS. gr. 139, fol. 1v.jpg|thumb|left|[[King David]] plays the [[harp]] in the 10th century [[Paris Psalter]], a classicising work of the Macedonian period.]]

Byzantine art is the art of the Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire formed after the division of the Roman Empire between Eastern and Western halves, and sometimes of parts of Italy under Byzantine rule.  It emerges from Late Antiquity in about 500 CE and soon formed a tradition distinct from that of Catholic Europe but with great influence over it.  In the early medieval period the best Byzantine art, often from the large Imperial workshops, represented an ideal of sophistication and technique which European patrons tried to emulate.  During the period of [[Byzantine iconoclasm]] in 730-843 the vast majority of [[icon]]s (sacred images usually painted on wood) were destroyed; so little remains that today any discovery sheds new understanding, and most remaining works are in Italy (Rome and [[Ravenna]] etc.), or Egypt at [[Saint Catherine's Monastery]].

Byzantine art was extremely conservative, for religious and cultural reasons, but retained a continuous tradition of Greek realism, which contended with a strong anti-realist and hieratic impulse. After the resumption of icon production in 843 until 1453 the Byzantine art tradition continued with relatively few changes, despite, or because of, the slow decline of the Empire.  There was a notable [[Macedonian art (Byzantine)|revival of classical style]] in works of 10th century court art like the [[Paris Psalter]], and throughout the period manuscript illumination shows parallel styles, often used by the same artist, for iconic figures in framed miniatures and more informal small scenes or figures added unframed in the margins of the text in a much more realist style.<ref>{{Harvnb|Kitzinger|1955|pp=57–60}}.</ref>

[[Monumental sculpture]] with figures remained a taboo in Byzantine art; hardly any exceptions are known.  But small ivory reliefs, almost all in the iconic mode (the [[Harbaville Triptych]] is of similar date to the Paris Psalter, but very different in style), were a speciality, as was relief decoration on bowls and other metal objects.

The Byzantine Empire produced much of the finest art of the Middle Ages in terms of quality of material and workmanship, with court production centred on [[Constantinople]], although some art historians have questioned the assumption, still commonly made, that all work of the best quality with no indication as to origin was produced in the capital. Byzantine art's crowning achievement were the monumental [[fresco]]s and [[mosaic]]s inside domed churches, most of which have not survived due to natural disasters and the appropriation of churches to [[mosques]].
[[File:Kristus a svatý Menas.jpg|thumb|6th or 7th century [[Coptic art|Coptic]] [[Icon of Christ and Abbot Mena|icon of Jesus and an abbot]] shares in more homely form the anti-realist style of Byzantine iconic art.]]

Byzantine art exercised a continuous trickle of influence on Western European art, and the splendours of the Byzantine court and monasteries, even at the end of the Empire, provided a model for Western rulers and secular and clerical patrons.  For example, [[Byzantine silk]] textiles, often woven or embroidered with designs of both animal and human figures, the former often reflecting traditions originating much further east, were unexcelled in the Christian world until almost the end of the Empire.  These were produced, but probably not entirely so, in Imperial workshops in Constantinople, about whose operations we know next to nothing—similar workshops are often conjectured for other arts, with even less evidence.  The [[gold ground]] style in mosaics, icons and manuscript miniatures was common across Europe by the Gothic period.  Some other decorative arts were less developed; Byzantine [[ceramic art|ceramics]] rarely rise above the level of attractive [[folk art]], despite the [[Pottery of Ancient Greece|Ancient Greek heritage]] and the impressive future in the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] period of [[İznik pottery|İznik wares]] and other types of pottery.

Other local traditions in [[Armenia]], [[Syria]], [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] and elsewhere showed generally less sophistication, but often more vigour than the art of [[Constantinople]], and sometimes, especially in [[architecture]], seem to have had influence even in Western Europe.  For example, figurative monumental sculpture on the outside of churches appears here some centuries before it is seen in the West.<ref>Atroshenko and Judith Collins cover the Eastern influences on Romanesque art in detail.</ref>