History of Byzantine Style

Hello everybody i know i have not posted anything in awhile so today I'm going to be talking about the Byzantine Empire and their contributions to art history.  This time period was largely known for their Great Basilicas or Churchs as we would call them.  Their traditions ending up lastly well of a 1000 years and many of their building are still looked upon with great beauty today.

Hagia Sophia is a massive Basilicas in turkey that was built between 532-537 A.D.  The name Hagia Sophia means "Church of Holy Wisdom".  This church is very well known not only for its beauty and might but because of the architectural advancements this building project gave to the world.  In order to solve their problem of putting a dome on a square they invented devices called triangular pendentives that were able to hold the weight of the dome without it collapsing in on itself.  Currently the basilica has four towers placed around it called minarets that were added in 1453 by the Muslims.

Hagia Sophia

Saint Mark's Cathedral is known as the grandest church of the 2nd Golden Age.  It was built for St. Mark in Venice in the year 828 A.D.  The church has been rebuilt multiple times since the original construction of it due to fires and other reasons.  Four Greek bronze horses can be found above the doorway to this basilicas.

St. Mark's Cathdral

Saint Basil's Cathedral is located in Moscow Russia.  This building was greatly influenced by the Byzantine style of architecture.  It is world renown for its multi-colored towers and its onion shaped domes called kokoshnikis.  It was constructed between 1555 and 1560 by Ivan the terrible.

St. Basil"s Cathedral

Alhambre is a palace in Spain is known for its beautiful gardens.  It was built with Byzantine style which has lasted hundreds of years.  It was originally built as a fortress and has been repaired and renovated many times due to wars and weather.

Alhambre palace over Granada Spain

Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem is another Byzantine style building.  It was built in Jerusalem as a Moslem mosque and it still currently is.  It has a wood dome which is covered in gold leaf and use to be covered in mosaics but now is covered in tiles.

Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem

Byzantine Paintings have a very specific style that identifies them as so.  They painted on wood panels with egg tempra which is a type of paint that uses egg whites as the binder.  They also used lots of bright colors, gold leaf, and they elongated everything about people their faces, fingers and bodies.  Lastly they painted babies just like miniature adults.  The Byzantines were more interested in beauty than they were in realism. 

Byzantine style painting of Mary and Baby Jesus

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it and i will be back soon with more art history.

Art of Ancient Egypt

I am back for another section on Art History.  This week we are in the sandy deserts of Ancient Egypt where many magnificent architectural master pieces are located.  These creations are products of hundreds of years of work, many generations and have lasted thousands and thousands of years in the scorching deserts of Egypt.

Mastabas were the first egyptian structures.  They are large rectangular structures that were usually built on top of tombs. They were originally just on the ground but then they begain to stack them making pyramid type structures.  These structres were mainly made from limestone and are still visible to this day.

Stacked Mastabas

The Great Pyramids of Giza are three pyramids each built for a different pharoah, Khufu, Khafre, and Menakaure.  The largest of the three is Khufu's pyramid with a base of 755ft.  All of these were built with almost perfect porportions which is incredible even with todays technology we have problems with that.

Three Pyramids of Giza

The Sphinx of Giza is a giant lion body with a human head.  This structure was built as a type of tomb/temple guard. This creation is placed near the pyramind of Giza and stands 66ft tall and 240ft long.

Sphinx of Giza

Abu Simbel is a burial tomb carved into a solid rock mountain.  The entrance of this tomb greets you with 4 huge statues of the pharoah Ramses in front.  Due to the statues out front many would think it was his tomb but it was actually built for his wife.  During the 1960's a dam was built near by causeing the valley to flood so the entire mountain was moved 200ft to higher ground to avoid flooding.

Abu Simbel Entrance

King Tut's Tomb is the most famous egyption tomb due to the fact that it was completey untouched when it was discovered.  It had over 5000 perfectly preserved artifactes inside when it was uncovered.

Inside King Tut's Tomb

Nefertiti was Queen to Akenaten and was known for being the most beautiful women in egypt.  She is also known for creating a sun cult and being given high artist prominence by the pharoah.

Bust of Queen Nefertiti

Canon of Proportions:  All egyption pictures are based on the measurements of the fiures fist.  Also all the pictures of figures consisted of a frontal view of the eyes and the shoulders and a profile view of the head, legs and arms.  The reason for these specific proportions was for a consistend recognizeable image.

Canon of Proportions Grid System

So there you have it some structural masterpieces that have lasted the lengths of time and are still viewed as such.  These structures are mysteries to us even today due to the complexity, proportions, and construction difficulties of these monsterous creations.  I hope you enjoyed reading this and thank you for doing such.  make sure to keep checking in for new and upcoming posts on more art history.

Built What We Call Art Today

This is my first post on my Art blog and it will consist of, interesting facts and pictures of some art artifacts that have helped shape what we call art today.  Also if you are interested in any of these further feel free to explore more with my links(:

Venus of Willendorf is one of the oldest known art piece dated back between 25,000 and 21,000 B.C.
It is believed to of been used as a fertility goddess and it stands about 4 3/8" tall.

Venus of Willendorf

Lascaux Caves are painted caves located in France and are know to be from around 15,000 B.C.
These caves are the earliest cave paintings known to exist. The painting were painted by spraying paint through bone tubes.

Lascaux Caves in France

Stonehenge is a very well known structure located in England.  These structures were built between 2,800 and 1,500 B.C. and were used for religious ceremonies.  It was constructed using a post and lintel design and stands about 16 feet tall.

Stonehenge

Ziggaurats are step pyramids perched in Mesopotamia or current day Iraq.  These pyramids were constructed around 2,100-2000 B.C.  they were built as a  form of worship and is also believed of been used for the Tower of Babel design.

A Ziggaurat

Serpent Mound is an effigy mound (raised mounds built by prehistoric Native Americans).  This specific mound is the largest in the world, was built for religious purposes, and is located in Ohio.  This mound also dates back to1070 C.E.

Serpent Mound in Ohio

The Great Gallery is is a group of pictographs in Canyonlands National Park Utah.  These pictographs are some of the largest and best preserved known of.

The Great Gallery in Utah

These magnificent works of art are world renown and are displays of the early people and how even then they used art as a way to expressed themselves, worship their gods, and even entertain.  Thank you for reading and i hope you enjoyed it(:

I welcome you all...

I would like to say welcome to my new Blog(: This blog is a school art project which you will be able to experience in the comfort of your own home, or where ever you are with a computer i guess i should say haha(: On my blog you can expect to see some very cool and interesting information and pictures.  I will be posting about art history and i will be posting not only picture of my art but also of my classmate's art and maybe I'll even squeeze in a few pictures of my cat here and there too(: Well thank you for reading and i will  be adding more posts periodically, be sure to check back soon.