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I am making this thread because I had my one unique thought of the week but its about a historical topic, so I am starting this for my fellow forum members to have a place to contribute random history ideas that are not worthy of a separate thread and may not be fully fleshed out.
My idea was about the clash of civilizations that happened between the byzantine empire and islam, and art history. In the classical greek world the human form was idealized to some extent but also based on human anatomy.
Whereas with roman art the human form is moved into full realism showing every flaw on the face of a bust for example.
And obviously in religious art the gods are depicted with no reservation because they are in the world and part of the natural happenings of the world.
Then with the collapse of the roman empire the human form appears to be lost to art in the excellence that the roman world had achieved. But religious artwork with a focus on Jesus Christ and the Apostles and other saints depicted in art increases, showing the change of the society's focus from man to God. But of course God the Father was rarely depicted, because He cannot be depicted. Jesus Christ however can be depicted because He took on human flesh and entered into the world. Below shows an in between piece of the roman classical style turning into the iconic style of the Byzantines.
In the extreme the icon loses all perspective being wholly an aid to prayer with the viewer seeing the icon as a portal into heaven. So a totally ideal view of the Saint is depicted, with an item that shows who they are in their hand and a totally golden background with the st looking out at the viewer.
This is showing how art is becoming solely focused on religious ends and so the human form is no longer depicted as it really is in life. But is supposed to represent the saint in heaven so the human form is moving back towards an idealized shape.
And finally my unique thought, if you know anything about byzantine history you know that their main opponent becomes islam, and where is the human form in islam? It is not depicted, at all. The byzantine armies marched into battle with a banner of an icon of the mother of God on it. The Muslims marched with an all black flag. So while many will denigrate the art of the Byzantines, they fought to preserve the human form in art at all, in their civilizational struggle with islam. If they had been defeated earlier, before the western germanics had time to regroup and reform civilization, the human form would never had been depicted with the later beauty and honor the renaissance period and even earlier middle ages religious art produces. And if you know even more about Byzantine history you will know that there was a period when a series of emperors initiated a program of destruction of all icons in the empire because they had a civlizational doubt about the victories of the muslims and thought that the losses they were experiencing at the hands of islam was because God did not want iconographic representation of Jesus or any saints. Ending eventually in the restoration of the icons, lead by of all people monks! Now would these monks have approved the new art that emerges in the renaissance, most likely not, but they still defended the human form against its total negation. The muslim view of God and man being a total separation and really to the detriment of man, the only parts of islam retaining any human form being those descended from persia.
Eventually of course the eastern empire falls to the muslims. But the human form is exploding out with new grace from the renaissance world of western Europe as the defenders of it for so long finally perish.
So that was my unique thought. Idk if its important but I thought I would share cause I thought it was cool. Relates to muslims and arabs being a lesser race and destroyers of civilization to the point of negating the image of man itself. Versus the Byzantines who as whites preserve civilization long enough for the italians and eventually the rest of western Europe to elevate mans form to some of the greatest depictions in history.
My idea was about the clash of civilizations that happened between the byzantine empire and islam, and art history. In the classical greek world the human form was idealized to some extent but also based on human anatomy.
Whereas with roman art the human form is moved into full realism showing every flaw on the face of a bust for example.
And obviously in religious art the gods are depicted with no reservation because they are in the world and part of the natural happenings of the world.
Then with the collapse of the roman empire the human form appears to be lost to art in the excellence that the roman world had achieved. But religious artwork with a focus on Jesus Christ and the Apostles and other saints depicted in art increases, showing the change of the society's focus from man to God. But of course God the Father was rarely depicted, because He cannot be depicted. Jesus Christ however can be depicted because He took on human flesh and entered into the world. Below shows an in between piece of the roman classical style turning into the iconic style of the Byzantines.
In the extreme the icon loses all perspective being wholly an aid to prayer with the viewer seeing the icon as a portal into heaven. So a totally ideal view of the Saint is depicted, with an item that shows who they are in their hand and a totally golden background with the st looking out at the viewer.
This is showing how art is becoming solely focused on religious ends and so the human form is no longer depicted as it really is in life. But is supposed to represent the saint in heaven so the human form is moving back towards an idealized shape.
And finally my unique thought, if you know anything about byzantine history you know that their main opponent becomes islam, and where is the human form in islam? It is not depicted, at all. The byzantine armies marched into battle with a banner of an icon of the mother of God on it. The Muslims marched with an all black flag. So while many will denigrate the art of the Byzantines, they fought to preserve the human form in art at all, in their civilizational struggle with islam. If they had been defeated earlier, before the western germanics had time to regroup and reform civilization, the human form would never had been depicted with the later beauty and honor the renaissance period and even earlier middle ages religious art produces. And if you know even more about Byzantine history you will know that there was a period when a series of emperors initiated a program of destruction of all icons in the empire because they had a civlizational doubt about the victories of the muslims and thought that the losses they were experiencing at the hands of islam was because God did not want iconographic representation of Jesus or any saints. Ending eventually in the restoration of the icons, lead by of all people monks! Now would these monks have approved the new art that emerges in the renaissance, most likely not, but they still defended the human form against its total negation. The muslim view of God and man being a total separation and really to the detriment of man, the only parts of islam retaining any human form being those descended from persia.
Eventually of course the eastern empire falls to the muslims. But the human form is exploding out with new grace from the renaissance world of western Europe as the defenders of it for so long finally perish.
So that was my unique thought. Idk if its important but I thought I would share cause I thought it was cool. Relates to muslims and arabs being a lesser race and destroyers of civilization to the point of negating the image of man itself. Versus the Byzantines who as whites preserve civilization long enough for the italians and eventually the rest of western Europe to elevate mans form to some of the greatest depictions in history.
