Byzantine mosaics

Byzantine mosaics are mosaics produced from the 4th to 15th^[1] centuries in and under the influence of the Byzantine Empire. Mosaics were some of the most popular^[2] and historically significant art forms produced in the empire, and they are still studied extensively by art historians.^[3] Although Byzantine mosaics evolved out of earlier Hellenistic and Roman practices and styles,^[4] craftspeople within the Byzantine Empire made important technical advances^[4] and developed mosaic art into a unique and powerful form of personal and religious expression that exerted significant influence on Islamic art produced in Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates and the Ottoman Empire.^[2]

There are two main types of mosaic surviving from this period: wall mosaics in churches, and sometimes palaces, made using glass tesserae, sometimes backed by gold leaf for a gold ground effect, and floor mosaics that have mostly been found by archaeology. These often use stone pieces, and are generally less refined in creating their images. Survivals of secular wall-mosaics are few, but they show similar subject matter to floor mosaics, where many of the subjects are very similar in both churches and houses; it was not acceptable for images of sacred figures to be walked upon. Religious mosaics show similar subject matter to that found in other surviving religious Byzantine art in painted icons and manuscript miniatures. Floor mosaics often have images of geometrical patterns, often interspersed with animals. Scenes of hunting and venatio, arena displays where animals are killed, are popular.

Byzantine mosaics went on to influence artists in the Norman Kingdom of Sicily, in the Republic of Venice, and, carried by the spread of Orthodox Christianity, in Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania and Russia.^[5] In the modern era, artists across the world have drawn inspiration from their focus on simplicity and symbolism, as well as their beauty.^[6]