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CHAPTER 30
THE VISUAL ARTS
robin cormack
Under detailed scrutiny, the period from 425 to 600 is seen to represent a time
of significant and conspicuous artistic production and stylistic change and
complexity. If the fourth century appears a time of transition, yet dominated
by traditional forms and techniques, then in contrast it is easy to see that the
fifth century witnesses considerable change, and that by 600 the forms of
Christian art have become distinctive, and many of the aspects of later medieval
art have been determined. This is the period which produced the
present church of St Sophia at Constantinople (532–7), one of the most dramatic
and influential buildings in world architecture. This achievement alone
gives the period an identity in its own right. Yet in the broad view, it is clear
that Christianity adapted rather than rejected the values of classical ‘pagan’
art. Hence the predominant discussions of the art of this period in terms of
continuity and change, or – put more precisely – in terms of classical and
non-classical elements, and either their interplay or their independence.
This priority for the art-historical analysis of these centuries is
superfically justifiable, but one soon suspects that it may mask a whole set
of more serious problems. It may, however, still offer a way of identifying
the strengths and weaknesses of the current state of research; the question
of the stage of ‘classicism’ embodied in the art of this period should not
necessarily be evaded, so long as one remains aware that it encourages the
framing of questions in terms of style, and identifies the issues from the
surface appearance. It helps to assess how far the identification of stylistic
change is limited in its conceptual value. If it is the case that both pagans
and Christians as viewers confronted the artistic representation of their
various religious beliefs and values in very similar visual manners, then their
cognitive responses to these similar forms must have differed, and we need
to find ways of discovering these responses. This must involve setting the
evidence of texts against the evidence of art in order to relate visual expression
to spiritual and ideological change in this period, and it may ultimately
need the framing of pictorial material within parameters set by texts rather
than simply by the images themselves. 1 This chapter, however, will track
1 For a coverage of these issues see Barasch (1992).
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