Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

912 30. the visual arts
iv. church, monks and art at the end of the sixth
century
When the new emperor Justin II succeeded Justinian, the recommended
rhetoric for imperial succession was to claim continuity. 63 But in fact the
overstretching of resources which marks the artistic patronage of the age
of Justinian did not continue, and marked changes in art have been
detected in the late sixth century. Perhaps these were to some extent a
response to crisis, and so fit with the view that artistic change is to be linked
with spiritual and social anxieties. Outbreaks of plague and the fear of premature
death may encourage increased artistic patronage (through church
endowments, for example) and may even initiate changes in visual expression.
However, studies of the better-documented circumstances around
the time of the Black Death have shown only the complications of the
analysis rather than offering firm guidelines for other periods. The late sixth
century is also a period of foreign invasion and disruption; it might be said
that the dominance of Constantinople in the east was a negative consequence
of the decline of other cities, like Antioch, Alexandria and
Jerusalem, rather than a positive imperial policy. 64
The temptation for the art historian is to relate changing historical
circumstances and the emergence of new types of writing to new forms of
art. A period which produced the Akathistos hymn and numerous Lives of
holy men might be supposed also to initiate some kind of matching artistic
expression. The most tempting theory is to date the emergence of the
icon to the second half of the sixth century and relate the popularity of the
icon to new forms of spirituality. Weitzmann’s catalogue of early icons
from Sinai sees a set of portable icons in the monastery as the gift of
Justinian (in particular, Christ, St Peter and the Virgin with saints). 65 Others
have dated these pieces later, perhaps within the seventh century. In fact,
despite the imprecision about the stylistic dating of these panels, there is
no reason to doubt the existence of painted panels in encaustic or tempera
throughout this period. However, there may have been an upsurge in production,
as Kitzinger proposed, in the second half of the sixth century. 66
Likewise the production of portable pilgrim souvenirs from the Holy
Land, such as the base metal ampullae which are now best-known from collections
at Bobbio and Monza, may have been a development of this
period. 67
Similarly, there may be a case for linking this supposed increase in devotional
materials with the growing influence of monasticism, especially in the
Holy Land and Asia Minor. It would not be true, however, in the present
63 Cameron, Corippus.
64 Haldon, Byzantium in the Seventh Century; Cormack (1990); Wickham (1994).
65 Weitzmann (1976). 66 Kitzinger (1976) 91–156. 67 Grabar (1958).
Cambridge Histories Online © Cambridge University Press, 2008