Dzieje świętych wizerunków w chrześcijaństwie ‒ zarys historii

Abstract

Icon painting emerged in the Byzantine Empire ‒ the Christian empire of the Hellenistic East ‒ between 330-1453. It became a fully-fledged and popular art form around 500. Icon painting can be traced back to early Christian paintings, including those from the 2nd and 3rd centuries found in the catacombs. It is an original, highly formalized art form, influenced by classic Greek art and Egyptian Hellenistic art as well as other art traditions, especially Syrian. The Byzantine art of icon painting flourished during the reign of Justinian who mied the Byzantine Empire for forty years (527-565). In 726, with the advent of iconoclasm, Emperor Leo III decreed that painting or using icons was to be regarded as idolatry. Iconoclasm lived on, with a few intermissions, until 843. In 843, when the Church conquered iconoclasm, the art of icon painting was revived, this time until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. That period was the golden age of the icon and saw the establishing of its principal prototypes and the habit of adorning churches with icons.