Art in Islamic and Byzantine cultures

Chris Laney

Block G

December 12, 2016

“The world is but a canvas to our imagination” - Henry David Thoreau. Islamic art and the art of the Byzantines aren’t that much different. The art of the Islamic people was mostly of religious figures, so was the Byzantine pieces of art. The most valued piece of Islamic art was calligraphy, due to the fact it was in the Qu’ran. Byzantine art was mostly mosaics and frescoes, they were all over the place and most of them were in Hagia Sofia. Islamic art was very religious, whereas Byzantine pieces were also religious, but mostly in mosaics and frescoes.

The world of Islamic art was very religious, and calligraphy was one of the main forms of art in Islam. Calligraphy was very important in Islamic culture because it was so valued, since it was in the Qu’ran. There were also other forms of art the Islamic people had such as pottery, which also included writing. There were two methods of pottery that the Islamic people created faience and metallic luster (art...Islam).  Faience being the process of glazing the pottery, and metallic luster being process of applying metallic colors onto a piece of pottery, to make it shine. The religious art of Islam was not too different from byzantine art in the sense that they are both related to religion.

The art of Byzantium was either related to religion, military, or politics (art...Byzantine). Most Byzantine art was mosaics, they were everywhere from walls in the streets or in houses, but the most notable place of these tiled pieces of art was Hagia Sophia. Hagia Sophia was a christian church part of Constantinople, now Istanbul. The mosaics of Hagia Sophia were huge and made of millions of tiny tiles plastered onto the innards of the church. There were also many frescoes inside of the church. When Constantinople was captured by the Latins in 1204 there was a huge diaspora of Byzantine artists, which most likely caused some of the art from Byzantium to be religious. Both Islamic art and Byzantine art were very similar in the way that they were both tied to religion

These two arts from different places both had their very prominent forms of art. The first being calligraphy for the Islamic culture and the second being mosaics and frescoes for the Byzantines.These two forms of art were ultimately tied to religion, this influenced the mosaics of Hagia Sophia, and formed calligraphy for the Qu’ran. However there were some difference between the two forms of art. Islamic art was mostly formed of calligraphy, due to the fact it was from the Qu’ran, and Byzantine art was either influenced by military, politics or religion. The Islamic art of calligraphy was omnipresent either subtly in small pieces of art or very prominent on pieces of pottery or religious texts. The art of the Byzantines was mostly made up of mosaics, also including some form of calligraphy, but not as much as the Islamic art. The mosaics of Byzantine were very religious and other forms may have included military or politics. These two forms of art have similarities, but they are vastly different.

The forms of art being Islamic and Byzantine, were very different but also very similar. These two forms of art had their main forms of art, which were ultimately similar but had their differences, some forms of art containing more calligraphy than others, and other forms containing more tiles than the rest. The goals of these artists who made these forms of art, may have had their own purposes of doing so, but it left quite an impression of what art has turned into.

Art and Architecture, Islamic

English, Edward D. “Art and Architecture, Islamic.” Encyclopedia of the Medieval World, Vol. 1, Facts On File, 2005, Ancient and Medieval History: Pre-1500, online.infobase.com/HRC/LearningCenter/Details/7?articleId=214379.

Art and Architecture, Byzantine

English, Edward D. “Art and Architecture, Byzantine.” Encyclopedia of the Medieval World, Vol. 1, Facts On File, 2005, Ancient and Medieval History: Pre-1500, online.infobase.com/HRC/LearningCenter/Details/7?articleId=214235.

Byzantine Art

Marcus Rautman. "Byzantine Art." World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras, ABC-CLIO, 2016, ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/1510778. Accessed 11 Dec. 2016.

Writing the Word of God

"Writing the Word of God." Asia Society, 7 Oct. 2008, sites.asiasociety.org/

    islamiccalligraphy/introduction-traces-of-the-calligrapher/. Accessed 11

    Dec. 2016.