What are the Byzantine mosaics?
The first mosaics were created about 4,000 years ago. Originally they were primitive, consisting of Terra Cotta Cones depressed in the background to serve as decoration. The Greeks later turned mosaics into an artistic form and, using colored stones and glass, created geometric patterns and complex scenes depicting animals and humans. Between the fifth and fifteenth centuries, Byzantine mosaics were created to introduce an artistic form to a new level. These Byzantine mosaics have introduced the use of gold and silver to create a shimmering effect and incorporate a new type of Tesserae called Smalti. Smalti Tesseerae used in Byzantine mosaics was made of panels of opaque, colored glass made in Italy Ravenna. Sometimes these Smalti were supported by silver or gold to reflect light. Mosaics were originally created on panels, but Byzantine artists mixed mosaics with architecturate by covering walls and ceilings inside Byzantine churches with small tiles. Different sizes were used and mosaics had irregular TVARy. The smallest Tesserae was used to create faces.
Before applying the mosaic, the surface was covered with plaster followed by a layer of mortar to form a set bed for mosaic tiles. The pieces of the mosaic were then pressed into the mortar and placed on the sloping angles so that their glassy surfaces glittered when they were hit by light. Smalti supported by gold foil was often used to display Halos, which seemed to shine with unusual radiation.
Most works of art created with early Byzantine mosaics were destroyed in the eighth century after the Church ordered that the icons had broken ten commandments. The thnarosity Church in Bethlehem and Hagia Sophia in Constantinople contained complex mosaics that were destroyed during this period of iconoclastic destruction. Some remarkable fragments of early Byzantine mosaics that remain are the remains of the floor of the Great Palace KonstantinopoLE A piece, which was sequential for mortar in the Apzi church Santa Maria Formosa.
After the church turned its position against the use of icons, artwork incorporating Byzantine mosaics became even more complex and beautiful than before. Western countries have also begun to practice Artform, but have never been able to achieve a high beauty standard. After the ejection of Constantinople at the beginning of the 13th century, the Byzantine Empire could not afford to decorate its church and instead began to use paintings.