No Fear o' Eras

Byzantine Era

The idea behind No Fear o' Eras is to discover what makes up the style of certain artistic eras. Explore the three examples below to see if you can find what makes them all fit into this era.

If this is your first time doing No Fear o' Eras, read the instructions.


The Paintings

Enthroned
Madonna and Child
Byzantine
Byzantine, 13th C
The Nativity with the
Prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel
Duccio
Sienese, c. 1255 - 1318

Madonna and Child
Giotto
Florentine, 1266 - 1337


Questions

  1. How are the backgrounds of each painting similar?

  2. Who are the subjects of the paintings?

  3. Where might these paintings originally have been located?

  4. How realistic or natural do the figures look?

Would you like to read general questions for looking at art?


Internet Resources

More about the style & artists

The Techniques of Icon Painting
The Technique of Panel Icon Painting
Another Brief Introduction
Pinterest: Byzantine images

Historical or cultural issues

Byzantine (330-1453) - from Scholastic
Byzantine Art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Daily life and worship from Mount Athos
The Byzantine Studies Page
Coming to an Opinion

Now that you have studied the three paintings by looking, questioning, and exploring related Internet resources, it's time to show what you've discovered. Fill in the fields below, then click the "I Fear No Eras" button to post your page. Print out, present, and discuss your ideas with other art historians.


    Your name:

    What are the Three main things artworks of this era have in common?
    (Would you like some tips or to see the feedback rubric?)


     

First Posted December 1995
Last revised February, 2014
Created by Tom March, tom at ozline dot com