THE MOSAIC APSE OF SANT’APOLLINARE IN CLASSE, RAVENNA: A Miracle of Design Aidan Hart There is some iconography that can only be described as miraculous. Such is the sixth century apse mosaic at the basilica of Saint Apollinare in Classe, five miles from Ravenna, Italy. Such works seem to flash forth, and are never – […]
In this overview and the one that will follow I have combined the history of altars (also called holy tables), ciboria and tabernacles because their respective developments are somewhat related. In this first section I will deal with Holy Tables and will focus on ciboria and tabernacles in the second installment. My interest in […]
Orthodox liturgical artists treat the vast world of secular fine art with some trepidation. The question of fine art influence on iconography, in particular, is a very delicate one. Western painting styles have done great harm to iconography historically. The reverse is arguably true as well. The ‘discovery’ of medieval painting inspired western […]
Having studied mosaics all over the world for many years I was delighted to receive a commission last year to create a mosaic for a church in Wales. I completed the illustrated mosaic of Christ Pantocrator in March this year. It is sited on the exterior wall of St Martin’s Church of Wales in Roath, […]
There is a relatively famous image of St. Eudocia from the 10th or 11th century from Constantinople that has recently caught my attention. It is done in a technique called Opus Sectile. Unlike Mosaic which is the assembly of similarly shaped squares forming a pattern, Opus Sectile is when stone is cut in different shapes […]