The Deesis
The Deesis of the triforium, depicting Christ receiving the supplication of his Mother and John the Baptist, is considered to be the most important item in the corpus of Byzantine art (Morey 1944: 201) . Artistically, the soft tones, intense humanity and emotional realism on the figures of the faces is representative of the Constantinopolitan style in the Renaissance period (Hagia Sophia, n.d.). Historically, the mosaic is reflective of shifts within the theological discourse in Constantinople. The creation, as well as the destruction of this mosaic, serve as important material evidence for understanding the larger iconoclastic history of the Hagia Sophia as a structure.
The mosaic dates back to the 13 century and was added to the Hagia …show more content…
Sophia, when the structure was operational as a Church. The origin of this mosaic is important because legend has it that it was commissioned to mark the end of the domination by the Roman Catholic Tradition and return to Orthodox traditions, (Hager 2008) marking the end of the first wave of iconoclasm in the empire.
During this initial period of iconoclasm (726-843) all figural imagery was legally prohibited, affirming the cross as the most acceptable form of imagery, and calling for the erasure of all other images. The Catholic Tradition justified this iconoclasm by referencing the scriptural prohibition against worshipping graven images (Exodus 20:4), resulting in an large-scale erasure of figural imagery from churches. However, on July 25, 1261, the forces of Michael VIII Palaiologos, a Byzantine aristocrat and commander, recaptured Constantinople from its last Latin Emperor, Baldwin II and changed the imperial and clerical position on images, re-establishing the Orthodox tradition. Hence, the creation of the Deesis mosaic became symbolic of the resurgence of the figural image and the Orthodox tradition in the Byzantine empire.
This resurgence was brought to an abrupt halt by Mehmed II’s conquest of Constantinople in the 14th century that called for the destruction of all Christian images, including crosses and figural imagery. (Wegner 2004) . Christian images were plastered over, whitewashed or converted into pieces of Islamic art - The Hagia Sophia itself was converted from a church to a mosque.
The Deesis in particular was plastered over and completely covered up. In destroying the Deesis and converting the Hagia Sophia into a mosque, Mehmed II successfully employed local practices of iconoclasm to mark the rise of Islam in the Byzantine empire. As a result, the Deesis that was once understood to be symbolic of the rise of the Orthodox tradition, became symbolic of the downfall of the tradition. This is important because it marks images as grounds for political and theological warfare, whereby the annexation of images became an important weapon in demeaning/negating the power of an organized group (whether it be a religion or an empire).
The power of the Deesis remained neutralized by the plaster, up until the fall of the Ottoman empire and the secularization of the Hagia Sophia as a museum the 1930s (Wegner 2004).
In December of 1931, Thomas Whittemore led a team of archeologists, historians, craftsmen and restorers from the Byzantine Institute of America to Istanbul in order to do a complete survey of the Church of Hagia Sophia. Using a map left by a pair of Swiss architects who had worked in Hagia Sophia almost 100 years before, the team was able to uncover the Deesis (Atchison 2015).
Although only a third of the mosaic survived the test of time, it is still considered to be one of the greatest art-history finds because of its ability to narrate the iconoclastic history of the Hagia Sophia. However, it is important to note that uncovering the mosaic and bringing back the “original aesthetic of the Hagia Sophia” comes at the cost of the destruction of the Islamic aesthetic that was imbued into the structure - therefore, this uncovering is almost an undoing of history.
Therefore, as it stands, the Deesis is an embodiment of many things at once: the history of the building, a spirit of suffering, humanity and Heaven, (Atchison 2015) and serves as a true exemplar of how an image with an iconoclastic history speaks more than just words - it speaks volumes about the society it grounds itself
in.
The mosaic dates back to the 13 century and was added to the Hagia …show more content…
Sophia, when the structure was operational as a Church. The origin of this mosaic is important because legend has it that it was commissioned to mark the end of the domination by the Roman Catholic Tradition and return to Orthodox traditions, (Hager 2008) marking the end of the first wave of iconoclasm in the empire.
During this initial period of iconoclasm (726-843) all figural imagery was legally prohibited, affirming the cross as the most acceptable form of imagery, and calling for the erasure of all other images. The Catholic Tradition justified this iconoclasm by referencing the scriptural prohibition against worshipping graven images (Exodus 20:4), resulting in an large-scale erasure of figural imagery from churches. However, on July 25, 1261, the forces of Michael VIII Palaiologos, a Byzantine aristocrat and commander, recaptured Constantinople from its last Latin Emperor, Baldwin II and changed the imperial and clerical position on images, re-establishing the Orthodox tradition. Hence, the creation of the Deesis mosaic became symbolic of the resurgence of the figural image and the Orthodox tradition in the Byzantine empire.
This resurgence was brought to an abrupt halt by Mehmed II’s conquest of Constantinople in the 14th century that called for the destruction of all Christian images, including crosses and figural imagery. (Wegner 2004) . Christian images were plastered over, whitewashed or converted into pieces of Islamic art - The Hagia Sophia itself was converted from a church to a mosque.
The Deesis in particular was plastered over and completely covered up. In destroying the Deesis and converting the Hagia Sophia into a mosque, Mehmed II successfully employed local practices of iconoclasm to mark the rise of Islam in the Byzantine empire. As a result, the Deesis that was once understood to be symbolic of the rise of the Orthodox tradition, became symbolic of the downfall of the tradition. This is important because it marks images as grounds for political and theological warfare, whereby the annexation of images became an important weapon in demeaning/negating the power of an organized group (whether it be a religion or an empire).
The power of the Deesis remained neutralized by the plaster, up until the fall of the Ottoman empire and the secularization of the Hagia Sophia as a museum the 1930s (Wegner 2004).
In December of 1931, Thomas Whittemore led a team of archeologists, historians, craftsmen and restorers from the Byzantine Institute of America to Istanbul in order to do a complete survey of the Church of Hagia Sophia. Using a map left by a pair of Swiss architects who had worked in Hagia Sophia almost 100 years before, the team was able to uncover the Deesis (Atchison 2015).
Although only a third of the mosaic survived the test of time, it is still considered to be one of the greatest art-history finds because of its ability to narrate the iconoclastic history of the Hagia Sophia. However, it is important to note that uncovering the mosaic and bringing back the “original aesthetic of the Hagia Sophia” comes at the cost of the destruction of the Islamic aesthetic that was imbued into the structure - therefore, this uncovering is almost an undoing of history.
Therefore, as it stands, the Deesis is an embodiment of many things at once: the history of the building, a spirit of suffering, humanity and Heaven, (Atchison 2015) and serves as a true exemplar of how an image with an iconoclastic history speaks more than just words - it speaks volumes about the society it grounds itself
in.