Zograf 2013 Issue 37, Pages: 23-36
https://doi.org/10.2298/ZOG1337023G
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Classicisation or representation? Mimesis in Byzantine pictorial arts as a derivative of style
Grotowski Piotr Ł. (The Pontifical University of John Paul II in Cracow, Institute of History of Art and Culture, Cracow, Poland)
The idea of mimesis in art theory has been neglected by Byzantine scholars.
Reasons for this may lie in the fact that the understanding of the term in
Byzantium was very complex and that it changed over time. In the Early
Byzantine period and the so-called Macedonian Renaissance, a tendency to use
tonal modelling, which was inherited from ancient Greco-Roman art, can still
be observed. Starting in the late tenth century they give way to a more
linear style. Simultaneously, a change in the understanding of mimesis in
theological writings can also be observed. The aim of this paper is to
introduce the problem of a mimetic approach in visual arts as a phenomenon in
Byzantine culture.
Keywords: mimesis, Byzantine aesthetics, veracity, simulacrum, affinity, theory of images