Thursday 19th September 2024 10.45am and 2.15pm
Jane Angelini
Report on The Glories of Byzantium:
The TASH lecture in September was The Glories of Byzantium, given by Jane Angelini. The talk was extremely well-illustrated with exquisite examples from AD 330 to AD 1453, with examples from Constantinople, Ravenna, Venice and elsewhere in the Byzantine Empire from its founding by Constantine the Great to its dissolution when it was overrun by the Ottoman Turks.
Jane showed how the empire evolved from the Roman Empire, taking the Roman genius in engineering and other fields and marrying it with Greek artistic endeavour and education. The Empire was a key bridge between the Roman Empire and the rise of Western Europe during the Renaissance. She also showed how important the Byzantine Empire was in Eastern Europe and the conversion of countries like Russia from paganism to Orthodox Christianity. She also showed how Constantinople still is evident in modern Istanbul, and still influences the present-day Eastern Mediterranean and beyond.
Professor Robert Gurney
The importance of the role played by Byzantium as a link in the great chain of world history is an important theme. With its roots firmly in the Ancient World of Greece and Rome the Byzantine period – AD 330 -1453 – spans the medieval centuries.
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While much of the West was in deep decline Byzantium, mistress of the Mediterranean and centre of Christendom, was a symbol of wealth, power and cultural ascendancy. It was here, in the eastern Mediterranean that Christianity took root and spread, giving us the architectural forms and imagery that are still a part of the faith.
We look at mosaics, frescoes and icons, opulent liturgical vessels in gold and enamel, silks, ivories, manuscripts and the centrally planned domed churches, designed as microcosms of the Universe. A study day has a wider coverage, including, Venice, Sicily, the Balkans and Russia.
Jane is a freelance lecturer for The Arts Society and other arts organisations. She speaks several foreign languages and has translated a number of works of 19th century Russian literature for Penguin Books and Oxford University Press. She has a BA in Russian Studies and an MA in Byzantine Studies. She created St James’s Art Tours in 1998 and ran it successfully for almost twenty five years before closing the travel company in 2022. She has travelled extensively and now offers online armchair travel talks over the winter months. She and her husband run an art gallery in St James’s, Piccadilly, which specialises in 20th century art. Most of her bookings are for special interest days.
