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Colour and the Byzantine rainbow*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2016

Liz James
Liz James*
Affiliation:
Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham
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Extract

Colour is the ‘dark continent’ of Byzantine art history, the most neglected element of art. In 1931, Ernst Diez wrote: ‘a coming generation of art-historians may be puzzled to understand the paradoxical prejudice still latent in our time, which treats colour as not the most significant quality of a coloured work of art, but as an accident that can be overlooked in scientific research work’. A similar comment would still be valid today. Colour is barely, if at all, recognised as an aspect of artistic style; it rarely features in stylistic analysis. Its significance within a picture is ignored — analyses of Byzantine colour iconography and symbolism are few and far between. We have not even begun to ask whether colour is a meaningful aspect of Byzantine art.

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Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies , Volume 15 , 1991 , pp. 66 - 95
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Copyright © The Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham 1991

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References

1. Diez, E. in Diez and Demus, O., Byzantine mosaics in Greece (Harvard 1931) preface, vii–viii.Google Scholar

2. Mouriki, D., The mosaics of Nea Moni on Chios (Athens 1985)Google Scholar; Mango, C. and Hawkins, E.J.W., ‘The apse mosaics of St Sophia at Istanbul’, DOP 19 (1965) 113–52 Google Scholar; Lazarev, V.N., Mosaiki Sofii Kievskoj (Moscow 1966) 144–151.Google Scholar

3. See, for example, Mango, C. and Hawkins, E.J.W., ‘The Hermitage of St Neophytus and its wall-paintings’, DOP 20 (1966) 119–206 Google Scholar. It should be noted that Ernest Hawkins believes that fresco descriptions of colour should be made through the use of pigment names. The accessibility of medieval pigment descriptions makes this an obvious solution.

4. Mouriki (as in n.2), does this throughout her iconographic analysis of the mosaics of Nea Moni.

5. Whittemore, T., The mosaics of St Sophia at Istanbul vol. 1 (Oxford 1933) 24 Google Scholar and Table IV).

6. Hawkins, E., ‘Further observations on the narthex mosaic in St Sophia at Istanbul), DOP 22 (1968) 153–4.Google Scholar

7. This is not to say that such a study is totally worthless. Indeed, Mouriki’s survey of the colours at Nea Moni and her brief analysis of colour in the ‘Style’ section of this book are extremely valuable.

8. For Munsell, see Munsell, A., A grammar of color (New York 1900)Google Scholar. Recent technological developments mean that it is now possible to record colour in three dimensions simultaneously through the use of a Chroma Meter, thereby avoiding the problems posed by one dimensional colour charts such as Munsell’s.

9. This is the definition used by physicists, psychologists, physiologists alike. See for example, Evans, R.M., An introduction to color (New York 1948)Google Scholar; Gibson, J.J., The senses considered as perceptual systems (London 1968)Google Scholar; Arnheim, R., Art and visual perception (New ed., California 1974). 10 Google Scholar. See particularly Irwin, E., Color terms in Greek poetry (Toronto 1974).Google Scholar

11. See eg. Berg, L., Rainbows (London 1986)Google Scholar; E. & Kincaid, L., Benji’s Rainbow Book (London 1978)Google Scholar. It is less generally appreciated that the rainbow is conceived thus because Newton had a particular fancy for indigo and wanted to relate the seven hues to the seven harmonies of the musical scale. See Sir I. Newton, Opticks (1704), I, part 2, prop. Ill, prob. i, expt. 7; II, pt. 3, prop. XVI; III, pt. 1, Q14.

12. This can be seen in the work of T. Klika. His rainbows are essentially pastel hue bands wrapped round a variety of unlikely objects. See Klika, T., 10,000 rainbows (New York 1983).Google Scholar

13. T. Klika, op. cit., 3.

14. As with the logo of organisations such as Greenpeace. D.H. Lawrence uses the rainbow in the book of the same title as a sign of hope.

15. Though, unavoidably, both these terms are loaded towards our perceptions of how a rainbow should be. I have not in this study included so-called ‘rainbow patterns’, where apparent rainbow hues are used in an abstract pattern, as in the border of the Pantocrator mosaic at Daphni. This is because it is our hue-orientated perception that relates these patterns to the rainbow, and I am not certain that such an association would apply in Byzantium.

16. Cod. purpur. vindob. Graec. 31.

17. Topkapi Sarayi Lib. Ms. G.I.8., cl 150.1 am grateful to John Lowden for allowing me to use and copy his picture of this.

18. Other rainbows are found in the Noah Convent scenes at the Cappella Palatina and Monreale, both naturalistic. That at Monreale appears non-naturalistic when seen close-up, but naturalistic from a distance, a clever use of optical effects. However, I have not included these, and mention San Marco only, because of the debate as to how much of the decoration of these momuments owes to the East and how much to the West.

19. Icon B16 in Weitzmann, K., The monastery of St Catherine at Mt Sinai. The Icons. Vol. 1 (Princeton 1976) 41–2 and pl. XVIII.Google Scholar

20. For the story of the discovery of this mosaic and an account of its interpretations, see J. Snyder, ‘The meaning of the “Maiestas Domini” in Hosios David’, B 37 (1967) 143–52.

21. Moscow, Ms. 129D. eg the Ascension with David as its prophet, f22 on Psalm 23; the Ascension scenes of ff46 (Ps. 46) and 55 (Ps. 56). F14 (Ps. 17) shows an Ascension in which the divine light is shown similarly.

22. No. 56 in Medieval cloisonne enamels at the Georgian State Museum of Fine Arts (1984) 52. This enamel is believed at the moment to be genuine.

23. Suida Lexicon. Ed. A. Adler (Leipzig 1928–38) 666.

24. Ch. 106. PG 122, 749C-752A.

25. Plato details such a colour scale in Timaeus 68, A-D. This is echoed in the Suida Lexicon (as in n.23) 709–10.

26. Meteorologica 372A, 7.

27. De Sensu 439b 21–440 6; Meteorologica 375a 4–20; De Caelo etMundo, 268a 7–23.

28. Meteorologica 374b-375b.

29. Poseidonios describes the rainbow as having the same colours as those proposed by Aristotle, with the addition of blue Cited in Diogenes Laertius, Vitae, VII, 152. Aetius’ range of rainbow colours consists of purple and red green -and yellow See Aetius, , Compendium, detailed in Reinhardt, K., Poseidonios (Munich 1921), 165 n.2 Google Scholar and Gilbert, O., Die Meteorologischen Theorien des Griechischen Altertums (Leipzig 1907) 604–18 Google Scholar. Stobaeus also has a section on the rainbow. He gives red purple or blue and green as the colours of the rainbow. ed. C. Wachsmuth (Berlin 1884), XXX.VI, 238–42.

30. In Meteorologica 139, 33–5. Elsewhere in this work (157, 25–29), is dropped.

31. For Alexander, see his De Anima, tr. & commentary A.P. Fotinis (Washington 1979). Olympiodoros lists the same colours as Alexander, with the exception of See Durbeck, H., Zur Charakteristik der Griechischen Farbenbezeichrungen (Bonn 1977) 45.Google Scholar

32. Suggested in A. Lejeune, Euclide et Ptolemée, deux stades de Voptique geometriques grecque (Univ. de Louvain, recueil des travaux d’histoire et de la philologie, 3e sérié, 31 1948), 27–8 & n.5.

33. Hesychius of Alexandria, Lexicon, ed. K. Latte (Hauniae 1953), vol. 374.

34. Photios, , Lexicon, ed. Porson, R. (Leipzig 1828) 98.Google Scholar

35. Job of Edessa, Book of Treasures. Syriac text ed. & tr. A Mingana (Cambridge 1935). Job was a Nestorian writing in Syriac who left an account of natural science as taught in Baghdad around 817. Arab sources make it clear that he was a key figure in the translation of Greek authors, especially Aristotle and Galen, into Syriac. In describing the colours of the rainbow, he says that it is made up of three colours: date-red, green and saffron yellow. This last is formed from a mixture of red and white; green is made from a mixture of heat and humidity; red by heat and watery cold.

36. Apart from De OmnifariaDoctrina, Ch. 8: PG 122, 796A contains a brief account.

37. Genesis IX, 13.

38. Ezekiel I, 28.

39. Revelation IV, 3.

40. Revelation X, 1.

41. Ecclesiasticus XLIII, 11–12.

42. Ecclesiasticus L, 7.

43. Acts I, 10.

44. At Bawit, for example, the Glory in the apse could be either an Ascension or a Christ in Glory scene. I am grateful to Jill Storer for this reference.

45. See for example the Ascension homilies of Gregory of Nyssa PG 46, 689; John of Damascus PG 96, 843 and Leo the Philosopher PG 107, 113.

46. Procopios of Gaza, Commentary on Genesis v13, PG 87,300. John Chrysostom notes it only as the perpetual bond of God’s promise. Homily on Ch. IX of Genesis XXVIII, PG 53, 254. Other commentaries on Genesis mention it within this context or ignore it.

47. Theodoret, Commentary on Ezekiel. PG 81, 836C. Gregory of Nazianzus in his Commentary on Ezekiel, PG 36, 665B, writes that the rainbow indicates peace and the covenant between God and man.

48. is usually translated as ‘emerald’. However, LSJ suggest that this is probably incorrect and that the term is used of several green stones. The whole issue of the words and colours used for stones is a complex one, affected as it is by our emphasis on the colour of the stone and the probable lack of such emphasis originally.

49. Oecumenius, , The complete commentary of Oecumenius on the Apocalypse, ed. Hoskier, H.C., University of Michigan Studies, Humanistic Series v.23 (Ann Arbor 1928), 69–70 Google Scholar. I am grateful to Jill Storer for this reference.

50. Oecumenius (as in n.49), 120–121.

51. Andreas of Caesarea, Sermon X, 4. PG 106, 253B-C. 253C.

52. This rainbow is green in colour, rather than which is the colour of the stone interpreted as jasper. Arethas, PG 106, 568D. Oecumenius explains the different significance of these two stones. For the translation of these terms, see above, n.48.

53. PG 106, 636C-D.

54. In Questions and Answers on Genesis, Book II, 64. What survives of this section has been translated as a LCL text, 1953.

55. A scholiast on Hesiod described the rainbow as the rainbow which is the spoken word, which comes from the verb which is “to speak’”. Scholia Hesiod Theog. v.266 in Arnim, J. von, Stoicorum veterum fragmenta II, 43, 30 Google Scholar (fr. 137): I am grateful to Michael Carey for this reference. Philo uses to mean uttered speech. How far this comparison can be taken is unclear: the idea of the rainbow as a manifestation of speech does not seem to appear in Byzantium, but the concept of colour as speech most definitely does.

56. Arethas, Commentary on the Apocalypse, PG 106, 568D.

57. Basil, Letter 38, PG 32, 333C-335C.

58. is generally taken as being the colour of the dye obtained from the murex, and thus as purple. In fact, murex dye varies enormously in hue, and it seems feasible that the hue connotations of are equally varied.

59. This is proposed by Weitzmann in his description of the Sinai icon mentioned above n.13, where there is one naturalistic rainbow, upon which Christ sits, and a non-naturalistic one under his feet.

60. Apparent for example in Pseudo-Dionysius, Celestial Hierarchy XV, 1. PG 3, 336C; John Chrysostom, Ad Theodorum lapsum I, 11, PG 47,292; John of Damascus, De Fide Orthodoxa I, 4, PG 94, 797B-800C.

61. Divine Names, PG 3, 697C. Tr. and commentary, Luibheid, C., Pseudo-Dionysius — the complete works (London 1987) 74.Google Scholar

62. Celestial Hierarchy 1, 3. PG 3, 121D. See also 1, 1. 121A. Complete works, 146. Benz, E., ‘Die Farbe in der christlichen Vision’, Eranos Yearbook 41 (1972) 265–323 Google Scholar, looks at colour visions as a reflection of divine magnificence, though his emphasis is predominantly Western.

63. Gregory Nazianzus, Oratio 40, 6, PG 36, 363–66; John of Damascus, Oratio De Transfig., PG 96, 545–576, are among various of the Fathers commenting in this way. See J.A. McGuckin, The transfiguration of Christ in scripture and tradition (New York 1986).

64. In writings of the Transfiguration, for example, (see above, n.60) or as Pseudo-Dionysius uses it eg. in Celestial Hierarchy 15, 8, PG 3, 337A, where whiteness is ‘the gleam of… kinship with the light of God’.

65. CH 15, 8. PG 3, 337B.

66. CH 15, 2. PG 3, 328C.

67. Paris Gr. 139, f435 v.

68. Pliny, , Natural History XXX, 98–9 Google Scholar, says that red is significant in this way. This aspect of red seems to be a general cultural referrent. See eg. Sahlins, M., ‘Colors and cultures’, in Dolgin, J.L., Kemmitzer, D.S., Schneider, D.M., eds., Symbolic anthropology. A Reader in the Study of Symbols and Meanings (New York 1977) 165–180.Google Scholar

69. See Reutersward, P., ‘What colour is divine light?’, in Hess, T.B., Ashbery, J., eds., Light, from Aten to Laser (Art News Journal XXXV, 1969) 108–27 Google Scholar; Gage, J., ‘Colour in history: relative and absolute’, Art History 1 (1978) 110–111 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Gage’s important article provides a starting point for medieval colour perception studies.

70. John of Gaza, Ekphrasis I, 41–44. Text in Johannes von Gaza und Paulus Silentarius ed. P. Friedlander (Leipzig, 1912), 137–38.

71. Paris, Gr. 1242, f92v.

72. On these themes, see eg. Grabar, A., ‘The Virgin in a mandorla of light’, in ed. Weitzmann, K., Studies in honour of A.M. Friend (Princeton 1955) 305–311.Google Scholar

73. Celestial Hierarchy II, 3, PG 3, 141B. See Stojakovic, A., ‘Jésu-Christ, source de la lumière dans la peinture byzantine’, CahCM 18 (1975) 271, & n.9.Google Scholar

74. Natural History XXXIII, 1, 60.

75. Michael Psellos’ De Lapidibus, PG 122, 888–900 deals with the first two concepts; Epiphanius of Cyprus, De XII Gemmis Liber, PG 43, 293B-304D with the last.

76. As Gage, (as in n.69) 107, explains.

77. Epistle I, PG 3, 1065A; Epistle V, PG 3, 1073A.

78. See above, n.65, for red as significant of blood and life, which links in with the concept of Eve as ‘the mother of all living’ (Genesis 3, 20).

79. Mesarites, ‘Description of the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople’, text, with translation and commentary by Downey, G., TAPSN.S. 47, 6 (1957): Ch. XIV, 8, p.870.Google Scholar

80. Sixth session of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, citing Athanasius’ Letter to Eupsychius, Mansi 317E-320D, pp.138–9, in Sahas, D.J., Icon and Logos. Sources in eighth century Iconoclasm (Toronto 1986).Google Scholar

81. For additional supporting evidence for the ‘context is all’ argument see Brubaker, L., ‘Byzantine art in the ninth century: theory, practice, and culture’, BMGS, 13 (1989) 58–60.Google Scholar

82. John Chrysostom, In dictum Pauli, nolo vos ignorare 4, PG 51, 247D.

83. John Chrysostom, Epistle ad Hebraeos, Homily XVII, 2, PG 63, 130A.

84. See Mango, C., ‘The Devil’, in Bulletin of British Byzantine Studies 13 (1987) 47 Google Scholar; Russell, J.B., Satan. The early Christian tradition (Cornell U.P. 1981).Google Scholar

85. Luke 12, 40.

86. Mesarites, Nikolaos, ‘Account of the usurpation of John Comnenus “the Fat”, ed. Heisenberg, A., Die Palastrevolution des Johannes Comnenus (Würzburg 1907) 44 Google Scholar, tr. in Mango, C., Art of the Byzantine Empire (Toronto 1986) 229 Google Scholar, the description of the palace of the Mouchroutas.