AP Art History: San Vitale-- #51

AP Art History: San Vitale-- #51

• Monday, December 26, 2022

 

Basilica de San Vitale

Bio of the work:

Title: San Vitale

Date: 526-547 CE- Byzantine

Medium: brick, marble, and stone veneer

Location: Ravenna, Italy

Analysis:

    This lovely church, already started by the Goths previously there, is centrally planned with a specific apse and was finished under rule of Justinian. Ironically, although Justinian never visited the church or Ravenna, he and his wife are both depicted in ornate mosaics bordering apse. The true apse mosaic depicts Jesus sitting on a throne flanked by angles, handing a saint a crown, and accepting a small version of the church from the bishop. Justinian is shown just below Jesus, wearing the same robe, surrounded by 12 followers (signifying perhaps the disciples), and holding a loaf of bread (signifying prosperity or maybe the miracles of Jesus). The plan of San Vitale is central with the addition of an apse, a mixture that melds the awe of a central plan but the religious focus of an apse. 

Theodora Mosaic

Justinian Mosaic

Apse Mosaic

AP Tip!!-- The AP loves works such as this because it is a mixture of cultures, a beginning of a style (the Byzantine: with mosaic and pioneering of freedom from Greco-Roman realism), and a wonderful comparison piece to other churches! So it is in your best interest to know it well!!