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How Did The Virgin Mary Influence Byzantine Art

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Byzantine artwork was strongly rooted in Christianity. We know this because most of the works of art created in the Byzantine empire portrayed a character of importance to the Christian religion. Byzantine Art had a very distinct Christian influence; this showed how much they valued the Christian religion. Because she showed up in most of the artwork, the Virgin Mary had a very distinct influence on Byzantine artwork. The Virgin Mary is the center point in many Byzantine works of art. Most depictions of Mary show her holding her son, Jesus Christ. There are a few distinct poses in which Mary is depicted. Mary holding Jesus was generally showing love and affection, these are some of the morals Byzantine Christians had. Mary was depicted as an infant sometimes, to show her tenderness. The Virgin Mary is the center point in many Byzantine works of art. Mary was taken to heaven after she died, because she was a believer in God. Mary was believed to be sinless, that is why they thought she was …show more content…

There are many symbols depicted along with Mary in these paintings. The color blue was in most of the paintings, because it symbolized that Mary was pure. There was also a white lily, this symbolized that she was a virgin, the white representing her bodies pureness. Sometimes a rose was depicted as well, symbolizing her love for God. White shows up often in paintings of her, this symbolized her innocence. The color gold used as a background color or in the halo symbolizes purity, royalty and glory of life after death. The crown/halo she is often depicted with, shows that the early Christians viewed her as a holy being, similar to the angels. Pink symbolizes eternal innocence, this is because she was the only virgin ever to conceive and give birth to a child, this only happened because God made it this way (Mulch). That is how he wanted his Son to enter into the

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