Transfigurations

In this investigation of three well-known motifs of Byzantine art the author establishes a relationship between changes of formal detail and varied contexts of meaning. Although the motifs studied occur throughout the thousand years of Byzantine history, they are seen not as static indicators of significance but as expressing changing aspects of meaning through modification of the details of form or composition. These changes of form are shown to be previously underconsidered aspects of iconography. Rather than investigating the Classical or Early Christian origins of these motifs, as is traditional in most scholarship, Dr. Cutler focuses on their adaptation to varying iconographical requirements and relates these changes to the shifting religious and political history of Byzantium.

In illustrating this thesis, the author draws on a wide range of examples in mosaic, wall painting, manuscript illumination, and coins and controls his analysis by reference to Byzantine historical and theological literature. The result is a new understanding of major elements of Byzantine art and creativity and a method of approach widely applicable to other aspects of both Eastern and Western medieval iconography.