DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.55204#0030
24 THE MOSAICS OF THE NARTHEX
was not powerful enough to extend far beyond the source. At the same time
we cannot examine the decorations of the Narthex without being struck by the
contrast between the crosses of the sixth century and the great lunette of the
ninth. To which should be attached the epithet ‘Byzantine’? We know that
various influences were current in the capital. The successful reaction against
iconoclasm is marked by a renewal of classical influences; and the great mosaic
is classical, if we mean thereby a descriptive composition, which, based on
the intelligent translation of perception into symbols, idealizes the result by
emphasizing the truth, beauty, goodness, and geometrical construction of its
content. On the other hand, the crosses reflect, in their immediate appeal to
our emotional life, an approach to action that is more characteristic of Asia than
of the mystical transfigurations of matter which have found favour in Europe.
There is reserved for a future occasion the consideration of the pigmental
organization of the mosaics. For that purpose it is hoped to secure adequate
coloured reproductions of typical figures and passages, since it is felt that with-
out the assistance of coloured plates it would be difficult to prepare or follow
descriptions of this nature.
Including the gold and silver of the mosaic it is possible to catalogue some
fifty different tints, which served as the artist’s palette. A list will be found in
Table IV.
The present Report and its plates will afford an idea of the extent and condi-
tion of the mosaics now to be seen in the Narthex of the Mosque. By way of
conclusion it should be stated that the mosaics have been scaled of the paint
deposited on them, but no extraction of mosaics has taken place, nor have any
artificialities been introduced. The mosaics of the Narthex, as they are seen
to-day, are the mosaics of Byzantine times, cleansed and corroborated, but not
subjected to subtraction or addition.
The Byzantine Institute recognizes its indebtedness to numerous persons who
have aided the work in the Mosque and the preparation of the current Report.
In particular it wishes to signalize the following among them: His Excellency
Dr. Resit Galip Bey, Minister of Public Instruction of Turkey, the Honourable
Joseph C. Grew, the Honourable G. Howland Shaw, Mr. J. L. Campbell, Mr.
R. C. Creighton, Mr. S. R. K. Glanville, Mr. Roger Hinks, Mr. Pierre Iskender,
Mr. Nicholas Kluge, the Rev. Father V. Laurent, Mr. H. Mattingly, Mr.
Matthew Prichard, Yumni Resit Bey, Mr. John Troland, Mr. V. D. Tompkins,
the Rev. Father H. Vincent, Collaborators in the Library of the Byzantine Insti-
tute graciously housed in the Ecole Nationale des Langues Orientales Vivantes
in Paris, and throughout the work the helpful Custodians of the Mosque.
was not powerful enough to extend far beyond the source. At the same time
we cannot examine the decorations of the Narthex without being struck by the
contrast between the crosses of the sixth century and the great lunette of the
ninth. To which should be attached the epithet ‘Byzantine’? We know that
various influences were current in the capital. The successful reaction against
iconoclasm is marked by a renewal of classical influences; and the great mosaic
is classical, if we mean thereby a descriptive composition, which, based on
the intelligent translation of perception into symbols, idealizes the result by
emphasizing the truth, beauty, goodness, and geometrical construction of its
content. On the other hand, the crosses reflect, in their immediate appeal to
our emotional life, an approach to action that is more characteristic of Asia than
of the mystical transfigurations of matter which have found favour in Europe.
There is reserved for a future occasion the consideration of the pigmental
organization of the mosaics. For that purpose it is hoped to secure adequate
coloured reproductions of typical figures and passages, since it is felt that with-
out the assistance of coloured plates it would be difficult to prepare or follow
descriptions of this nature.
Including the gold and silver of the mosaic it is possible to catalogue some
fifty different tints, which served as the artist’s palette. A list will be found in
Table IV.
The present Report and its plates will afford an idea of the extent and condi-
tion of the mosaics now to be seen in the Narthex of the Mosque. By way of
conclusion it should be stated that the mosaics have been scaled of the paint
deposited on them, but no extraction of mosaics has taken place, nor have any
artificialities been introduced. The mosaics of the Narthex, as they are seen
to-day, are the mosaics of Byzantine times, cleansed and corroborated, but not
subjected to subtraction or addition.
The Byzantine Institute recognizes its indebtedness to numerous persons who
have aided the work in the Mosque and the preparation of the current Report.
In particular it wishes to signalize the following among them: His Excellency
Dr. Resit Galip Bey, Minister of Public Instruction of Turkey, the Honourable
Joseph C. Grew, the Honourable G. Howland Shaw, Mr. J. L. Campbell, Mr.
R. C. Creighton, Mr. S. R. K. Glanville, Mr. Roger Hinks, Mr. Pierre Iskender,
Mr. Nicholas Kluge, the Rev. Father V. Laurent, Mr. H. Mattingly, Mr.
Matthew Prichard, Yumni Resit Bey, Mr. John Troland, Mr. V. D. Tompkins,
the Rev. Father H. Vincent, Collaborators in the Library of the Byzantine Insti-
tute graciously housed in the Ecole Nationale des Langues Orientales Vivantes
in Paris, and throughout the work the helpful Custodians of the Mosque.