1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,583
(upbeat music)

2
00:00:04,263 --> 00:00:06,120
- [Lady Narrator] We're in the Louve

3
00:00:06,120 --> 00:00:09,690
looking at a small
exquisite Byzantine ivory

4
00:00:09,690 --> 00:00:12,340
that dates from the mid 10th century.

5
00:00:12,340 --> 00:00:14,460
- [Man Narrator] This is
the middle Byzantine period

6
00:00:14,460 --> 00:00:16,850
soon after the iconophiles won

7
00:00:16,850 --> 00:00:18,779
their battle with the iconoclasts.

8
00:00:18,779 --> 00:00:22,404
- [Lady Narrator] From the
700ths through to the mid 800ths

9
00:00:22,404 --> 00:00:26,710
the Byzantine emperor had
instituted a policy of Iconoclasm

10
00:00:26,710 --> 00:00:28,946
that is disallowing images in churches,

11
00:00:28,946 --> 00:00:30,839
disallowing religious imagery.

12
00:00:30,839 --> 00:00:32,630
- [Man Narrator] But
when this was overturned

13
00:00:32,630 --> 00:00:34,380
artwork flourish throughout the Empire.

14
00:00:34,380 --> 00:00:36,830
- [Lady Narrator] And this is
a period that art historians

15
00:00:36,830 --> 00:00:39,199
referred to as the Macedonian revival.

16
00:00:39,199 --> 00:00:40,690
- [Man Narrator] We're
looking at a triptych,

17
00:00:40,690 --> 00:00:42,900
which is to say it is
a three paneled ivory

18
00:00:42,900 --> 00:00:45,220
and you can see that it's
hinged so that the doors

19
00:00:45,220 --> 00:00:47,810
could actually close and
protect the interior scene.

20
00:00:47,810 --> 00:00:50,289
It's carved on both
the front and the back.

21
00:00:50,289 --> 00:00:51,700
- [Lady Narrator] At the top center,

22
00:00:51,700 --> 00:00:54,710
we see a scene that is common
during this middle Byzantine

23
00:00:54,710 --> 00:00:56,230
period called the Deesis.

24
00:00:56,230 --> 00:00:58,230
- [Man Narrator] John the
Baptist and the Virgin Mary,

25
00:00:58,230 --> 00:01:01,300
the bearer of God, come to Christ

26
00:01:01,300 --> 00:01:03,760
and ask for his protection
for his blessing

27
00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:05,080
on behalf of humanity.

28
00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:07,720
- [Lady Narrator] This
triptych then formed a private

29
00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:10,131
devotional object that could be opened

30
00:01:10,131 --> 00:01:14,650
and looking at this top
center panel of the Deesis

31
00:01:14,650 --> 00:01:18,067
one could engage in prayer
and ask John and Mary

32
00:01:18,067 --> 00:01:21,402
for intercession with
Christ on their behalf.

33
00:01:21,402 --> 00:01:23,240
- [Man Narrator] We see Christ seated on

34
00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:25,730
an elaborate throne, his
right hand, his blessing,

35
00:01:25,730 --> 00:01:27,720
his left hand holds the Bible

36
00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:30,483
and we see his feet on
a foot rest that appears

37
00:01:30,483 --> 00:01:32,480
really quite architectural.

38
00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:34,250
- [Lady Narrator] Above
Christ, on either side we see

39
00:01:34,250 --> 00:01:36,870
roundels with figures of angels.

40
00:01:36,870 --> 00:01:39,640
What we noticed throughout
the triptych is that

41
00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:42,140
all the figures have
inscriptions next to them

42
00:01:42,140 --> 00:01:43,580
indicating who they are.

43
00:01:43,580 --> 00:01:45,080
- [Man Narrator] I'm
struck by just how fine

44
00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:47,400
the carving is look, for
instance, on the right side

45
00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:49,980
of Mary's gown, you can
see the fringes clearly

46
00:01:49,980 --> 00:01:53,130
and carefully rendered, as well
as the folds of the drapery.

47
00:01:53,130 --> 00:01:54,130
- [Lady Narrator] And also in the back

48
00:01:54,130 --> 00:01:55,980
of the throne behind Christ.

49
00:01:55,980 --> 00:01:57,810
- [Man Narrator]
Extraordinary craftsmanship.

50
00:01:57,810 --> 00:02:00,201
- [Lady Narrator] Now, there
are five figures below Christ

51
00:02:00,201 --> 00:02:03,000
and they represent five of the apostles,

52
00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:04,900
the center one is St. Peter.

53
00:02:04,900 --> 00:02:06,710
- [Man Narrator] Who we
can see grasping a scroll

54
00:02:06,710 --> 00:02:08,740
with his left hand and
pointing up to Christ

55
00:02:08,740 --> 00:02:09,573
with his right.

56
00:02:09,573 --> 00:02:12,810
- [Lady Narrator] All the figures
stand on little platforms.

57
00:02:12,810 --> 00:02:14,380
- [Man Narrator] The only exception are in

58
00:02:14,380 --> 00:02:15,780
the upper registers of the wings,

59
00:02:15,780 --> 00:02:18,840
where we see warrior saints
who stand on the ground plane

60
00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:22,110
below them are rondels and
then again, standing figures.

61
00:02:22,110 --> 00:02:23,481
Here we see saints and martyrs.

62
00:02:23,481 --> 00:02:25,560
- [Lady Narrator] The
warrior saints seem to have

63
00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:27,887
a classical pose to
them, they seem to stand

64
00:02:27,887 --> 00:02:31,780
in a kind of contrapposto,
although the proportions

65
00:02:31,780 --> 00:02:33,930
of their bodies are a little
bit off, but they do have

66
00:02:33,930 --> 00:02:36,325
that sense of leaning to one
side of having their weight

67
00:02:36,325 --> 00:02:38,635
born on one side of having one knee bent

68
00:02:38,635 --> 00:02:41,240
of their hips a little bit out a sense

69
00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:42,877
of asymmetry to their bodies.

70
00:02:42,877 --> 00:02:44,410
- [Man Narrator] The ease to their stance,

71
00:02:44,410 --> 00:02:45,860
they seem quite relaxed.

72
00:02:45,860 --> 00:02:48,420
In fact, despite the
formality of the Deesis

73
00:02:48,420 --> 00:02:50,875
and of all of the figures,
there's a sense of individuality

74
00:02:50,875 --> 00:02:53,210
to each figure that's being rendered,

75
00:02:53,210 --> 00:02:54,810
which has been achieved only because of

76
00:02:54,810 --> 00:02:56,600
the very fine nature of the carving.

77
00:02:56,600 --> 00:02:58,160
Let's go take a look at the back.

78
00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:00,000
The back is more shallowly carved.

79
00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:01,887
Here we see saints and church fathers.

80
00:03:01,887 --> 00:03:04,200
- [Lady Narrator] We have
a symbolic representation

81
00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:05,850
of the garden of paradise.

82
00:03:05,850 --> 00:03:07,420
- [Man Narrator] It's a
marvelous rendering with lots

83
00:03:07,420 --> 00:03:09,626
of detail and a real sense of the vertical

84
00:03:09,626 --> 00:03:12,370
as if the plants themselves
on the ground plane

85
00:03:12,370 --> 00:03:13,680
are reaching up to heaven.

86
00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:15,080
- [Lady Narrator] Up toward the cross.

87
00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:16,550
- [Man Narrator] Which is long and elegant

88
00:03:16,550 --> 00:03:18,490
and has rosettes not only at the center

89
00:03:18,490 --> 00:03:20,040
but at its four points.

90
00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:21,520
- [Lady Narrator] We have cypress trees,

91
00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:23,699
with vines and circling them and grapes.

92
00:03:23,699 --> 00:03:26,190
- [Man Narrator] Leaning
in as if the cross itself

93
00:03:26,190 --> 00:03:27,670
was almost magnetic.

94
00:03:27,670 --> 00:03:29,807
- [Lady Narrator] A real sense
of the beauty and abundance

95
00:03:29,807 --> 00:03:32,440
of paradise of the promise

96
00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:34,888
of salvation of the
promise of eternal life

97
00:03:34,888 --> 00:03:38,330
and a sense that from
the very cross itself

98
00:03:38,330 --> 00:03:41,386
from Christ's sacrifice, life blooms.

99
00:03:41,386 --> 00:03:43,290
- [Man Narrator] And
look at the orderliness

100
00:03:43,290 --> 00:03:45,000
of the stars in the heavens.

101
00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:46,419
This is a sense of solemnity,

102
00:03:46,419 --> 00:03:48,948
a sense of beauty and a
sense of the spiritual

103
00:03:48,948 --> 00:03:51,955
in the natural world,
which we tend to think of

104
00:03:51,955 --> 00:03:56,108
in more modern terms but here
it is in the 10th century.

105
00:03:56,108 --> 00:03:58,691
(upbeat music)