WEBVTT

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(upbeat music)

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- [Lady Narrator] We're in the Louve

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looking at a small
exquisite Byzantine ivory

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that dates from the mid 10th century.

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- [Man Narrator] This is
the middle Byzantine period

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soon after the iconophiles won

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their battle with the iconoclasts.

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- [Lady Narrator] From the
700ths through to the mid 800ths

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the Byzantine emperor had
instituted a policy of Iconoclasm

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that is disallowing images in churches,

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disallowing religious imagery.

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- [Man Narrator] But
when this was overturned

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artwork flourish throughout the Empire.

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- [Lady Narrator] And this is
a period that art historians

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referred to as the Macedonian revival.

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- [Man Narrator] We're
looking at a triptych,

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which is to say it is
a three paneled ivory

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and you can see that it's
hinged so that the doors

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could actually close and
protect the interior scene.

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It's carved on both
the front and the back.

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- [Lady Narrator] At the top center,

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we see a scene that is common
during this middle Byzantine

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period called the Deesis.

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- [Man Narrator] John the
Baptist and the Virgin Mary,

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the bearer of God, come to Christ

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and ask for his protection
for his blessing

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on behalf of humanity.

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- [Lady Narrator] This
triptych then formed a private

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devotional object that could be opened

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and looking at this top
center panel of the Deesis

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one could engage in prayer
and ask John and Mary

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for intercession with
Christ on their behalf.

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- [Man Narrator] We see Christ seated on

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an elaborate throne, his
right hand, his blessing,

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his left hand holds the Bible

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and we see his feet on
a foot rest that appears

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really quite architectural.

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- [Lady Narrator] Above
Christ, on either side we see

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roundels with figures of angels.

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What we noticed throughout
the triptych is that

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all the figures have
inscriptions next to them

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indicating who they are.

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- [Man Narrator] I'm
struck by just how fine

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the carving is look, for
instance, on the right side

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of Mary's gown, you can
see the fringes clearly

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and carefully rendered, as well
as the folds of the drapery.

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- [Lady Narrator] And also in the back

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of the throne behind Christ.

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- [Man Narrator]
Extraordinary craftsmanship.

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- [Lady Narrator] Now, there
are five figures below Christ

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and they represent five of the apostles,

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the center one is St. Peter.

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- [Man Narrator] Who we
can see grasping a scroll

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with his left hand and
pointing up to Christ

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with his right.

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- [Lady Narrator] All the figures
stand on little platforms.

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- [Man Narrator] The only exception are in

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the upper registers of the wings,

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where we see warrior saints
who stand on the ground plane

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below them are rondels and
then again, standing figures.

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Here we see saints and martyrs.

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- [Lady Narrator] The
warrior saints seem to have

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a classical pose to
them, they seem to stand

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in a kind of contrapposto,
although the proportions

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of their bodies are a little
bit off, but they do have

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that sense of leaning to one
side of having their weight

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born on one side of having one knee bent

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of their hips a little bit out a sense

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of asymmetry to their bodies.

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- [Man Narrator] The ease to their stance,

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they seem quite relaxed.

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In fact, despite the
formality of the Deesis

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and of all of the figures,
there's a sense of individuality

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to each figure that's being rendered,

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which has been achieved only because of

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the very fine nature of the carving.

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Let's go take a look at the back.

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The back is more shallowly carved.

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Here we see saints and church fathers.

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- [Lady Narrator] We have
a symbolic representation

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of the garden of paradise.

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- [Man Narrator] It's a
marvelous rendering with lots

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of detail and a real sense of the vertical

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as if the plants themselves
on the ground plane

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are reaching up to heaven.

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- [Lady Narrator] Up toward the cross.

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- [Man Narrator] Which is long and elegant

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and has rosettes not only at the center

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but at its four points.

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- [Lady Narrator] We have cypress trees,

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with vines and circling them and grapes.

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- [Man Narrator] Leaning
in as if the cross itself

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was almost magnetic.

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- [Lady Narrator] A real sense
of the beauty and abundance

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of paradise of the promise

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of salvation of the
promise of eternal life

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and a sense that from
the very cross itself

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from Christ's sacrifice, life blooms.

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- [Man Narrator] And
look at the orderliness

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of the stars in the heavens.

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This is a sense of solemnity,

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a sense of beauty and a
sense of the spiritual

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in the natural world,
which we tend to think of

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in more modern terms but here
it is in the 10th century.

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(upbeat music)