Icons and Experience: Seeing, Believing, and Understanding Byzantine Art
Postgraduate Programme — Level 7
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Upon completion, students will be able to:
1)
Understand the Byzantine icon as a complex visual, theological, and experiential phenomenon, shaped by its liturgical, spatial, and devotional context.
2)
Analyze icons through the act of seeing, exploring how vision, perception, and embodied experience contribute to the formation of meaning in Byzantine art.
3)
Interpret the theological foundations of the icon, including key concepts such as incarnation, presence, mediation, and the relationship between the visible and the invisible.
4)
Examine the sensory dimensions of Byzantine art, considering the interaction of image, light, space, sound, and ritual in shaping religious experience.
5)
Situate icons within their historical and cultural contexts, recognizing their role in Byzantine society as objects of devotion, communication, and identity.
6)
Engage critically with major scholarly approaches to Byzantine art, including art historical, theological, anthropological, and phenomenological perspectives.
7)
Develop the ability to “read” images beyond formal analysis, integrating iconography, materiality, and viewer experience into a holistic interpretative framework.
8)
Reflect on the continuity and transformation of Byzantine visual culture, and its reception in later periods and contemporary contexts.
COURSE SYLLABUS
13 Modules
Week 01 | Learning to See: Vision, Perception, and the Byzantine Gaze
An introduction to what it means to “see” in Byzantium. Vision is approached not as a passive act, but as an active, spiritually charged process. The module explores how viewers engage with icons, and how perception is shaped by faith, expectation, and cultural frameworks.
Week 02 | More than an Image: Presence, Prototype, and the Power of the Icon
Focusing on the theological core of the icon, this module examines the relationship between image and prototype. Through the lens of the Incarnation, students explore how icons are understood as bearers of presence and as mediators between the visible and the divine.
Week 03 | Making the Sacred: Materials, Techniques, and Meaning
An exploration of the physical life of the icon. From wood panels and pigments to gold surfaces and painterly techniques, the module investigates how material choices shape both visual impact and theological meaning.
Week 04 | Icons in Action: Space, Liturgy, and Ritual Experience
Icons are studied within the environments that give them life. This module examines their role within church space, liturgy, and ritual practice, highlighting the interaction between image, architecture, movement, and sound.
Week 05 | Crisis and Defense: Rethinking Iconoclasm
A fresh look at the Iconoclastic Controversy, not only as a historical conflict but as a defining moment for the theory of images. The module explores the arguments, tensions, and lasting consequences of the defense of icons.
Week 06 | Decoding the Image: Iconography, Narrative, and Meaning
Developing the skills to interpret Byzantine images in depth. Moving beyond identification, students engage with narrative structures, symbolic layers, and the visual language of icons.
Week 07 | Encountering the Icon: Devotion, Emotion, and Experience
This module focuses on the lived relationship between people and images. Through practices of prayer, veneration, and communal ritual, students explore how icons shape emotional and spiritual experience.
Week 08 | A World of Senses: Light, Sound, and the Embodied Icon
An exploration of the multisensory dimension of Byzantine art. Light, chant, incense, and movement are examined as integral elements that transform the viewing of the icon into an immersive experience.
Week 09 | Afterlives of the Icon: Reception, Reuse, and Reinterpretation
Tracing how Byzantine icons continue to live beyond their original context. The module examines their reception in later periods, their reinterpretation in modern scholarship and art, and their ongoing cultural presence.
Week 10 | Research and Presentation: Rethinking the Byzantine Icon
Students develop individual or collaborative research projects, approaching icons as objects of experience, meaning, and interpretation. Emphasis is placed on originality, critical thinking, and interdisciplinary engagement.
Week 11 | Icons and Authority: Patronage, Power, and Social Meaning
This module examines the icon within frameworks of patronage and authority. It explores how donors, institutions, and political power shape the production, placement, and meaning of icons. Students analyze dedicatory inscriptions, visual strategies of representation, and the role of icons in constructing social identity, memory, and legitimacy within Byzantine society.
Week 12 | Between Object and Image: Materiality, Agency, and the Life of Icons
Focusing on recent theoretical approaches, this module investigates the icon as both material object and active agent. Drawing on art history, anthropology, and material culture studies, students explore concepts such as agency, performativity, and the “biography” of objects. Emphasis is placed on how icons act, circulate, and transform across different contexts, from liturgical settings to museums.
Week 13 | Presentation of students’ essays
Essays Presentation
ASSESSMENT
Student Evaluation
30%
Participation in class discussions
40%
Research Essay
30%
Oral presentation and participation
Workload — ECTS Distribution
250 Hours Total
Lectures
22
Seminar discussions
15
Student presentations
20
Study and analysis of bibliography
40
Independent study
60
Essay writing
73
Primary source workshops
20
Course Total
250
Recommended Bibliography
Suggested bibliography:
General Introductions to Byzantine Art and Icons
Belting, Hans. Likeness and Presence: A History of the Image before the Era of Art. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.
Cormack, Robin. Byzantine Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Cormack, Robin. Icons. London: British Museum Press, 2007.
Evans, Helen C., ed. Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261–1557). New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art / Yale University Press, 2004.
Weitzmann, Kurt. The Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai: The Icons. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1976.
Theology of the Icon and Iconoclasm
John of Damascus. Three Treatises on the Divine Images. Translated by Andrew
Louth. Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2003.
Brubaker, Leslie, and John Haldon. Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era c. 680–850: A History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Ouspensky, Leonid. The Theology of the Icon. Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s
Seminary Press, 1992.
Pelikan, Jaroslav. Imago Dei: The Byzantine Apologia for Icons. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990.
Schönborn, Christoph. God’s Human Face: The Christ Icon. San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1994.
The Icon as Experience: Vision, Senses, and Embodiment
Bissera V. Pentcheva. The Sensual Icon: Space, Ritual, and the Senses in Byzantium. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2010.
Pentcheva, Bissera V. “The Performative Icon.” The Art Bulletin 88, no. 4 (2006): 631–655.
Lidov, Alexei, ed. Hierotopy: Spatial Icons and Image-Paradigms in Byzantine Culture. Moscow: Progress-Tradition, 2009.
Bogdanovich, Jelena, ed. Icons of Space: Advances in Hierotopy. London: Routledge, 2021.
Carr, Annemarie Weyl. “Icons and the Object of Pilgrimage in Middle Byzantine
Constantinople.” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 56 (2002): 75–92.
Materiality, Technique, and Artistic Production
Maguire, Henry. The Icons of Their Bodies: Saints and Their Images in Byzantium. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996.
Parani, Maria G. Reconstructing the Reality of Images: Byzantine Material Culture and Religious Iconography (11th–15th Centuries). Leiden: Brill, 2003.
Rice, David Talbot. Icons and Their History. London: Thames & Hudson, 1974. Hetherington, Paul, ed. The Painter’s Manual of Dionysius of Fourna. London: Sagittis Press, 1998.
Iconography, Meaning, and Interpretation
Vassilaki, Maria, ed. Mother of God: Representations of the Virgin in Byzantine Art. Milan: Skira, 2000.
Nelson, Robert S. “The Discourse of Icons, Then and Now.” Art History 12, no. 2 (1989): 144–157.
Anderson, John C. “The Byzantine Panel Portrait before and after Iconoclasm.”
Dumbarton Oaks Papers 45 (1991): 1–25.
Tarasov, Oleg. Icon and Devotion: Sacred Spaces in Imperial Russia. London: Reaktion Books, 2002.
Icons in Liturgy, Devotion, and Society
Bissera V. Pentcheva. Icons and Power: The Mother of God in Byzantium. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006.
Parani, Maria G. “Experiencing Miraculous Icons in Byzantium.” In Experiencing Byzantium, edited volume, 2018.
Ševčenko, Nancy Patterson. “Icons in the Liturgy.” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 34/35 (1980–1981): 45–57.
Peers, Glenn. Subtle Bodies: Representing Angels in Byzantium. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001.
Reception, Afterlife, and Modern Approaches
Stephenson, Paul. “Byzantine Icons and Things.” Oxford Art Journal 39, no. 2 (2016): 141–157.
Denny, Christopher. “Iconoclasm, Byzantine and Postmodern.” Journal of Religion
85, no. 1 (2005): 1–24.
Drpić, Ivan. Epigram, Art, and Devotion in Later Byzantium. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016.
Franklin, Simon, and Jonathan Shepard. The Emergence of Rus 750–1200. London: Longman, 1996.
Digital Humanities and New Approaches to Icons
Maronidis, Andreas et al. “Virtual Restoration of Byzantine Icons Using Advanced Imaging Techniques.” Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage 13, no. 2 (2020). Vassallo, Valentina et al. “Tracing the Provenance of Byzantine Icons through
Digital Methods.” Heritage Science 9 (2021).
Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage (ACM).
International Journal of Cultural Heritage.
Related academic journals:
Art History & Visual Culture
The Art Bulletin Gesta
Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes Oxford Art Journal
Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians
Theology, Liturgy, and Religious Studies
Harvard Theological Review
Journal of Ecclesiastical History Journal of Religion
Journal of Early Christian Studies
Core Byzantine Studies Journals
Dumbarton Oaks Papers (1941– )
Byzantion: Revue internationale des études byzantines (1924– )
Byzantinische Zeitschrift (1892– )
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies (1975– )