ABSTRACT
In Byzantine art emotions were expressed through gestures and facial expressions, some conventional and others more ‘realistic’, organised by a grammar that structured, inflected and deepened their meanings. Most were derived by Byzantine artists from the received repertoire of ancient art, but the grammar was largely a Byzantine development. Both public display and interior feeling are depicted in Byzantine art. To some extent, these two categories correspond to the distinction between ekphrasis and ethopoeia in Byzantine rhetoric. The relationship between art and literature with respect to the portrayal of emotion can be described as interactive: either the imagination and desire of the viewer, encouraged by texts that had been incorporated into the liturgy, provoked a response from artists, or it was the artists who provoked a response from the viewer, as expressed, for example, by epigrams describing icons featuring weeping angels. The depiction of grief was a special area of contention. On the one hand the doctrine of the Incarnation validated the expression of grief; on the other hand a too vehement display of mourning implied a disbelief in the resurrection. In general, the church favoured interiority over public display. However, the official stances of the church came under increasing pressure, with the result that late Byzantine religious art showed much more licence in the depiction of emotion than had previously been possible. At every stage of this evolution, Byzantine painters anticipated artists of the west. Even though the western artists were in dialogue with completely different texts, their chosen means of portraying emotion were essentially the same as those deployed by the Byzantines.
