Byzantine Iconography Series 8: Buildings and Landscape

Laying the Foundations for Byzantine Iconography

In this series we will be studying buildings and landscape elements as well some of the basic rules of composition.

In the previous tutorials we have studied figures and have seen the importance played by rhythm in creating the sense of both movement and stability as well as harmony and unity. Now we are going to look at the environment that surrounds the figures.

In this first tutorial we will be starting off with buildings and objects. Now you might be thinking why would I need a tutorial about drawing buildings as they are so simple to draw, but buildings and objects in Byzantine iconography are not simply shapes nor do they try to portray a realistic or historical setting where the event took place. It is important to understand WHY we draw these elements in the way that we do because they play a very important role in the rhythm and movement of an icon.

Just a figure is drawn and painted in a manner that projects it off the surface into the same time and space as the viewer, the same thing applies to buildings and other objects. So what we’re going to be doing is seeing how what at first seems like simple lines and shapes are used to do this.

In the first tutorial we will study how the basic rules of composition are applied to buildings and objects and how rhythm, the transverse principle and vertical perspective are used to project the forms out towards the viewer. In the second tutorial we will see how all this applies to landscape elements like mountains, rivers and trees.

Required Materials: Pencil, paper and eraser.