Byzantine Culture

History · Guide

Byzantine Influence on the Renaissance

Explore the Byzantine influence on the Italian Renaissance, from the Greek scholars who fled Constantinople to the mosaics, icons, and manuscripts that inspired Italian art. Learn about Manuel Chrysoloras, Bessarion, and the rediscovery of Greek learning.

The Byzantine influence on the Italian Renaissance is one of the great stories of cultural transmission in world history. The fall of Constantinople in 1453, far from being a final catastrophe, was the catalyst for a series of cultural exchanges that would help spark the revival of classical learning in Western Europe, the development of new techniques in painting and architecture, and the transformation of European intellectual life. The Greek scholars who fled the Ottoman conquest, the manuscripts they carried, and the artistic traditions they preserved all played a central role in the birth of the modern West.

This exploration of the Byzantine influence on the Renaissance traces the channels by which Byzantine culture reached the Italian peninsula, the scholars who carried the tradition, the artistic exchanges that transformed Italian art, and the long-term consequences of these exchanges for European civilization.

The Background

The Western Knowledge of Greek

Western Europe had a limited knowledge of Greek throughout the early Middle Ages. Latin, the language of the Western church, was the language of learning in the West, and the great works of classical Greek literature were known only in Latin translations, often of poor quality, or not at all. The Western monasteries preserved a few classical texts, including the Latin translations of Aristotle, but the original Greek was a closed book to most Western scholars.

The situation began to change in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, when a number of Greek texts were translated into Latin, especially in southern Italy, Sicily, and Spain. The Norman kings of Sicily employed Greek and Byzantine scholars at their court, and they encouraged the translation of Greek texts. The court of Frederick II in the early thirteenth century was a major center of Greek learning, and the emperor himself corresponded with Byzantine scholars and studied Greek.

The Fourth Crusade, which resulted in the sack of Constantinople in 1204, paradoxically accelerated the Western knowledge of Greek. The Crusaders brought back to the West a number of Greek manuscripts, and they established the Latin Empire of Constantinople, which required the presence of Western scholars and administrators in the Greek world. The Latin Empire was eventually overthrown, but the Western presence in the Eastern Mediterranean left a lasting legacy of cultural exchange.

The Greek Scholars

The Man of the First Generation

The first wave of Greek scholars to reach Italy in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries was led by figures like Manuel Chrysoloras, Demetrius Cydones, and Leontius Pilatus. Manuel Chrysoloras, a scholar and diplomat from Constantinople, was invited to Florence in 1397 to teach Greek at the studio fiorentino, the University of Florence. His students included Leonardo Bruni, Pier Paolo Vergerio, Coluccio Salutati, and Roberto Rossi, all of whom became leading humanists of the early Renaissance.

The teaching of Chrysoloras was revolutionary. He introduced his students to the Greek language, the Greek literature, and the Greek philosophy that had been largely inaccessible to the Latin West. He used Greek texts of Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides, and Homer as the basis of his teaching, and he insisted on the importance of reading the original texts in the original language, not relying on Latin translations. The teaching of Chrysoloras produced a generation of Western scholars who could read Greek, who could compare the Latin translations with the Greek originals, and who could use the Greek texts to correct the errors of the Latin tradition.

Demetrius Cydones, a contemporary of Chrysoloras, translated the works of St. Gregory Palamas into Latin, and he corresponded with Western humanists about the theology and the philosophy of the Eastern church. The translations of Cydones helped to introduce the Western scholars to the theology of the Eastern church, and they contributed to the development of a more sophisticated understanding of Eastern Christianity in the West.

Leontius Pilatus, another contemporary, was a scholar of Greek literature who taught at the studio fiorentino for a number of years. He translated Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey into Latin, and he was the teacher of Giovanni Boccaccio, who used the Homeric material in his own writings. The teaching of Pilatus, like that of Chrysoloras, helped to introduce the Western scholars to the Greek literary tradition.

The Council of Florence

The Greek Delegation

The Council of Florence, held in 1438–1439, was a major event in the cultural exchange between East and West. The council had been convoked by Pope Eugene IV to discuss the union of the Eastern and Western churches, and it brought a large Greek delegation to Italy, including the Byzantine emperor John VIII Palaiologos, Patriarch Joseph II, and a number of leading Byzantine scholars and theologians.

The most important of the Greek scholars at the council was Bessarion, the archbishop of Nicaea, who was a leading humanist and a major figure in the cultural exchange. Bessarion supported the union of the churches, and he remained in Italy after the council, becoming a cardinal of the Roman church and one of the leading humanists of the Italian Renaissance. His collection of Greek manuscripts, which he bequeathed to the Republic of Venice, formed the nucleus of the famous library of St. Mark’s, the most important collection of Greek manuscripts in the Western world.

The Council of Florence also brought to Italy the learned Gemistos Plethon, a Byzantine philosopher from Mistras who was one of the leading scholars of late Byzantium. Plethon’s lectures at the council on the difference between Plato and Aristotle had a profound impact on the Western scholars, and his ideas contributed to the revival of Platonism in the Italian Renaissance. Plethon’s student Bessarion continued his work, and the two are credited with helping to introduce the Western scholars to the Platonic tradition.

The Greek Refugees

The Fall of Constantinople

The fall of Constantinople in 1453 produced a flood of Greek refugees to Italy, especially to Venice, Rome, and Florence. The refugees included scholars, artists, churchmen, and aristocrats, all of whom brought with them a knowledge of Greek language, Greek literature, and Greek art. The refugees were welcomed by the Italian humanists, who saw them as the bearers of a great cultural tradition, and they were employed as teachers, translators, and copyists.

The most important of the Greek refugees was Cardinal Bessarion, who had been a major figure at the Council of Florence and who had remained in Italy. Bessarion was a patron of the Greek refugees, and he used his influence to secure positions for them at the Italian courts and universities. Bessarion’s collection of Greek manuscripts, the largest in the West, became the foundation of the library of St. Mark’s in Venice, and it remains one of the most important collections of Greek manuscripts in the world.

Other important Greek refugees included John Argyropoulos, who taught Greek at the University of Florence and whose students included Lorenzo de’ Medici, the ruler of Florence; Demetrius Chalcondyles, who taught Greek at the University of Padua and who was a major figure in the humanist movement; Theodore Gaza, who translated Aristotle and Theophrastus into Latin; and Constantine Lascaris, who taught Greek at the University of Milan and whose grammar of Greek was one of the first printed books.

The Artistic Influence

Byzantine Art in Italy

The artistic influence of Byzantium on the Italian Renaissance was profound and long-lasting. The Byzantine style of painting, with its emphasis on flat areas of color, its hieratic figures, and its gold backgrounds, was the dominant style in Italy throughout the medieval period. The great mosaic programs of Rome, Venice, and Sicily were produced by Byzantine artists or by artists trained in the Byzantine tradition, and the iconographic conventions of Byzantine art were the basis of Italian religious painting.

The most important artistic exchange was the transmission of the Palaiologan style of painting from Constantinople to Italy in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. The Palaiologan style, with its more naturalistic figures, its more emotional expression, and its more refined technique, was the last great development of Byzantine art, and it was the style that had the most direct influence on the Italian Renaissance.

The first Italian painter to absorb the Palaiologan style was Duccio di Buoninsegna, whose great altarpiece for the cathedral of Siena, the Maestà, was painted in 1308–1311 and shows a clear Byzantine influence. The Maestà combines the Byzantine tradition of the icon with the new naturalism of the Palaiologan style, and it is one of the great masterpieces of the early Italian Renaissance. Cimabue, the teacher of Giotto, was also influenced by the Byzantine tradition, although his work is more naturalistic than the strict Byzantine style.

The most famous Italian painter of the early Renaissance is Giotto di Bondone, who is often credited with breaking away from the Byzantine tradition and developing a more naturalistic style. Yet Giotto’s work is deeply influenced by the Byzantine tradition, and the great frescoes of the Arena Chapel in Padua, painted around 1305, show a sophisticated understanding of Byzantine art combined with a new naturalism. Giotto’s influence on the development of Italian painting was enormous, and the tradition he established was the foundation of the Italian Renaissance.

The Literary Influence

The Recovery of Greek Literature

The literary influence of the Byzantine scholars on the Italian Renaissance was as profound as the artistic influence. The Greek scholars brought with them a knowledge of the Greek language, the Greek literature, and the Greek philosophy that had been largely inaccessible to the Latin West, and they worked with the Italian humanists to translate the Greek texts into Latin and to introduce the Western readers to the Greek tradition.

The first major project of translation was the translation of the Greek New Testament, which was undertaken by Lorenzo Valla in the 1430s. Valla’s translation, which was based on a careful comparison of the Greek text with the Latin Vulgate, identified a number of errors in the traditional Latin text, and it was a major contribution to the development of modern biblical scholarship. The Greek New Testament was eventually published in printed form in 1514 as part of the Complutensian Polyglot, and it became the basis of the modern critical edition of the New Testament.

The translation of the Greek classics was another major project. The works of Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides, Herodotus, Xenophon, the Greek tragedians, the Greek orators, and the Greek poets were translated into Latin by a number of scholars, including Leonardo Bruni, Lorenzo Valla, Marsilio Ficino, and many others. The translations, which were often of high quality, gave the Western readers direct access to the Greek tradition, and they were a major stimulus to the development of the Italian Renaissance.

The most important single translation was the translation of Plato, which was undertaken by Marsilio Ficino at the court of Cosimo de’ Medici in Florence. Ficino’s translation, which was completed in 1469, was the first complete Latin translation of Plato, and it had a profound impact on the development of Western philosophy. The Florentine Academy, which was founded by Ficino under the patronage of the Medici, became the center of the revival of Platonism in the Italian Renaissance, and it had a lasting influence on Western thought.

The Architectural Influence

The Basilica of San Marco and Beyond

The architectural influence of Byzantium on the Italian Renaissance was less direct than the literary and artistic influence, but it was still significant. The great basilica of San Marco in Venice, with its Byzantine plan, its Byzantine domes, and its Byzantine mosaic decoration, was one of the most important buildings in Italy, and it influenced the development of Italian architecture throughout the medieval period.

The most famous example of Byzantine influence on Italian architecture is the basilica of San Marco itself, which was rebuilt in its present form in the eleventh century and which is one of the great examples of Byzantine architecture outside the Byzantine Empire. The basilica was the doge’s chapel, and it was deliberately modeled on the great churches of Constantinople. The five domes, the Greek-cross plan, and the elaborate mosaic decoration are all Byzantine in inspiration, and the basilica was a major source of the Byzantine revival in Western architecture.

The basilica of San Marco influenced the development of the Veneto-Byzantine style, which was a regional style of architecture that combined Byzantine and Western elements. The Veneto-Byzantine style was the dominant style in the Veneto region in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and it influenced the development of Italian Gothic architecture. The basilica of San Marco also influenced the architects of the Italian Renaissance, who studied the building and adapted some of its features to their own designs.

The Political and Religious Influence

The Donation of Constantine

The most controversial example of Byzantine influence on Western political and religious thought was the Donation of Constantine, a document supposedly issued by Emperor Constantine I in the fourth century, granting to the pope and his successors temporal authority over the western part of the Roman Empire, including Rome itself. The Donation was used by the medieval papacy to justify its claims to temporal power, and the Donation was cited for centuries by popes and their supporters.

The Donation was in fact a forgery, almost certainly produced in the papal chancery in the eighth century. The document was first denounced as a forgery by the humanist Lorenzo Valla in 1440, using philological and historical arguments that have become a model of modern historical criticism. The Donation is now generally accepted to be a forgery, but its impact on medieval politics was real, and it remains one of the most consequential forgeries in Western history.

The controversy over the Donation had a long afterlife. The Donation was cited in support of papal claims to temporal power well into the modern period, and the debate over the Donation contributed to the development of the modern critical study of historical documents. The Donation is thus a striking example of the way in which Byzantine historical traditions could be used, and misused, in the development of Western political and religious thought.

The Long-Term Consequences

The Modern West

The Byzantine influence on the Italian Renaissance had long-term consequences for the development of Western civilization. The recovery of Greek learning gave the Western scholars direct access to the philosophical, scientific, and literary traditions of ancient Greece, and it allowed them to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the world. The translation of the Greek New Testament contributed to the development of modern biblical scholarship, and it was one of the foundations of the Protestant Reformation. The artistic exchanges between Byzantium and Italy contributed to the development of the Italian Renaissance, and the work of the Italian Renaissance painters was the foundation of the Western artistic tradition.

The Byzantine influence on the Italian Renaissance is thus one of the great stories of cultural transmission. The Greek scholars who fled the Ottoman conquest, the manuscripts they carried, and the artistic traditions they preserved all played a central role in the development of modern Western civilization. To study the Byzantine influence on the Renaissance is to study one of the most important and most enduring elements of the Byzantine inheritance, and to understand how a fallen empire helped to shape the world in which we live.

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