Search

Dr. Anne McClanan

About Dr. Anne McClanan

Dr. Anne McClanan teaches western and Byzantine medieval art as well as art history methodology as a Professor at Portland State University in Oregon. She published a book analyzing Byzantine empresses and edited an anthology on Iconoclasm (published as well in Chinese translation) and another anthology on the material culture of sex, procreation and marriage.

This medieval manuscript combined the arts of western Europe and the Byzantine Empire for the crusader queen Melisende of Jerusalem.

The Melisende Psalter

by Dr. Anne McClanan

Byzantine texts praise and slander the empress Theodora, who appears in this famous mosaic in Ravenna.

Empress Theodora, rhetoric, and Byzantine primary sources

by Dr. Anne McClanan

These fantastic beasts, heroes, and pseudo-texts show that not all Byzantine art was sacred.

Middle Byzantine secular art

by Dr. Anne McClanan

Transfiguration Apse mosaic, 6th century, the Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine, Sinai, Egypt (Photo: Europa Nostra, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) — Travel to the Sinai desert and discover the treasures of one of the world's oldest Christian monasteries

Art and architecture of Saint Catherine’s Monastery ...

by Dr. Anne McClanan

Thumbnail. Fragment of a Floor Mosaic with a Personification of Ktisis, 500–550 C.E. (with modern restoration), marble and glass, 151.1 x 199.7 x 2.5 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — This Byzantine mosaic shows the personification of the act of generous giving — Ktisis

Byzantine Mosaic of a Personification, Ktisis

by Dr. Evan Freeman and Dr. Anne McClanan

Thumbnail. Marble Portrait Bust of a Woman with a Scroll, late 4th–early 5th century C.E., pentelic marble, 53 x 27.5 x 22.2 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Cloisters Collection) — An Early Byzantine sculpture of a woman with a scroll at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Woman with Scroll

by Dr. Evan Freeman and Dr. Anne McClanan

Panel with a Griffin, 1250–1300, made in Greece or the Balkans (possibly), marble, 59.7 x 52.1 x 6.5 cm (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — A panel with a Griffin (a lion and an eagle — the king of birds and the king of animals — combined).

Byzantine Griffin Panel

by Dr. Evan Freeman and Dr. Anne McClanan

Byzantine chalice (The Attarouthi Treasure — Chalice, Silver and gilded silver, 500–650 C.E., The Metropolitan Museum of Art) — A sumptuous silver and gold chalice starring a youthful Christ, a saint slaying a dragon (could it be George?), and more.

A chalice from the Attarouthi Treasure

by Dr. Anne McClanan and Dr. Evan Freeman

David Composing the Psalms, from the Paris Psalter, c. 900 C.E. 14-1/8 x 10-1/4" / 36 x 26 cm (Bibliothèque nationale de France) detail — Large and lavish, the images in this manuscript revived the classical style for medieval church use.

The Paris Psalter

by Dr. Anne McClanan