CHRIST IN MAJESTY

The Christian icon of 'Christ in Majesty', in the Greek-speaking East the '''Deesis''', was developed under Imperial patronage and survives, in its earliest examples, in Byzantine mosaics. The depiction of a monumental, frontal Christ Enthroned was an expansion of the earliest hieratic images of Christ, the half-length Christ Pantocrator, "Christ, Ruler of All". As with the earlier image, Christ holds the book representing the Gospels and raises his right hand in the gesture of blessing.
The oldest images of the 'Deesis' in Byzantine art are consistent with conventional portrayals of the Emperor in the diptychs or in mosaics; they find him centered in his court, represented in Christ's court of the martyrs, saints and bishops, or in the West by the Four Evangelists who may be symbolically represented; in the East the ''Deesis'' is flanked by Mary and St. John the Baptist, and sometimes angels, Christ's head is surrounded by a halo. The throne in each case is set upon a stepped dais that lifts it from the mundane world.

The ''Deesis'' is often found on the templon beam in Orthodox churches as well as above doors, though it also can appear on icons. The presence of Mary and John is one of the differences with the Western ''Christ in Majesty'', where the Four Evangelists and/or their symbols are more commonly included around Christ.
In later Western images, Christ is often set within a framing mandorla, and surrounded by the Four Evangelists and/or their symbols. In Early Medieval Western art the image was very often given a full page in illuminated Gospel Books, and in metalwork or ivory on their covers, and from there passed on to become common as a large scale fresco in the semi-dome of the apse in Romanesque churches.

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External links

External links

★ Christ in Majesty

★ (Getty Museum,); Christ in Majesty, manuscript illumination, German, (Hildesheim), about 1170s

★ ''Christ in Majesty'', with apocalypse details: chancelk painting, Kempley, Gloucestershire c.1120

★ Christ in Majesty: illumination in the Aberdeen Bestiary, late twelfth century

★ Definition of Deesis -- Includes photos of the Deesis in the Hagia Sophia.