From Divine Light to Earthly Matter and from Sergey S. Averintsev to the Material Turn: the Development of Research on the Gold in Byzantine Art
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18778/1427-9681.19.04Słowa kluczowe:
gold, Byzantine art, materiality, radiance, multisensory perception, agencyAbstrakt
Gold in Byzantine art has long been interpreted as a symbol of divine light and transcendence. This article re‑examines Sergei S. Averintsev’s seminal text Золото в системе символов ранневизантийской культуры (Gold in the Symbolic System of Early Byzantine Culture; 1973) in dialogue with recent scholarship on materiality in medieval art. While Averintsev’s reading of gold as an “absolute metaphor” for divine light emerged from symbolic hermeneutics, this study argues that his insights can be productively reinterpreted through the lens of the “material turn”, which foregrounds the agency of matter, multisensory perception, and the socio‑economic conditions of artistic production. Rather than opposing symbolic and material approaches, the article proposes their integration as a coherent methodological framework. It demonstrates that Averintsev anticipated key concerns of contemporary materiality studies by conceptualising gold not only as a theological sign, but also as a substance that acts – reflecting light, shaping ritual experience, and mediating divine presence. Particular attention is given to his distinction between light (φῶς) and radiance (αἴγλη), which allows for a more precise understanding of gold’s dynamic, performative, and affective roles in Byzantine visual culture. By merging symbolic and material perspectives, the article advances a nuanced interpretation of gold in Byzantine art as both a medium of theological meaning and a material embedded within networks of production, power, and ritual. Matter and meaning thus emerge not as opposing categories, but as mutually constitutive dimensions of Byzantine artistic practice.
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