‘A Piece of Nature’

Arts & Crafts Perceptions of Nature and the Byzantine Monument

The Byzantine Research Fund Archive of the British School at Athens

Nature was central to the Arts & Crafts ideology and aesthetics. John Ruskin, the patriarch of the movement, rejoiced in the presence of natural scenery and the beauty of the natural world as early as his childhood. Nature, and its depictions in art, would occupy him throughout his career and would influence decisively the way he approached art and the historic buildings as well as his working ethos and ideology.

This love of and occupation with nature soon penetrated and embedded the British Arts & Crafts aesthetics. Nature was admired by the followers of the movement, almost with a mystical awe for evoking sacred sentiments, inspiring purity, stability and tradition against the rootless and stressful stirrings of industrial capitalism and the Great Depression of the 19th century.

The relationship between nature and architecture was particularly emphasized by the Arts & Crafts members as an expression of man’s inner-relationship with his natural surroundings. Historical architecture, in particular, had a central role in this interaction between man and the physical world. Medieval architecture, primarily the Gothic cathedral, was admired for its natural forms and the close almost mystical connections that it managed to establish with nature.

Pioneer architects of the British Arts & Crafts movement, such as Robert Weir Schultz and Sidney Barnsley of the British School at Athens BRF Archive, following the example of John Ruskin, William Morris and their Arts & Crafts masters, were among the first to record, document and study surviving Byzantine monuments in the Eastern Mediterranean. Their attitude towards the remains of Byzantine heritage in the region, eloquently reflected in their recordings and, later, publications, demonstrates a pronounced concern, at the footsteps of their masters, for the multiple interconnections between a historic building and its natural surroundings. Byzantine architecture was considered an essential part of the landscape and, vice versa, nature, the physical world, its forms and qualities were reflected in the historic building both in the way it developed as well as in impressive or even minute details in its architecture and decoration.

The present exhibition focuses on highlighting these interactions based on material from the BRF Archive Drawing and Photographic Collections, as well as the BRF Archive Corporate Records, in particular the Notebook Series.

Distant sketch of the landscape of Argos from Nauplion, very similar to Ruskin’s panoramas

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Sketches of distant landscapes near Argos, Peloponnese, Greece
R. Weir Schultz, Notebook 1, 1887-1888

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View of Amphissa Castle in the landscape from the south, Amphissa, Phocis, Greece
R. Traquair, 1905-09

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Pressed flowers
R. Weir Schultz, Notebook 2, 1889

BRF 03/SCH.08.s086

Sketchs of architectural remains and flowers
R. Weir Schultz, Notebook 8, 1889

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Sketches of capitals and flowers
R. Weir Schultz, Notebook 6, 1888

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Sketches of architectural decorations and flowers
R. Weir Schultz, Notebook 6, 1888

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Sketch of flower with notes identifying its various parts and colours
R. Weir Schultz, Notebook 1, 1887-1888

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Sketches of flowers and architetural details
R. Weir Schultz, Notebook 1, 1887-1888

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Coloured sketch of flowers and mosaic details
R. Weir Schultz, Notebook 1, 1887-1888

BSA BRF WI.A-44

Robert Weir Schultz (seated far left) and travel companions
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

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View of tree near the Hossios Loukas monastic complex, Phocis, Central Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

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Sketches of architecture with pressed flower
R. Weir Schultz, Notebook 16, 1890

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Local worshippers outside the katholikon of Daphni monastic complex, West Attica, Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

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Distant view of the fortress of Monemvasia, Peloponnese, Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-90

Pure Nature

In situ recording and the study of historical buildings was an ingrained part of the Arts & Crafts architect’s curriculum and intellectual development. This was combined with first-hand experience of the natural setting around the monument and the close study of the natural scenery. Following John Ruskin’s example, all the Arts & Crafts devotees, like William Morris, William Richard Lethaby, Charles Robert Ashbee, drew extensively from nature. They were fascinated by the natural environment and commented extensively on elements of landscapes during their travels abroad while incorporating them into a considerable number of impressive drawings.

The direct observation and appreciation of nature per se, as a transmitter of a wide array of meanings and an almost mystical allure, were seen equally as important as the meticulous and accurate, almost scientific, reproduction of details from the natural environment. Science stressed the universal significance of the natural world and enhanced personal interaction and aesthetic response.

This relationship with nature is very vividly captured in the BRF Archive. The notebooks of Robert Weir Schultz and Sidney Barnsley, especially, preserve detailed drawings of plants and flowers. They have taken the utter most care to identify the various parts of the plants with their scientific name and delicately press the actual leaves and flowerheads in between the pages. Impressive landscape photographs by the BRF architects also offer unique views of imposing natural sceneries, an emotionally moving connection between nature and the observer.

‘Dig not architectural remains but fresh earth with the scent of new cut wood in the air.’

— William Richard Lethaby, ‘Education in Building’, RIBA Journal, 3rd ser., 8 (22 June 1901), 387.

Nature was to be closely observed and represented as faithfully as possible with the objectivity of the scientist. This scientific practice, which involved fully experiencing all elements of the natural world, ranging from the sublime to the elementary and the picturesque, could reveal, according to the Arts & Crafts aesthetics, the mystical, divine structure of nature and its laws.

‘Get two or three young art students to go out … and mix with nature and the natives.’

—Letter of Philip Webb to William Richard Lethaby, 6 July 1904. Quoted in W.R. Lethaby, Philip Webb and his Work (1st ed. London: Oxford University Press, H. Milford, 1935, 2nd ed. London: Raven Oak Press, 1979, 139).

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Fortifications of Androusa, Peloponnese, Greece
S. Barnsley, Notebook 8, 1890

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Sketch of a plan and notes on one of the houses in Mistra, with a flower
W. George, Notebook 1, 1907-1908

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View of the buildings of the monastic complex of Kaisariani Monastery, Attica, Greeces
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

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Sketch of Arta castle
R. Weir Schultz, Notebook 7, 1890

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View from the west of the church inside the Levadia fortification, Boeotia, Central Greece
R. Traquair, 1905-09

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Hodegetria Church-Afendiko (Vrontochion Monastery), Mistra, Peloponnese, Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

BSA BRF WI.H-1

View of Hossios Loukas Monastery in the landscape, Phocis, Central Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

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General view of the monastic complex of Daphni from the south-east, Attica, Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley

BSA BRF WI.F-13

Robert Weir Schultz in front of the Perivleptos Monastery in Mistra, Peloponnese, Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

BSA BRF WI.C-49

View of Levadia castle and town, Boeotia, Central Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

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View of Panagia Paregoritissa from the south-west, Arta, Western Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

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Sketch of tomb near cemetery chapel at Daphni Monastery with cyprus trees and details of inscriptions
R. Weir Schultz, Notebook 1, 1888

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View of cemetery chapel with cyprus trees at Daphni Monastery, West Attica, Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

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View of Soteria Lykodemou from the south east, Athens, Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

Monument in Nature

For the Arts & Crafts followers, the origins of architecture were in the land. The ‘works of man’, to use the Arts & Crafts terminology, ‘in a distant view should subdue beautifully into the large effect of the designs of nature’, notes John Ruskin (Poetry of Architecture, London 1837, 184). Historical architecture, the Gothic building in particular, was admired for its capacity to adjust to the natural environment and take up the local manners of the built environment. ‘Ancient’ buildings had, for the Arts & Crafts pioneers, a greater significance in that they stand as an expression of man’s inter-connection with the natural surroundings. Masters of the movement such as Richard Phené Spiers and James Fergusson admired historic architecture since the Reformation because they considered it to be truly earnest and progressive for its time. Historic buildings were considered indispensable parts of the natural surroundings, and their various parts (walls, vaults, floors, halls etc.) seemed to follow ‘the method of nature’. Architects in this school of thought drew metaphysical comparisons between the development of plants and buildings.

The BRF Archive contains a series of photographs and sketches that most eloquently illustrate this Arts & Crafts approach. Castles, bridges, villages, remnants of domestic and religious architecture were recorded within the broader natural environment and in absolute harmony with the physical world, as if belonging to nature itself. Robert Weir Schultz and Sidney Barnsley were very interested in the way historical architecture, byzantine buildings in particular, blended in with the physical environment. A series of impressive photos showing distant and closer views of Byzantine monuments focus on the natural environment that surrounds the building, clearly demonstrating the close organic relation between the monument, the materials used for its construction and the natural setting. Ramsey Traquair, a BRF architect who worked largely on western medieval buildings in Greece, also had a similar concern for the relationship between architecture and landscape.

‘I have always considered architecture an essential part of landscape.’

— John Ruskin, Modern Painters, 1843-1860, V, 130

‘The function of architecture is to tell us about Nature.’

— John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice, vol. IX, London 1851, 411

‘Architecture since the Reformation in the sixteenth century has in Europe been a hortus siccus of dried specimens of the art of all countries and of all eyes and, thus, we cannot feel that before that time, it was earnest and progressive and that men then did what they felt to be best and most appropriate by the same process by which Nature works.’

—Richard Phené Spiers, James Fergusson, History of Ancient and Medieval Architecture, London 1893, 54

‘Architecture should blend with the environment in any aspect: size, colour, form.’

—John Ruskin, The Seven Lamps of Architecture, London 1849, 102

‘Right building is a part of nature.’

—William Richard Lethaby, SPBS London Archive, William Lethaby, Notes

Trees were studied as architectural edifices and the parts of buildings were studied developing as trees.

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Capital with marble relief decoration with a leafy cross and acanthus frieze, now in Byzantine Museum, Athens, Attica, Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

Sketchs of capitals from Athenian churches, Attica, Greece

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Sketches of capitals from Athenian churches, Attica, Greece
R. Weir Schultz, Notebook 1, 1887-1888

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Capital from the south nave arcade, Hagios Demetrios, Thessalonike, Northern Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

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Sketches of capitals in the Metropolis Church, Mistra, Peloponnese, Greece
S. Barnsley, Notebook 6, 1890

Capital at the west end (south side) of the central church that has been reused from an early Byzantine basiclia dated to the 5th century, Hagia Paraskevi, Chalkis, Central Greece

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Capital at the west end (south side) of the central church that has been reused from an early Byzantine basilica dated to the 5th century, Hagia Paraskevi, Chalkis, Central Greece
R. Traquair, ca. 1909

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Series of columns and capitals in the north transpet, Hagios Demetrios Thessalonike, Northern Greece
W.S. George, 1907-1908

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Sketches of capitals from Hagia Sophia, Mistra, Peloponnese, Greece
R. Weir Schultz, Notebook 15, 1890

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Inked plate of the capital of the north-west or south-east pillar, Panagia Church, Hossios Loukas Monastery, Phocis, Central Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

BRF 01/01/04/056

Sketch of the captial of the north-west or the south-east pillar, Panagia Church, Hossios Loukas Monastery, Phocis, Central Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

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North nave arcade column with capital, Hagios Demetrios, Thessalonike, Northern Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

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Column with ionic impost capital from the galleries, Hagia Sophia, Thessalonike, Northern Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

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Sketches of capitals with annotions of leaf carvings from Arta, Western Greece
S. Barnsley, Notebook 9, ca. 1890

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Capital of the inner colonnade of Hagia Theodora Church, Arta, Western Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

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Column with Corinthian capital, Panagia Acheiropoietos, Thessalonike, Northern Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

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Pencil sketch of Corinthian capital, Hagios Demetrios, Thessalonike, Northern Greece
W.S. George, Notebook 1, 1907-1911

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Nave column with wind-blown capital, Hagia Sophia, Thessalonike, Northern Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

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Nave column with wind-blown capital which has been reused from an early Byzantine basilica dated to the 5th century, Hagia Paraskevi Church, Chalkis, Central Greece
R. Traquair, ca. 1909

The Capital

Arts & Crafts architects focused primarily on the capital and the arch in studying the domical construction of historic buildings. John Ruskin first wrote about the capital in relation to nature in his groundbreaking, The Stones of Venice. He considered the capital an emblematic form of originality, economy and reason in architecture.

Arts & Crafts influencers believed Byzantine capitals demonstrated a ‘greater love of nature’ than the Greek capital with the focus on leaf decoration. They studied foliage on capitals using botanical terms and categorized them based on leaf type. Beauty and the aesthetic impact of the capital depended upon the natural impact of its leaves,

‘the flamboyant leaf mouldings are beautiful, because they nestle and run up the hollows, and fill the angles, and clasp the shafts which natural leaves would have delighted to fill and to clasp. They are no mere cast of natural leaves: they are counted, orderly, and architectural but they are naturally, and therefore beautifully, placed.’

—John Ruskin, The Seven Lamps of Architecture, London 1896, 151

Two types of Byzantine capitals were particularly admired for their foliation system: the Corinthian capital, which was considered to be beautiful because it expanded under the abacus just as nature would have expanded, as well as the windblown capital. The capitals of Hagia Sophia Church in Thessalonike were considered as the best examples of that specific type.

Following the ideology of their Arts & Crafts mentors, the BRF architects continued this obsession with the iconic capital. They meticulously recorded and studied exhaustively all the various forms and types of Byzantine capitals available in the monuments that they recorded. Their records are filled with various renditions of leaf decorations, including rough sketches in notebooks, preliminary pencil and final inked drawings as well as countless photographs of the capitals and details of their foliage.

‘Not only is every one of these capitals differently fancied, but there are many of them which have no two sides alike, for instance, varies on every side in the arrangement of the pendent leaf…the birds are each cut with a different play of plumage … the vine-leaves are every one varied in their position … but all show a greater love of nature (than the Greek capital); the leaves are, every one of them, more founded on realities, sketched, however, rudely, more directly from the truth … These designs may or may not be graceful … but they are indisputably more natural than any Greek ones, and, therefore, healthier, and tending to greatness.’

— John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice, vol. X, London 1853, 160-161

‘Corinthian capital is beautiful, because it expands under the abacus just as nature would have expanded; the leaves look as if they had one root, though that root is unseen.’

—John Ruskin, The Seven Lamps of Architecture, London 1849, 151

‘There are the capitals in which the leaves are carved as if blown by the wind and they are enthusiastically described by Ruskin. Of these I am able to show you the prototype in the photograph of a capital from the church of St. Sophia, Thessalonica built during the later years of Justinian’s reign. The examples of St. Marks lose in comparison.’

—Richard Phené Spiers, Architecture East and West, London 1905, 142

Pencil drawings of releif marble closure slabs with ornamental decorations, now in the Byzantine Museum, Athens, Attica, Greece

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Marble epistyle fragments with floral and figurative relief motifs dating from 10th to 13th century now in the Byzantine Museum, Athens, Attica, Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

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Pencil drawings of relief marble closure slabs with ornamental decorations, now in the Byzantine Museum, Athens, Attica, Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

BSA BRF WI-E.50

Robert Weir Schultz (seated) draws decorative architectural pieces, now in the Byzantine Museum, Athens, Attica

Inked drawing of decorative sculpture from the iconostais of the katholikon, Hossios Loukas Monastery, Phocis, Central Greece

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Inked drawing of decorative sculpture from the iconostasis of the katholikon, Hossios Loukas Monastery, Phocis, Central Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

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Sketches of ‘interwoven’ ornamental architecture
R. Weir Schultz, Notebook 13, 1889

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Marble relief showing two lions eating from the tree of knowledge, now in Byzantine Museum, Athens, Attica, Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

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Marble relief panels showing animal and plant motifs, Panagia Gorgoepikoos (Little Metropolis)
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888

Detail of marble frieze with floral ornamental decoration on north facade of Panagia Gorgoepikoos (Little Metropolis) church, Athens, Attica, Greece

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Two of a series of marble slabs with floral decoration from the north facade of the Panagia Gorgoepikoos (Little Metropolis) church, Athens, Attica Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

‘Interwoven architecture’ on lintel and inner door frame, Panagia Gorgoepikoos, (Little Metropolis), entrance to the main church from the narthenx, Athens, Attica, Greece

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‘Interwoven architecture’ on lintel and inner door frame, Panagia Gorgoepikoos, (Little Metropolis), entrance to the main church from the narthex, Athens, Attica, Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

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‘Interwoven architecture’ on lintel to the door frame, Panagia Gorgoepikoos (Little Metropolis), entrance to the main church from the narthex, Athens, Attica
Unknown creator, undated

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Sketches of ‘interwoven architecture’
R.Weir Schultz, Notebook 4, 1888

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Sketches of ‘interwoven architecture’
R. Weir Schultz, Notebook 6, 1888

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East elevation showing slabs with ornamental sculpture, Panagia Gorgoepikoos, Athens, Attica
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

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Detail of marble slab from east elevation with animal motifs, Panagia Gorgoepikoos, Athens, Attica
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

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Sketches showing decorative relief panels with birds, Hossios Loukas Monastery, Phocis, Central Greece
S. Barnsley, Notebook 3, 1889

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Heraldic relief slab showing two birds, now in Byzantine Museum, Athens, Attica, Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

Architectural Ornament

In addition to the capital, Arts & Crafts architects meticulously documented and studied cornices, lintels, and various other decorative marble relief panels and bands designed with symbols of nature. According to Arts & Crafts aesthetics, ornament in architecture should be ‘natural’, like in Gothic and Byzantine buildings, whose main distinctive characteristic is a development of recurring patterns of lines that grow visibly and automatically from one another following with ease the lines and, occasionally, the restrictions of the architectural forms. This was known as ‘interwoven architecture,’ or a kind of flexibly linear architecture, which so impressed the Arts & Crafts architects. It also involved a kind of conventialisation of the natural forms which they equally admired. For the Arts & Crafts ideology, ornament should not be an exact imitation of natural forms, but rather follow the abstract lines of nature, just like architectural ornaments in Medieval, Gothic and Byzantine churches. In this way it would fulfil their aesthetical theory but also encourage intellectual, spiritual and emotional contemplation for one’s well-being.

The BRF Archive houses a wide range of recordings of architectural ornaments from the Byzantine monuments that the BRF architects had documented and studied. Horizontal continuous friezes, lintels and relief decoration in carved spaces, marble panels both in the exterior and interiors of these monuments were reproduced in the greatest possible detail, usually, in preliminary rough sketches that were later reworked into quite elaborate inked drawings.

‘And Byzantine art was born. Its characteristics are simplicity of structure and outline of mass; amazing delicacy of ornament combined with abhorrence of vagueness…Nothing more beautiful than its best works has ever been produced by man.’

— William Morris, Gothic Architecture, Lecture first delivered on 11/02/1889

‘The value of this type (of ornament) does not consist in the mere shutting of the ornament into a certain space, but in the acknowledgement by the ornament of the fitness of the limitation.’

— John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice, vol. IX, London 1851, 305

‘To arrange as an expression of divine law, or a representation of a physical act, the alternation of shade with light which, in equal succession, forms one of the chief elements of continuous ornament.’

— John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice, vol. IX, London 1851, 306

‘This is interwoven architecture; a ‘flexibly linear architecture, twisted and wreathed so as to make the stone look ductile.’

— John Ruskin, The Flamboyant Architecture of the Valley of Somme, London 1896, 21

‘Ornamentation should be natural…not an exact imitation though. It may consist only in a partial adoption of and compliance with the usual forms of natural things without at all going to the point of imitation.’

— John Ruskin, Lectures on Architecture and Painting, London 1887, 93

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Mosaic decoration from the narthex of the katholikon, Hossios Loukas Monastery, Phocis, Central Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

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Sketch of floor mosaics with annotation describing colour and other details, Mistra, Peloponnese, Greece
R. Weir Schultz, Notebook 15, 1888

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Mosaics from the north inner aisle (now lost after the Great Fire of 1917), Hagios Demetrios, Thessalonike, Northern Greece
W. S. George, 1909

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Unfinished drawing of mosaic in north transept of the katholikon, Daphni Monastery, Attica, Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1890

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Unfinished drawing of mosaic in the bema of the katholikon, Daphni Monastery, Attica, Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1890

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Final ink drawing of mosaic border over entrance into church, Hossios Loukas Monastery, Phocis, Central Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

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Detail of mosaic decoration in the arch of the north door in the katholikon, Daphni Monastery, Attica
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1889

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Details of mosaic decoration in the katholikon, Hossios Loukas Monastery, Phocis, Central Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

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Details of mosaic decoration in the katholikon, Hossios Loukas Monastery, Phocis, Central Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

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Unfinished drawing of mosaic decoration from the south transept of the katholikon, Hossios Loukas, Monastery
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

BRF 01/01/07/019

Detail of three soffit mosaics showing with inscriptions, Panagia Acheiropoietos (Eski Djouma), Thessalonike, Northern Greece
R. Weir Schultz, S. Barnsley, 1888-1890

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Sketches of the bird and flower motifs of the soffit mosaics, Panagia Acheiropoietos (Eski Djouma), Thessalonike, Northern Greece
W.S. George, Notebook 2, 1910

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Detail of vault mosaic, Hagios Georgios (Rotunda), Thessalonike, Northern Greece
W.S. George, 1906-1915

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Sketches of birds, fruits and flowers from mosaics, Hagios Georgios (Rotunda), Thessalonike, Northern Greece
W.S George, Notebook 1, 1907-1909

The Byzantine Mosaic

William Morris, an Arts & Crafts luminary, used pattern-designing to study the art of the Byzantine mosaic. The Byzantine mosaic appealed to the architects and artists of the Movement because of its technical artistry and the many ways it was connected to nature and natural forms. This so-called ‘lesser art’, in which the Byzantines had excelled, shared specific characteristics with nature, including simple materials, wealth of colour, softness of gradation, simple proportion, and order. The expression of nature in these mosaics was also an acknowledgment of its limitations. It was also embedded with moral qualities central to the Arts & Crafts aesthetics, including beauty, imagination, economy, order and sparking contemplation. The physical world reproduced by the Byzantines, particularly in mosaics inside the Christian church interior, carried strong metaphysical connotations.

The BRF Archive contains faithful representations of some of the finest examples of mosaic ornamentation in the Byzantine church. One of the main concerns of the BRF architects was the meticulous recording and study of the mosaic band; floriated, enlivened by figures of birds and/or animals, or strictly geometrical. These studies also include examples of “non-finito,” a favourite Arts & Crafts technique. The BRF architects were also captivated with recurring mosaic patterns in the same way they were with marble relief panels. They appreciated their purposeful and proper arrangement, and, in their interpretation, the mosaic’s willingness to submit happily on the given surface, their interplay with light, shadow and colour to evoke uplifting emotions, or as John Ruskin simply put it, to ‘make you happy’ (John Ruskin, The Stones of Venice, vol. IX, London, 1851, 264).

‘Order invents certain beautiful and natural forms, which, appealing to a reasonable and imaginative person, will remind him not only of the part of nature which, to his mind at least, they represent, but also of what lies beyond that part.’

— William Morris, Some Hints of Pattern-Designing, Lecture first delivered on 10/12/1881

‘In Byzantium, continuous growth of curved lines took the place of mere continuity or of interlacement of straight lines.’

— William Morris, Some Hints of Pattern-Designing, Lecture first delivered on 10/12/1881

‘The recurring pattern on the wall surface…this interlacement of lines…is impossible to imitate nature literally; this is done by means of treatment which is called, as one may say, technically, the conventionalizing of nature.’

—William Morris, Some Hints of Pattern-Designing, Lecture first delivered on 10/12/1881

‘Recurring patterns, at least the noblest, are those where one thing grows visibly and necessarily from another. Continuous growth is a necessity of borders and friezes and in square pattern-work.’

—William Morris, Some Hints of Patttern-Designing, Lecture first delivered on 10/12/1881

‘Half of the ornament, at least, in Byzantine architecture … is composed of birds either perking at fruit or flowers, or standing on either side of a flower or vase or alone, as generally the symbolic peacock. And how much of our general sense of grace or power of motion, of serenity, peacefulness, and spirituality we owe to those creatures … their wings supplying us with almost the only means of representation of spiritual motion … the outward face of earth, the innocent love of animals …’

—John Ruskin, Stones of Venice, vol. IX, London 1851, 266

‘Fruit is, for the most part, more valuable in colour than form.’

—John Ruskin, Stones of Venice, vol. IX, London 1851, 266

Acknowledgements

Dedicated to Dr Ruth Macrides.

This exhibition was created for Nature and the Environment: the 53rd Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, which was planned by the late Dr Ruth Macrides (University of Birmingham). It is based on the presentation by Dr Dimitra Kotoula, ‘A Piece of Nature’: Arts & Crafts Perceptions of Nature and the Byzantine Monument. The Byzantine Research Fund Archive of the British School at Athens.

Watch the full lecture here

or on the YouTube channel of the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies.

Curation:
Dr Dimitra Kotoula, Art Historian/Archaeologist, The Greek Ministry of Culture
Amalia G. Kakissis, Archivist, British School at Athens

Photography and Digital Processing:
Elias Eliadis (Athens)

Website design:
Dr Hallvard Indgjerd, IT Officer, British School at Athens