The work of art I chose was a large copper chandelier from the Byzantine Empire. It bears significant value to its empire and appeals to the senses in three-dimensional detail. This art inspires the play, entitled Byzantium: The Empire Strikes Back. He establishes his tone and mood immediately into his analysis. He says of Byzantium, “I have been awaiting the arrival of Byzantium with a strange mix of excitement and trepidation.” He analysis is written to persuade those who have a thirst for history and a knack for plays to take this particular artistic play into consideration. He comes to realize that the age of Byzantium was not as cruel as he had imagined and had underestimated the value if it becoming a major play.
The chandelier is dated back to the 13th Century. With this being said, Waldemar Januszczak uses the history of Byzantine to properly analyze its significance. He says of the piece, “… The carved ivory’s potentials for intense Christian messaging is discovered and explored.” He also makes a brief mention of the setting and how the play was set mostly in the twilight. He says how “the show does a decent job of implying the solemn religious atmospheres for which most of this art was made. Januszczak’s audience seems to also be directed to individuals with a keen interest in religion.
His research went so far as to present readers with the exact birth date of the Byzantine Empire in AD330 to the very precisely indicated end of the empire on May 29, 1453. He speaks of the rise and fall of the empire, which helps one to understand more clearly the uniquely crafted messages in the chandelier and the play that was very much connected to it: Byzantium: The Empire Strikes Back.
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