After the resolution of Second Iconoclasm and the reinstation of the image, art was once again open to less restrictive production and was able to again flourish in Byzantium. The development of art following the conflict can be examined in numerous ways.
The Transformation of the Transfiguration
Following the iconoclasm, the Transfiguration, generally a scene of Byzantine art, underwent considerable change both in its form and liturgical context. As demonstrated in the pre-iconoclastic churches of Sant'Apollinare in Classe and the Monastery of St. Catherine at Mt. Sinai, the sixth-century Transfiguration had many variations in its depictions. The apse of the basilica of Sant'Apollinare represents Christ as a cross with busts of Moses and Elijah floating beside him with the peculiar addition of St. Andrew while the Monastery of St. Catherine depicts Christ in full figure with equally full-bodied figures of Moses and Elijah to his right and left respectively. The Sinai mosaic also has the unusual features of a grey-headed Moses and St. Peter awaking from his slumber as described in Luke 9:32. The many differences between the two scenes demonstrate the lack of standardization in the pre-iconoclastic Transfiguration.
While no post-iconoclasm Transfiguration scenes of the ninth century churches survive today, the literary descriptions that remain provide insight into the changes made. The Church of the Holy Apostles, while built by Justinian around 527-565, was redecorated under the rule of Basil I between 867-886 as was the Church of the Virgin of Pege around the 870s. Additionally was the then newly constructed Church of Stylianos Zaoutzas built around 886. Each of these churches included the Transfiguration among their decorations. The scene, however, was now contextualized as part of a feast cycle and was no longer in the apse, a more isolated area of the church, but in the main vaulting of the church. Both of these changes suggest a significant shift in the liturgical function of the image and architecturally significant in the development of the Middle Byzantine church.
In Unexpected Places
In addition to the development of art following the conflict, the Byzantine Iconoclasm left its further left its mark in the remembrance of the events. In one example, a page from the Chludov Psalter compares the iconoclasts to the torturers of Christ. Above, two soldiers stab at Christ who hangs from the cross while below an iconoclast whitewashes a medallion icon of Christ in a similar composition. In an action some might deem poetic justice, the iconoclast's face has been scratched away, thus becoming a victim of iconoclasm himself.
In its historical context, the image reminds the viewer of the Triumph of Orthodoxy and warns against the blasphemous destruction of icons. Within our contemporary perspective, the passionate depiction reminds us of the bias often difficult to escape from as history is recorded by those deemed victors.