The Byzantine artists are well-known for the icon of Symeon with the Christ Child. The icon was effectively changed by Byzantine artists toward the ending of the iconoclastic controversy in the ninth century. Originally the artistic protocol for the depiction has Symeon submissively approaching Mary who is holding the Christ child in her hands however the changes in the icon are of the nature that show Symeon holding the Christ child in the beginning. The first record of Symeon holding the Christ child is stated to be in the church of the Virgin of the Source in Constantinople during the restoration conducted by Emperor Basil I along with Leo and Constantine sometime after 869.

Clouds and sky views often used in Byzantine art are rooted in Roman art which changed from "smooth and pliable clouds" into "flattened triangles with horizontal bottoms and scalloped tops. In this odd and stylized form...
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