The western world was entering the medieval "post realism" era in which art wasn't expected to look like its subject; instead, it became symbolic and representational, partly because of the decline of ancient scientific rationalism and partly due to the influence of Islam's growing power in the East.
In Islam, there came to be a prohibition against the depiction of the material world in art (and the more zealous the sect, the more abstract and thorough the prohibition, to include animal and plant life). To counteract Islam's gains, the Christian world became prohibitionist, too. It was known as the 'Iconoclast Movement', and involved breaking and burning of all ecclesiastical statuary and portraiture.
Since the Orthodox Christians were closer to the Islamic world, the Iconoclast controversy was solved by the retention of 2-dimensional representations, together with a complete ban on 3-D sculptures (because they could be interpreted as pagan idols of worship).
Meanwhile, in the farther-away Catholic realms of the west, 3-D statuary was retained (Virgin Mary and saints statues became a cottage industry). Yet, throughout Christendom, 2-D art itself became flat and devoid of depth and, in general, became very stylized and almost 'cartoonish' in its abstraction.
Did you have to pick a picture where he looks like a 19th century witness interpretation drawing of Sasquatch?
The western world was entering the medieval "post realism" era in which art wasn't expected to look like its subject; instead, it became symbolic and representational, partly because of the decline of ancient scientific rationalism and partly due to the influence of Islam's growing power in the East.
In Islam, there came to be a prohibition against the depiction of the material world in art (and the more zealous the sect, the more abstract and thorough the prohibition, to include animal and plant life). To counteract Islam's gains, the Christian world became prohibitionist, too. It was known as the 'Iconoclast Movement', and involved breaking and burning of all ecclesiastical statuary and portraiture.
Since the Orthodox Christians were closer to the Islamic world, the Iconoclast controversy was solved by the retention of 2-dimensional representations, together with a complete ban on 3-D sculptures (because they could be interpreted as pagan idols of worship).
Meanwhile, in the farther-away Catholic realms of the west, 3-D statuary was retained (Virgin Mary and saints statues became a cottage industry). Yet, throughout Christendom, 2-D art itself became flat and devoid of depth and, in general, became very stylized and almost 'cartoonish' in its abstraction.