It seems natural that, as the Christian visual lexicon was expanding, being shared throughout the Mediterranean, and becoming a definitive part of Christian traditions, questions would start to circulate about the role and nature of images, how they were read and what they might convey. In and of itself this would not have been of great note. An image-based culture would necessitate or at least generate image-based theories and practices. However, during much of the seventh century, the East was experiencing a great deal of turmoil, losing territories, losing battles. Instability in these Eastern territories appears to have inspired a proliferation and a greater dependence on sacred or miracle working images, a phenomenon that worried the theologians, who saw a growing need for the regulation of the veneration of these sacred images. Confrontation with the growing military power of Arab forces likely inspired further questioning about the role of images in the church. Although scholars refute the idea that Islamic approaches to images were relevant to Iconoclasm, it is certainly conceivable that Islamic opposition to figural images had at least some influence on changing attitudes in Constantinople. At any rate, what would otherwise have been under the jurisdiction of the church received imperial consideration, ultimately leading to a prohibition of representations of Christ, the Virgin, and the saints—the period called Iconoclasm. The first wave lasted from 726 to 787. After a brief pause, Iconoclasm was yet again announced, and the ban on images resumed from 814 to 842.

From the Roman perspective, the first wave of Iconoclasm coincided with the paintings in the Theodotus Chapel at S. Maria Antiqua (742–752), the paintings at S. Saba, the frescoes in Santa Susanna, and the Oratory in SS. Giovanni e Paolo. The second wave started with the mosaics of Leo III, continued during the papacy of Paschal I, and concluded two years before the pontificate of Gregory IV ended. The significant monuments of the period included SS. Nereo ed Achilleo, S. Maria in Domnica, S. Cecilia in Trastevere, and S. Prassede.

Taken in these terms, the contrast between the East and West would seem to be obvious—the West was artistically productive and the East was artistically inactive.