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Late Antique Art

Early Christian Art

Early Jewish Art

Sandrine Le Bail AP Art History

Objectives

• Understand the ways in which late antique Jewish and Christian art developed from the artistic traditions of the ancient Rome world.

• Interpret how late antique Jewish and Christian artists used narrative and iconic imagery to convey the foundations of the Christian faith for those already initiated into the life of the Church.

Objectives

• Understand the relationship between the art and architecture of Jewish and Christian communities and their cultural and political situation within the late Roman empire.

• Analyze the connection between form and function in buildings created for worship

A new religion: Christianity

Founded by Jesus Christ

New Testament

Based on the idea of Paradise

Last supper - Eucharist

Persecutions

Larger persecutions: Nero and Diocletian

The Christian Bible

• Old Testament

• New Testament :

- 4 Gospels (life of Jesus)

- Acts (works of the Apostles)

- Epistles (letters)

- Apocalypse (Revelation)

Constantine

313 Edict of Milan =Tolerance to all religion

380 . Edict of Thessalonic:Christianity is the official religion

Constantine and Christianity

Constantine’s Edict of Milan of 313 granted Christianity legal status equal or superior to the cults of the traditional gods.

The emperor was the first great patron of Christian art and built the first churches in Rome, including Old Saint Peter’s.

Constantine

In a Christian ceremony, Constantine dedicated Constantinople as the new capital of the Roman Empire in 330.

He was baptized on his deathbed in 337.

• 380 – the Emperor Theodosius I proclaimed Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire

• 381 – Worship of the old Roman gods banned

• 410 – Ravenna = capital of the Western Roman Empire. Rome fell to Visigothic king Alaric in 410.

Inventing new religious buildingsCreating a new iconography

Jewish Art

Dura Europos

Dura Europos, Syria

Tenth commandment: Do not have any other gods before Me. Do not represent [such] gods by any carved statue or picture of anything in the heaven above, on the earth below, or in the water below the land.

Aniconism

Dura Europos Synagogue, Syria, c.245

Torah niche

Benches

Dura Europos Synagogue, Syria, c.245

Jews cross Red Sea, Dura EuroposSynagogue, c.245

Moses giving water to the twelve tribes of Israel, synagogue of Dura

Europos, c.245

orant

Jewish catacombs in Rome, 3rd century

Jewish catacombs in Rome, 3rd century

MenorahArk of the covenant

2 kinds of representation

• Iconic (use symbol)

• Narrative (tell a story)

Important FactPre-Constantinian

The second Commandment prohibition against worshiping images once led scholars to think the Jews of the Roman Empire has no figural art, but the synagogue at Dura-Europos contains an extensive series of mural painting illustrating episodes from the Hebrew scriptures. The Dura synagogue, like the Christian community house at the same site, was a remodeled private home.

Early developments in Christianity

Underground movement

Before 313 CE

Important FactPre-Constantinian

Christ was crucified ca.33, but very little Christian art or architecture survives from the 1st

centuries of Christianity. “Early Christian art” means the earliest art of Christian content, not the art of Christians at the time of Jesus, and comes primarly from the catacombs of Rome.

Roman catacombs

65 known in Rome

for everybody

Roman Catacombs

Loculus – pl. loculiClose by slabs

Since Hadrian: only inhumation

Arcosolium . Pl. Arcosolia

Cubiculum (pl.cubicula)

Christ at the good shepherd, catacomb of Priscilla, Rome 2nd-3rd century

Christ Young and without beard

Orant, catacomb of Priscilla, Rome 2nd-3rd century

Chi Ro = Early Christogram

Fish and anchor, catacomb of Priscilla, Rome 2nd-3rd century

Ichtus - Jesus Christ, son of God Saviour

Important facts

Early Christian artists profusely decorated the walls and ceiling of the catacombs with frescoes.

Popular themes were Christ as Good Shepherds and the salvation of Jonas.

Iconic representation: fish, monogram, anchor, alpha and omega

Early Christian ArtPaleochristian Art

From 313 CE

Adaptation of Roman elements

• Axially planned building (basilicas)

• Centrally planned building

Basilica Ulpia, Forum of Trajan, 98-117 CE

Old Saint Peter’s Basilica, Rome, 333-390


transept

By Constantine on the tomb of Saint Peter

Altar

Major Basilicas

• S. Peter (333-390)

• S. John Lateran, Rome cathedral (314)

• S. Paul Outside the wall (324)

• S. Mary Major (432-440)

Santa Sabina, Rome, 422 - 432

Coffered ceiling

Apse

Clerestory windows

Columns from Roman temples

Santa Sabina, Rome, 422 - 432

Oldest representation of the crucifixion known

Santa Costanza, Roma, c.350

Centrally planned building

Mausoleum of Constantina, Constantine’s daughter


Rotunda

Narthex

Clerestory windowDome

Barrel Vaults


Vine scrolls – Sacrifice of Christ

Constantina’s sarcophagus, 340

Important Fact

• Ancient Roman basilicas were used as a model for churches.

• Ancient Roman central plan building (bath, temple…) were used as a model for mausoleums and baptisteries.

Ravenna

402-476Capital of the Western Roman Empire

Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna, c.425-426

Cruciform plan: fusion between central and axial plan

Saint Lawrence, Mausoleum of GallaPlacidia, Ravenna, c.425-426

Galla Placidia Villa of Hadrian, Tivoli

Good Shepherd, Mausoleum of GallaPlacidia, Ravenna, c.425-426

Parable of the lost sheep

Orpheus soothing the savage beats,

Antioch, Turkey, 4th

century CE

Evangelists

Pendentives

Lion – S. MarkOx_ S. Luke

Eagle : S. JohnAngel or man : S. Matthew

Important Fact

Mosaics became a major vehicle for the depiction of Christian themes in churches. Extensive mosaic cycles are preserved in the nave of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome and especially in Ravenna.

Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, 359

Enthroned Christ with Peter and

Paul

Christ’s entry into Jerusalem

Sacrifice of Isaac

Trial of Jesus in front of

Pontius Pilate

Adam and Eve

Sculpture

• Christians reluctant to use large scale sculpture (idolatry)

• Sculpture carved on a smaller scale

• Short figures with uniform height and squat proportions

Questions

• Discuss the Roman Foundations of Early Christian sculpture, focusing your answer on the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus.

Questions

• Distinguish the “iconic” from the “narrative” in two works of late antique Jewish or Christian art discussed in this chapter.

Questions

• Identify the distinctive features of basilicas and central-plan churches, and discuss how the forms of these early churches were geared towards specific types of Christian worship and devotional practice.

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