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Early Christian Art, Early Jewish Art 200-500 CE

Early Christian/ Early Jewish Art PowerPoint

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Page 1: Early Christian/ Early Jewish Art PowerPoint

Early Christian Art, Early Jewish

Art

200-500 CE

Page 2: Early Christian/ Early Jewish Art PowerPoint

THE LATE ROMAN AND BYZANTINE WORLD

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KEY IDEAS:

•Christianity begins as underground religion

(prohibited). Early works appear in catacombs and on

sarcophagi

•Christian images inspired by classical past but

influenced by Constantinian artwork from the Late

Roman Empire – most subject matter is taken from Old

and New Testaments

•Christian buildings use two forms: axially planned

Roman basilica and centrally planned Roman temple

•Early Jews prohibit a narrative artistic tradition.

Sometimes figurative work appears (Dura

Europos….you’ll see)

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VOCABULARY:

•AMBULATORY: a passageway around the apse or altar of a

church

•APSE: the endpoint of a church where the altar is located

•ATRIUM: a courtyard in a Roman house or before a Christian

church

•AXIAL PLAN: a church with a long nave whose focus is the apse,

so-called because it is designed along an axis

•BASILICA: In Christian architecture, an axially planned church

with a long nave, side aisles, and an apse for the altar

•CATACOMBS: an underground passageway used for burial

•CENTRAL PLAN: a church having a circular plan with the altar in

the middle

•CHALICE: a cup used in a Christian ceremony

•CLERESTORY: the third (or window) story of a church

•COFFER: a sunken panel in a ceiling

•CUBICULA: small underground rooms in catacombs serving as

mortuary chapels

•GOSPELS: the first four books of the New Testament that

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•LOCULI: openings in the walls of catacombs to receive the dead

•LUNETTE: a crescent-shaped space, sometimes over a

doorway, that contains sculpture or painting

•NARTHEX: the closest part of the atrium to the basilica- it serves

as a vestibule (or loby) of a church

•NAVE: the main aisle of a church

•ORANT FIGURE: a figure with its hands raised in prayer

•SPOLIA: the reuse of architectural or sculptural pieces in

buildings generally different from their original contexts

•SYNAGOGUE: a Jewish house of worship

•TORAH: first five books of the Old Testament traditionally

ascribed to Moses

•TRANSEPT: an aisle in a church perpendicular to the

nave, where the clergy originally stood

Vocabulary continued…

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Being a Christian was rough in 1st-3rd centuries!• Persecutions frequent

• Most early popes, including St. Peter, were martyred

• Artists who work for government are greatly rewarded and have art in public places

• Artists who worked for Christians had art in private church houses and burial chambers (no glory )

• Most Christian art in early centuries survives in the catacombs beneath the city of Rome

• Christians were poor, underclass

• Artists imitated Roman works, but sometimes in a sketchy and unsophisticated manner

• Once Christianity is recognized as an official religion, patronage happened! Christian artists got respect and then eventually became the most popular artists!

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Let’s see how folks were buried and look at some Early Christian architecture…

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Hundreds of miles of CATACOMBS found under city of Rome…some five stories deep…millions of bodies

Christians, Jews, and pagans used these burial grounds because they were a cheaper alternative to above-

ground burial.

Christians didn’t like cremation- preferred burial because it symbolized Jesus’s rising from the dead, body and soul

Poor people placed in LOCULI: holes cut in the walls – bodies placed inside – usually bodies folded over to take up less room

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CUBICULUM OF LEONIS, CATACOMB OF

COMMODILLANear Rome.

Late 4th century.

Wealthy people buried in mortuary chapels called CUBICULA

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ARK OF THE COVENANT AND MENORAHSWall painting in a Jewish catacomb, Villa Torlonia,

Rome. 3rd century. 3'11" × 5'9”

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SARCOPHAGUS OF JUNIUS BASSUSGrottoes of St. Peter, Vatican, Rome.

359 CEMarble, 4' × 8’

Wealthy people often placed in extravagant sarcophagi, like this one dedicated to JuniusBassus

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---JuniusBassus was prefect of Rome, baptized just before his death---Scenes from the Bible in separate niches on the front---Center top: Christ enthroned like an emperor, feet placed on the sky god, Saints Peter and Paul on either side – Christ’s position is a symbol of the Christian god dominating the pagan---Christ wears pallium (philosopher clothes), youthful face like a young Apollo, who may have served as a model---Uniform height of figures sitting and standing---Biblical episodes are mixed, not in order---Carved on 3 sides, meant to be placed against wall---Can you seen an influence of Roman architectural elements and figure style?

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• The world “makes peace” with Christianity around 313 CE, and Christian architecture starts booming

• Built BASILICAS with large, groin-vaulted interiors and impressive naves

• Basilica entrance is on far end instead of the side (as before)• CLERESTORY = the third story of the basilica or church (always with

windows)

• Clergy occupied the perpendicular aisle next to apse – TRANSEPT

• NARTHEX = a transitional zone in the front of the church

• ATRIUM = in the front of the building, framing the façade, this is where catechumens stayed (people who wanted to convert to Christianity but didn’t do it yet)

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• Male worshippers stood in the long main aisle called the NAVE• Female worshippers stood in side aisles with partial view ()• Christians were inspired by gender division in Jewish community

• Focused attention directly on priest at the ALTAR (“high place”)

• ALTAR was elevated in the APSE

altar

atrium

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Early Christian churches come in two forms, both inspired by Roman architecture: CENTRALLY PLANNED and AXIALLY PLANNED

Forced pagan architectural elements, like columns, to do service to a new godSPOLIA = reuse of architectural or sculptural elements

CENTRALLY

AXIALLY

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RECONSTRUCTION DRAWING OF THE

INTERIOR OF OLD ST. PETER'S, ROME

c. 320-327

• Axially planned buildings had long NAVES focusing on the APSE• NAVE used for processional space• Two SIDE AISLES on each side of the NAVE• First floor had columns lining the NAVE• Second floor decorated by mosaics• Third floor = CLERESTORY (window space)

Early Christian basilicas had wooden roofs with coffered ceilingsExample of AXIALLY PLANNED building

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PLAN of OLD ST. PETER'sc. 320-327; atrium added

in later 4th century.

• Old St. Peter’s used Roman columns from pagan temples- political statement of the triumph of Christianity over paganism. Reuse of architectural or sculptural elements = “SPOLIA”

• Exteriors of churches/basilicas avoided decoration and sculpture that pagan temples had on facades

• Plain exterior, rich interior: represents a Christian- plain exterior but beautiful soul (interior)

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RECONSTRUCTION DRAWING of OLD ST. PETER's

c. 320-327; atrium added in later 4th century.

Approx. 394’ long and 210’ wide.

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Interior, Old St. Peter’s (no longer standing)

•Large, uninterrupted

interior spaces for a

large number of

Christians

•Grand, imperial feel

that linked Christianity

with its new role as

state religion

•Built on the spot

where it is believed

St. Peter was buried

•Interior space was

glittering with glass

mosaics (not Roman

stone mosaics)Old St. Peter’s had a wooden roof and coffered ceiling

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Santa Constanza, Rome, c 350 CE

•Domed buildings popular- round

or polygonal buildings topped with

a dome- taken from Roman bath

design- became baptisteries

(baptism was a sacred rite) and

funerary chapels

•Santa Constanza- domed

cylindrical core lit by cleristory

windows, ring shaped ambulatory

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ALTAR

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• Santa Costanza may have been the mousoleum for Emperor Constantine’s daughter, Constantina

• Barrel vaulted side aisles

• Dome above main central space

• Double ring of 12 paired columns = symbol of 12 apostles

• Central plan – inspired by Pantheon

• Mosaics inside

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• Santa Costanza Mosaics: PUTTI harvesting grapes and producing wine

• Christian message of wine becoming the blood of Christ

• PUTTI = chubby male child, usually nude, sometimes winged- non-religious (not angels)

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Mausoleum of GallaPlacidia, 425 CE, Ravenna, Italy

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• Probably originally a chapel to St. Lawrence• Fusion of central plan AND axial plan• Exterior: brick façade represents the gross exterior of the world• Minimal windows• Cornice runs around building, pediments on all sides

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• Interior: brilliantly colored mosaics

• Represent the soul• Shows a Christian’s

path to detemption• Victory of eternal

life over death

• Mosaic of Christ as the Good Shepherd tending his flocks (more about this later…)

• He holds an imperial staff joined to the Christian cross- symbol of combined earth and heaven

• Contains sarcophagi of three Roman emperors

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•Images in paintings are VERY narrative- from various books of New Testament•WHY do you think Christianity had to be narrative? •No written accounts of what people in the Bible looked like- artists recreate episodes using their imagination•New Testament episodes depicted through intense narrative:The Annunciation (angle Gabriel tells Mary she’s Jesus’smother)The Visitation (Mary visits cousin Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist)Nativity (birth of Jesus)Adoration of the Magi (three kings present gifts to Jesus)Massacre of Innocents (King Herod kills male babies)The Flight into Egypt (Jesus’sfamily escapes Herod’s plan)

Baptism of Jesus (Jesus’sministry begins when John the Baptist baptizes him in the Jordan river)Calling of the Apostles (Jesus gathers his followers)Miracles (Jesus uses his divinity to multiply loaves and fish, resurrect the dead, change water into wine, etc.)Giving the Keys (Jesus gives Peter key to heaven- Peter becomes first Pope)Transfiguration (Jesus transforms into God)

Palm Sunday (Jesus enters Jerusalem in triumph)Last Supper (Jesus eats final meal with Apostles- body and blood from bread and wine)Crucifixion (Jesus sentenced to death and dies on cross)Deposition/Lamentation/Entombment (Jesus’s body removed from cross and buried in a tomb)Resurrection (On Easter Sunday, Jesus rises from the dead and goes to heaven)

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Portraits of Evangelists (writers of New Testament gospels)

Gospels are arranged in order in which it was believe they were written: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We’ll see a lot of them in

Medieval and Renaissance art. But let’s meet them now!

MATTHEW: symbolized as angel or a manMARK: symbolized as a lionLUKE: symbolized as an oxJOHN: symbolized as an eagle

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Catacomb paintings in SAINTS PETER AND MARCELLINO4th century, Rome

•Not random images-there is an artistic program with intent•Jesus is always central/dominant• Grouped around him are Old and New Testament images•Framed figures in niches or LUNETTES(crecent-shaped space, sometimes over a doorway, that contains sculptures or paintings)•Figures have arms outstretched in prayer

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THE GOOD SHEPHERD, ORANTS, AND THE STORY OF JONAHPainted ceiling of the Catacomb of SS.

Peter and Marcellino, Rome. Late 3rd-early 4th century.

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GOOD SHEPHERD4th century fresco, Romefrom Catacomb of Saints Peter and Marcellino

•Part of Rome’s extensive catacomb system (4 million dead, 100 miles)•Restrained portrait of Christ as Good Shepherd•Symbolic- Jesus is like a shepherd who cares for his flock – rescues individual sinners who stray from the flock•A pastoral metaphor like this would have been easy for common people to relate to•Roman influence – look at the sketchy painterly brushstrokes – like Pompeian painting

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Remind you of anything?

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GOOD SHEPHERD mosaic from the Mausoleum of GallaPlacidia, 425, Ravena, Italy

•When Christianity was recognizes as the official religion of the Roman empire in 380 CE, Christ takes on a more imperial image (no more humble, common-looking Good Shepherd image)•His robes become the imperial purple and gold, his crook becomes a staff, halo around head

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•Regal version of Christ in lunette•Golden cross shows victory over death•Rich landscape•3-D figures that cast shadows•Balanced group of sheep•Refers to parable of the lost sheep

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EARLY JEWISH ART

•Today’s Jewish temples usually don’t have imagery, but ancient Jews interpreted the 2nd commandment in a way that made some images valid (2nd commandment: no worship of other gods/idols)•Example: Old Testament has God ordering Moses to install two cherubim above Arc of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies (in Exodus)•Ancient Jews living in Greco-Roman world were influenced by the narrative art around them

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SYNAGOGUE OF DURA EUROPOS245-256 CEFrescoesnow at the National Museum, Damascus

•Originally a private home•Converted into SYNAGOGUE: any large room where the Torah scrolls are kept and read publicly•Old Testament stories illustrated•All Bible figures represented except God (appears as a hand)•Torah niche in the center•Paintings not in narrative order

*A limited number of Jewish works survive because pictorial tradition was usually banned

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•Stylized gestures•Expressionless faces, huge eyes•Frontal arrangement•Outlined figures•Some hierarchy of scale (that again?!)•Figures lack volume and shadow

•No action, very “posed”•No classical illusionism (perspective, etc.)

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The Finding of the Baby Moses (in Dura Europos)

•Vivid depiction of events follows the Roman tradition of historical narrative•Static, 2D figures float against neutral background•Moses’s mother sends Moses down the river in a basket to protect him from pharaoh’s decree that all Jewish infants be put to death (this is in the Book of Exodus)•Pharaoh’s daughter finds him and claims him as her own child (how ironic!)•Narrow foreground space

princess sees Moses

she wades nude into water to save him

she hands him to a nurse (actually his own mom)