Chapter 7

Jewish, Early Christian, and Byzantine Art

Backround
-Three main religions
-Arose in near east, now also dominated in
Western world
-Monotheistic
-Jews=Still waiting for the Messiah
-Christians=Jesus is the Messiah
-Muslims=Muhammad is the Messiah

Background (Continued)
-Jews and Christians coexisted in Roman
Empire with pagans
-Many religious edifices have been excavated
and preserved in the area

Early Jewish Art

-Jewish law forbade the worship of idols
-Representational art was suspect
-Artists still depicted symbolic and narrative
Jewish subjects
-Looked to Near Eastern and classical Greek
and Roman art for inspiration

Jewish Catacomb Art

Menorahs
and Ark of
the
Covenant
Villa Torlonia, Rome,
3rd Century

Synagogue Art

Wall With Torah Niche

Dura-Europos, Syria
244-45
Tempera On Plaster

The Finding of the Baby

Moses
Dura Europos, Syria, 244-45
Copy in tempera on plaster

Early Christian Art

-Uses visual arts to instruct worshipers as well to glorify God
-Drew its style and imagery from Jewish and classical traditions
-Syncretism=artists assimilation of images from other traditions and then give
them new meanings
-Orant figures, worshiper with arms out-stretched, used in Paganism, Judaism,
and Christianity
-The Good Shepherd is another example
-Christian catacomb paintings=aesthetic quality secondary to message

Early Christian Architecture

-Uses pagan, particularly Roman, architectural elements, such as columns, as to do service to a new
god
-Spoila=to reuse architectural or sculptural elements
-Churches:
-Facades avoided decoration
-Axially Planned churches (basilicas)=Long naves focusing on apses.
-Nave used for processional space, flanked by two side aisles.
-Third floor=window space=clerestory
-Centrally Planned Churches
-Inspired by Roman buildings such as Pantheon.
-Altar placed in middle of building beneath dome ringed with windows.
-People stood around altar called ambulatory.

Early Christian Architecture

Old Saint Peters
c. 320
Rome

Early Christian Architecture

Santa Costanza
337-351
Rome

Early Christian Architecture

Mausoleum of Galla
Placidia
425
Ravenna, italy

Early Christian Painting

-Catacomb paintings=sensitivity toward artistic
programs rather than random images
-Jesus always central and dominant
-Framed figures in lunettes or niches
-Mosaics glimmer with flickering of candlelight
to create otherworldly effect

Painting
Good Shepherd
Fresco
Fourth Century
Catacomb of Saint Peter
and Marcellino
Rome

Painting
Good Shepherd
Mosaic
Mausoleum of Galla
Placidia
425
Ravenna, Italy

Early Christian Sculpture

-Last traditional medium to be adapted to Early Christian
needs
-Reluctance from Christians to be identified with pagan
religions and their idols
-Large scale sculptures of Jesus and his apostles were
avoided
-Ivories and marbles carved on more personal scale
-Less interested in individuality of expression than to
spiritual message and narratives that Bible stories inspire

Sculpture
Sarcophagus of Junius
Bassus
359
Marble
Musero Storico del Tesoro della
Basilica di San Pietro, Rome

Byzantine Art
-Byzantine Empire born from split in Roman
world, where size of Roman Empire became
too unwieldy for one ruler to manage
effectively.
-Eastern Roman empire=chaos
-Western=founded by Constantine, flourished

Byzantine Architecture
-Dome placement on flat walls
-Pendentives
-Squinches
-Not known for size (other than Hagia Sophia)
-Early Period
-Made of brick or concrete
-Middle and Late Period
-Richly articulated with colors of brick, stone, and marble
-Interiors marked by variously colored marbles on lower floors, mosaics and
frescoes on higher floors
-Domes with windows around base

Architecture
Hagia Sophia
532-537
Istanbul

Architecture

San Vitale
526-547
Ravenna, Italy

Byzantine Painting
-Combination of classical heritage of Greece and Rome with more formal and
hieratic medieval style
-Classically trained artists=painterly brushstrokes, innovative way of
representing figure.
-Favored frontal poses, symmetry, weightless bodies
-Golden backgrounds, heavily highlighted halos
-Ensembles arranged in hierarchical order, Jesus is largest, placed at top of
composition, role of Pantrocrator, ruler of world.
-Flattened backgrounds

Painting
Justinian and Attendants
c.547
Mosaic from San Vitale,
Ravenna

Painting
Theodora and
Attendants
c.547
Mosaic from San
Vitale, Ravenna

Painting
Pantocrator
1180-1190
Mosaic
Cathedral, Monreale,
Sicily

Painting
Old Testament Trinity
c.1410
Andrei Rublev
Tempera on Wood
Moscow

Byzantine Sculpture

Saint Michael the

Archangel
Early sixth century
Ivory