Late Antiquity

The Roman Empire had a very diverse population. There was a range of social, ethnic, racial, linguistic, and religious backgrounds. Romans expanded their territories throughout Europe, Africa, and the Near East.

During the third and fourth centuries:

• Romans began to reject polytheism (belief in multiple gods) in favor ofmonotheism (the worship of a single all-powerful god)
• This did not stop the commissioning of works of art following both beliefs.

Some artists may have created both pagan and christian sculptures.

DURA-EUROPOS

Dura-Europos is a small town that sits on an overlook above the Euphrates River in Syria

• Called Europos by the Greeks, Dura by the Romans
• Founded shortly after the death of Alexander the Great by one of his successors.

By the end of the second century BCE, Dura-Europos was in the hands of a group called the Parthians.

• Trajan captured the city in 115
• Dura reverted to Parthian control shortly thereafter.

In 165, under Marcus Aurelius, Romans retook the city and placed a permanent fort there. Dura-Europos fell in 256 to the Sasanians.

• People left the town, leaving its buildings largely intact (called the “Pompeii of the desert”)
• Has more than a dozen different cult buildings and many shrines of polytheistic religions of the Mediterranean and Near East.
• Also has places of worship for Judaism and Christianity.

THIRD CENTURY CE

Christ was crucified around 29 CE yet very little Christian art or architecture survives from the first centuries of Christianity.

• No images of God (the Father) appear in synagogue paintings throughout the Roman Empire.  Images of Jesus do appear, but never God (the Father)

“Early Christian art” means the earliest art of Christian content, not the art of Christians at the time of Jesus.

• Excavators have uncovered the remains of a Christian community house of the mid-third century at Dura-Europos.
• Sarcophagi with a mixture of Old and New Testament scenes began to appear.
• The house is fairly small because Christian communities were not approved by the state.

The links below contain additional information about this time period if you’re interested.

Early Christian Art (Pt. 1)
Early Christian Art (Pt. 2)

Interior of the synagogue, Dura-Europos, Syria, with wall paintings of Old Testament themes, ca.245–256.Tempera on plaster. Reconstruction in National Museum, Damascus.

SYNAGOGUE PAINTINGS 

Dura-Europos in Syria was a Roman garrison town. Some of the buildings there have extensive mural paintings depicting biblical themes. The building above was originally a private house with a central courtyard that was later converted into a synagogue during the last part of the second century. The niche held the sacred Torah at the center of one long wall

These paintings defied the Bible’s Second Commandment prohibiting the making of graven images. Jews of the Roman Empire did not worship idols as did the pagans Biblical stories appeared on the painted walls of synagogues and probably also in painted manuscripts

• No illustrated Bible of this period survives.
• God (YHWH, or Yahweh in the Old Testament) never appears in the Dura paintings, except as a hand emerging from the top of the framed panels.

Samuel anoints David, detail of the mural paintings in the synagogue, Dura-Europos, Syria, ca. 245–256. Tempera on plaster, 47 high.

The figures in this painting are fairly flat and show no movement. The painting is just to the right of the niche that housed the Jewish Torah.

• Prophet Samuel anoints the future king of Israel, David,
• David’s six older brothers look on.
• Samuel is larger than all the rest.
• David and his brothers are emotionless
• Their bodies do not have enough feet.

The painter distinguished David from his brothers by the purple toga he wears. The color purple was associated with the Roman emperor and signifies David’s royalty.

Restored cutaway view of the Christian community house, Dura-Europos, Syria, ca. 240–256 (John Burge). (1) former courtyard of private house, (2) meeting hall, (3) baptistery.

The image above is of a Christian community house, specifically a remodeled private home with a central courtyard, at Dura-Europos. The meeting hall was created by removing the partition between two rooms and could hold 70 people at a time. The hall had a raised platform at one end where the leader of the congregation sat or stood.

Another room, opposite side of the courtyard, had a font for conducting the rite of baptism.

Christian communities were not approved by the state. There were very few of them and they were often very small

Emperor Diocletian became concerned by the popularity of Christianity in the Roman army and ordered another round of persecutions from 303 to 305.

As Christianity becomes more popular, Romans feared their authority was weakening. Christians refused to pay homage to the Roman state’s official gods (old and new). Christians were persecuted because they refused to ackowledge the gods of Rome.

Persecution ended only in 311, when Galerius issued an Edict of Toleration. In 313, Constantine, who believed the Christian god was the source of his power, issued the Edict of Milan. This established Christianity as a legal religion that was equal or superior to the traditional Roman gods.

The Life of Jesus in Art

Christians believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the son of God, the Messiah (Savior, Christ) of the Jews prophesied in the Old Testament. His life— his miraculous birth from the womb of a virgin mother, his preaching and miracle working, his execution by the Romans and subsequent ascent to Heaven— has been the subject of countless artworks from Roman times through the present day. The primary literary sources for these representations are the Gospels of the New Testament attributed to the Four Evangelists, Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John; later apocryphal works; and medieval theologians’ commentaries on these texts.

Although many of the events of Jesus’ life were rarely or never depicted during certain periods, the cycle as a whole has been one of the most frequent subjects of Western art, even after the revival of classical and secular themes in the Renaissance.

INCARNATION AND CHILDHOOD 

The first “cycle” of the life of Jesus consists of the events of his conception (Incarnation), birth, infancy, and childhood.

Annunciation to Mary 

The archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she will miraculously conceive and give birth to God’s son Jesus. Artists sometimes indicate God’s presence at the Incarnation by a dove, the symbol of the Holy Spirit.

Visitation

The pregnant Mary visits Elizabeth, her older cousin, who is pregnant with the future Saint John the Baptist. Elizabeth is the first to recognize that the baby Mary is bearing is the Son of God, and they rejoice.

Nativity, Annunciation to the Shepherds, and Adoration of the Shepherds 

Jesus is born at night in Bethlehem and placed in a basket. Mary and her husband Joseph marvel at the newborn in a stable or, in Byzantine art, in a cave. An angel announces the birth of the Savior to shepherds in the field, who rush to Bethlehem to adore the child.

Adoration of the Magi 

A bright star alerts three wise men (magi) in the East that the King of the Jews has been born. They travel 12 days to find the Holy Family and present precious gifts to the infant Jesus.

Presentation in the Temple 

In accordance with Jewish tradition, Mary and Joseph bring their firstborn son to the temple in Jerusalem, where the aged Simeon, who God said would not die until he had seen the Messiah, recognizes Jesus as the prophesied Savior of humankind.

Massacre of the Innocents and Flight into Egypt 

King Herod, fearful that a rival king has been born, orders the massacre of all infants in Bethlehem, but an angel warns the Holy Family and they escape to Egypt.

Dispute in the Temple 

Joseph and Mary travel to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover (the celebration of the release of the Jews from bondage to the pharaohs of Egypt). Jesus, only 12 years old at the time, engages in debate with astonished Jewish scholars in the temple, foretelling his ministry.

Miracles 

In the course of his teaching and travels, Jesus performs many miracles, revealing his divine nature. These include acts of healing and raising the dead, turning water into wine, walking on water and calming storms, and creating wondrous quantities of food.

Delivery of the Keys to Peter 

The fisherman Peter was one of the first men Jesus summoned as a disciple. Jesus chooses Peter (whose name means “rock”) as his successor. He declares that Peter is the rock on which his church will be built and symbolically delivers to Peter the keys to the kingdom of Heaven.

Transfiguration 

Jesus scales a high mountain and, in the presence of Peter and two other disciples, James and John the Evangelist, is transformed into radiant light. God, speaking from a cloud, discloses that Jesus is his son.

Cleansing of the Temple 

Jesus returns to Jerusalem, where he finds money changers and merchants conducting business in the temple. He rebukes them and drives them out of the sacred precinct.

PASSION 

The Passion (from Latin passio, “suffering”) cycle includes the events leading to Jesus’ death, Resurrection, and ascent to Heaven.

Entry into Jerusalem 

On the Sunday before his Crucifixion (Palm Sunday), Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey, accompanied by disciples. Crowds of people enthusiastically greet Jesus and place palm fronds in his path.

Last Supper and Washing of the Disciples’ Feet 

In Jerusalem, Jesus celebrates Passover with his disciples. During this Last Supper, Jesus foretells his imminent betrayal, arrest, and death and invites the disciples to remember him when they eat bread (symbol of his body) and drink wine (his blood). This ritual became the celebration of Mass (Eucharist) in the Christian Church. At the same meal, Jesus sets an example of humility for his apostles by washing their feet.

Agony in the Garden 

Jesus goes to the Mount of Olives in the Garden of Gethsemane, where he struggles to overcome his human fear of death by praying for divine strength. The apostles who accompanied him there fall asleep despite his request that they stay awake with him while he prays.

Betrayal and Arrest 

One of the disciples, Judas Iscariot, agrees to betray Jesus to the Jewish authorities in return for 30 pieces of silver. Judas identifies Jesus to the soldiers by kissing him, and Jesus is arrested. Later, a remorseful Judas hangs himself from a tree.

Trials of Jesus and Denial of Peter 

Jesus is brought before Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest, and is interrogated about his claim to be the Messiah. Meanwhile, the disciple Peter denies knowing Jesus three times, as Jesus predicted he would. Jesus is then brought before the Roman governor of Judaea, Pontius Pilate, on the charge of treason because he had proclaimed himself King of the Jews. Pilate asks the crowd to choose between freeing Jesus or Barabbas, a murderer. The people choose Barabbas, and the judge condemns Jesus to death. Pilate washes his hands, symbolically relieving himself of responsibility for the mob’s decision.

Flagellation and Mocking 

The Roman soldiers who hold Jesus captive whip (flagellate) him and mock him by dressing him as King of the Jews and placing a crown of thorns on his head.

Carrying of the Cross, Raising of the Cross, and Crucifixion 

The Romans force Jesus to carry the cross on which he will be crucified from Jerusalem to Mount Calvary (Golgotha, the “ place of the skull,” where Adam was buried). He falls three times and his robe is stripped off along the way. Soldiers erect the cross and nail his hands and feet to it. Jesus’ mother, John the Evangelist, and Mary Magdalene mourn at the foot of the cross, while soldiers torment Jesus. One of them (the centurion Longinus) stabs Jesus in the side with a spear. After suffering great pain, Jesus dies. The Crucifixion occurred on a Friday, and Christians celebrate the day each year as Good Friday.

Deposition, Lamentation, and Entombment 

Two disciples, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, remove Jesus’ body from the cross (the Deposition); sometimes those present at the Crucifixion look on. They take Jesus to the tomb Joseph had purchased for himself, and Joseph, Nicodemus, the Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist, and Mary Magdalene mourn over the dead Jesus (the Lamentation). (When in art the isolated figure of the Virgin Mary cradles her dead son in her lap, it is called a Pietà— Italian for “pity.”) In portrayals of the Entombment, his followers lower Jesus into a sarcophagus in the tomb.

Descent into Limbo 

During the three days he spends in the tomb, Jesus (after death, Christ) descends into Hell, or Limbo, and frees the souls of the righteous, including Adam, Eve, Moses, David, Solomon, and John the Baptist. In Byzantine art, this episode is often labeled Anastasis (Greek, “resurrection”), the term refers to events preceding Christ’s emergence from the tomb and reappearance on earth.

Resurrection and Three Marys at the Tomb

On the third day (Easter Sunday), Christ rises from the dead and leaves the tomb while the guards outside are sleeping. The Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene, and Mary, the mother of James, visit the tomb, find it empty, and learn from an angel that Christ has been resurrected.

Noli Me Tangere, Supper at Emmaus, and Doubting of Thomas

During the 40 days between Christ’s Resurrection and his ascent to Heaven, he appears on several occasions to his followers. Christ warns Mary Magdalene, weeping at his tomb, with the words “Don’t touch me” (Noli me tangere in Latin), but he tells her to inform the apostles of his return. At Emmaus he eats supper with two of his disciples. Later, Thomas, who cannot believe that Christ has risen, is invited to touch the wound in his side that Longinus inflicted at the Crucifixion.

Ascension 

On the 40th day, on the Mount of Olives, with his mother and apostles as witnesses, Christ ascends to Heaven in a cloud.

THE CATACOMBS AND FUNERARY ART 

Very little is known about the art of the first Christians. Most Early Christian art dates to 300-400 and is found in the catacombs, underground tunnels and chambers designed as cemeteries for Christians. Ad catacumbas, which is Latin, means “in the hollows.”

The catacombs also housed the graves of Jews and others. The builders carved the catacombs directly out of the rock. The catacombs in Rome are estimated to be 60 to 90 miles long.

From 200 to 400 CE, these burial complexes were in constant use. They held as many as four million bodies. A Roman custom was that Christians had to be buried outside a city’s walls on private property, usually purchased by Christian families.

Builders dug a gallery three to four feet wide around the outside of the burial ground.

• In the walls of these galleries, they cut loculi, openings to receive the bodies of the dead, one above another, like shelves.
• Small rooms carved out of the rock, called cubicula (as in Roman houses of the living), served as chapels.

Once these were full, they carved new galleries

• Built levels on top of levels
• Some catacomb systems were 5 levels deep.
• Families connected galleries to each other, creating a network of passageways

After Christianity received official approval, churches were built on the land above the catacombs. People could worship at the burial sites of some of the earliest Christian martyrs. Marytrs were individuals who chose to die rather than deny their religious beliefs; the Church declared many of them saints.

Early Christian Painting is Roman in style but Christian in subject. 

The image above is of the Old Testament story of Jonah. Sailors throw him from his ship on the left. On the right he is shown coming out of the “whale.” (The Greek word used is ketos, or sea dragon.) Safe on land at the bottom, Jonah thinks about the miracle.

Jonah was a popular figure in Early Christian painting and sculpture, especially in funeral works. The Christians honored him as a prefiguration (prophetic forerunner) of Christ.

• Christ rose from death after three days.
• Jonah also came out of the whale after 3 days

A man, a woman, and at least one child are in the spaces between the Jonah lunettes (crescent shapes). 

• They are orants (praying figures) raising their arms in prayer. 

The center shows Christ as the Good Shepherd who looks the same as the Archaic Greek art, similar to the calf-bearer. The sheep on Christ’s shoulders is one of the lost sheep he has retrieved. Symbolizes a sinner who has strayed and been rescued. Christ is often shown as either as the Good Shepherd or as a teacher.

Before 380, we don’t see things such as a halo, purple robe, and a throne. After Christianity was officially recognized by Rome, we see images of Christ as we typically him today; wearing the Imperial purple, with a halo and a throne.

Early Christian Sculpture 

Most Christians rejected cremation, with the wealthiest Christians commissioning marble sarcophagi.

SANTA MARIA ANTIQUA SARCOPHAGUS 

The image above depicts the salvation of Jonah, Christ as Good Shepherd, and the baptism of Christ. Story of Jonah on the left. At the center is an orant (praying person) and a seated philosopher. The heads of both the praying woman and the seated man reading from a scroll are unfinished. Sculptors often made sarcophagi before knowing who would purchase them. Sculptors added the portraits at the time of burial but sometimes they were never added.

At the right are two different representations of Jesus, one as the Good Shepherd and the other as a child receiving baptism in the Jordan River. Baptism was usually reserved for up to the moment of death because it cleansed the Christian of all sin. The Emperor Constantine was baptized on his deathbed as was Christ who was baptized at age 30. Christ’s exact age at crucifixion is debated but is generally considered to be between 30 and 33 years old.

The Old Testament played an important role in Christian life and Christian art. Jesus was portrayed as a Jew as so many of the first Christians were also converted Jews. In the fourth century, Saint Augustine stated that “the New Testament is hidden in the Old; the Old is clarified by the New.”

Four of the most popular Old Testament stories depicted in Early Christian art:

Adam and Eve 

• Eve, the first woman, tempted by a serpent, ate the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge and offered some to Adam, the first man.
• As punishment, God expelled Adam and Eve from Paradise.
• This “Original Sin” ultimately led to Christ’s sacrifice on the cross so that all humankind could be saved.

Sacrifice of Isaac 

• God instructed Abraham, the father of the Hebrew nation, to sacrifice Isaac, his only son, as proof of his faith.
• When it became clear that Abraham would obey, God sent an angel to restrain him and provided a ram for sacrifice in Isaac’s place.
• Christians view this episode as a symbol of the sacrifice of God’s only son, Jesus.

Jonah 

• The Old Testament prophet Jonah had disobeyed God’s command.
• God caused a storm while Jonah was at sea.
• Jonah asked the sailors to throw him overboard, and the storm went away.
• A sea dragon then swallowed Jonah, God answered his prayers, and the monster spit out Jonah after three days and nights, precursor to Christ’s Resurrection.

Daniel 

• When Daniel, one of the most important Jewish prophets, violated a Persian decree against prayer, the Persians threw him into a den of lions.
• God sent an angel to shut the lions’ mouths, and Daniel came out unharmed.
• An Old Testament salvation tale, a precursor of Christ’s triumph over death.

JUNIUS BASSUS SARCOPHAGUS 

Another pagan convert to Christianity was the city magistrate of Rome, Junius Bassus. He was baptized just before he died in 359. Biblical episodes from Adam and Eve to Christ before Pilate appear in 10 niches on his sarcophagus.

• The Sarcophagus is decorated on only three sides
• Divided into two registers of five compartments, each framed by columns that look Asian inspired.
• The dead does not appear on the body of the coffin.

Stories from the Old and New Testaments fill the niches. Christ appears in the central compartment of each register; as a teacher between his chief apostles, Saints Peter and Paul (above) and entering Jerusalem on a donkey (below). Christ’s in heaven is above earth.

Adam and Eve are in the second niche from the left on the lower level. Their Original Sin of eating the apple in the Garden of Eden made Christ’s death necessary.

To the right of the entry into Jerusalem is Daniel who is unharmed by the lions and therefore saved by his faith.

At the upper left, Abraham is about to sacrifice Isaac.

The Crucifixion does not appear on the Junius Bassus sarcophagus and is usually not included on other sarcophagi.

Emphasized his life as a teacher, not his death. The sculptor alluded to the Crucifixion in the scenes in the two niches at the upper right depicting Jesus being led before Pontius Pilate for judgment. The Romans had condemned Jesus to death.

STATUETTE OF CHRIST 

Large sculpture wasn’t common in the 4th century. Authorities continued to make portrait statues of Roman emperors and other officials. Artists still made statues of pagan gods and mythological figures but the number of statues decreased sharply.

Statues of Christ are rare during the Early Christian period. The Second Commandment prohibition of idol worship. The earliest representations of Jesus show him as a young man. 

The sculpture above is less than three feet tall and shows Christ as a long-haired Apollo-like youth. He wears the Roman tunic, toga, and sandals and holds an unopened scroll in his left hand. Its original context and function are unknown. The image below also shows Christ as a young Roman boy.

CHRISTIAN ART UNDER CONSTANTINE, 306– 337 

The emperor Constanting was the first great patron of Christian art. He built the first churches in Rome, including Old Saint Peter’s. 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. Watch the two videos below. This moment firmly cemented Christianity in history.

Before Constantine, some Christian ceremonies were held in the catacombs but regular services took place in private community houses. 

Once Christianity was legal there was a need to build churches. The new buildings had to meet the requirements of Christian liturgy (the official ritual of public worship). Constantine was the first major patron of Christian architecture. He constructed basilicas, memorials, and mausoleums not only in Rome but also in Constantinople. He also built at sites sacred to Christianity such as Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, and Jerusalem, the site of the Crucifixion.

Rome 

The major churches in Rome stood on sites associated with the graves of Christian martyrs, which were all outside the city.  According to Roman custom, all Christians were to be buried outside of the city walls.

• Allowed Constantine to keep the new Christian churches out of the city center
• Avoided confrontation between Rome’s Christian and pagan populations.

OLD SAINT PETER’S 

Old Saint Peter’s was built by Constantine on the spot of Saint Peter’s grave. The plan and elevation resemble those of Roman basilicas, not pagan temples. Construction started as early as 319, 6 years after the Edict of Milan. The church that stands there today is newer (called New St. Peter’s). Old Saint Peter’s stood on the western side of the Tiber River on the spot where Peter, the first apostle and founder of the Christian community in Rome, had been buried. Beneath the church there is a memorial in honor of Peter and also his grave. 

Capable of holding 3,000 to 4,000 worshipers at one time, St. Peters enshrined one of the second most important sites in Christendom. The Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is the first, the site of Christ’s Resurrection. Christ used spoke these words to the first disciple: “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church” (Matt. 16: 18). Peter was Rome’s first bishop and also the head of the long line of popes to come.

Resembles Roman basilicas and audience halls. Christians did not want their houses of worship to look like pagan shrines. Old Saint Peter’s had a wide central nave with flanking aisles and an apse at the end.

Worshipers entered the basilica through a narthex, or entrance porch.

• 300-foot-long nave had an unobstructed view of the altar in the apse.
• The transept, or transverse aisle, was a special feature of the Constantinian church.
• St. Peters housed the relics of Saint Peter that pilgrims came to see. Relics are the body parts, clothing, or objects associated with a saint or Christ himself

Transept became a standard design element in Western churches much later and took on the symbolism of the Christian cross. Saint Peter’s basilica also had an open colonnaded courtyard in front of the narthex similar to the forum in the Forum of Trajan. This area was called an atrium, like the room in a Roman private house.

Unlike pagan temples, Old Saint Peter’s did not have lots of exterior sculptures. The outside was made from brick walls. Inside were frescoes and mosaics, marble columns (taken from pagan buildings, as was customary at the time), and expensive decoration.

The Book of the Pontiffs (Popes) lists Constantine’s gifts to Old Saint Peter’s.

• Giffts included altars, chandeliers, candlesticks, pitchers, goblets, and plates made of gold and silver
• Jeweled altar cloths for use in the Mass and gold foil to cover the ceiling of the apse.
• A marble baldacchino (dome like canopy over an altar) marked the spot of Saint Peter’s tomb.

SANTA SABINA had a wood roof and was lit by clerestory windows. Corinthian columns of the nave focused attention on the apse which frames the altar. Santa Sabina was built 100 years after Old St. Peters. The light would have illuminated the frescoes and mosaics that usually covered the nave and apse of Early Christian churches. On the outside, Santa Sabina has plain brick walls.

CHRISTIAN ART, 337– 526 

Emperor Theodosius I proclaimed Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire in 380 and banned pagan worship in 391. Honorius moved the capital of the Western half of Rome to Ravenna in 404. Rome itself fell to King Alaric in 410.

Illuminated manuscripts would become one of the major art forms of the Middle Ages. The first manuscripts with illustrations of the Old and New Testaments were created in 600.

SANTA COSTANZA was possibly built as the mausoleum of Constantine’s daughter but would later became a church. The central plan would become the preferred form for Byzantine churches. Long basilica plan was still used, but also built central plan churches.

• Has a domed interior
• Were usually round or polygonal buildings with a dome
• In the West these were built in addition to churches, in the East they were used as Churches by themselves.

At this time Rome is almost perfectly split in half between the Western and Eastern Empires.

A highly refined example of the central-plan design is Santa Costanza which was built on the northern outskirts of Rome in 450. The mausoleum, later converted into a church, stood next to the church of Saint Agnes.

Looks similar to some of the designs created by the Romans but, with 12 pairs of columns and an ambulatory, it’s unique.

Santa Costanza has a bland brick exterior.

• Its interior was once covered with mosaics, most have been lost.

Old and New Testament themes appeared side by side.

• Also included subjects common in Roman funeral art which took on a Christian interpretation.

The mosaics of Santa Costanza depict putti harvesting grapes and producing wine. They bring to mind the Eucharist and Christ’s blood. A portrait bust is at the center of a vine scroll.

Mosaics provided a backdrop for Christian worship and were also used to tell biblical stories.

Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome was the first major church in the West dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

• Construction of the church began in 432
• In 431, Mary had been designated as the Mother of God (Theotokos, “bearer of god” in Greek) at the Council of Ephesus.
• The council debated whether Mary had given birth to the man Jesus or to God as man.
• Ruled that the divine and human coexisted in Christ
• Mary was officaly declared the Mother of God.

The mosaic above represents the parting of Abraham and his nephew Lot, as described in Genesis, the Bible’s opening book. Agreeing to disagree, Lot leads his family and followers to the right, toward the city of Sodom. Abraham heads for Canaan, moving toward a basilica-like building (perhaps symbolizing the Christian Church) on the left. Lot’s is the evil choice, and his two daughters are in front of him. (Led him to evil)

The figure of the yet-unborn Isaac, the idea of good (a prefiguration of Christ), stands before his father, Abraham. The parting of the two groups is symbolic. Artist represented each group using a device called a “head cluster”. The figures seem to be talking and debating. Their eyes turn in their sockets and their hands make broad gestures. The town in the background would not be out of place in a Pompeian mural. The figures are modeled in light and dark with cast shadows yet still look massive.

 

Ravenna 

After the founding of Constantinople in 324, a new Rome developed in the East. With the death of Constantine in 337, the pace of Christianization of the Roman Empire sped up.In 380 the emperor Theodosius I issued an edict finally establishing Christianity as the state religion. In 391 he enacted a ban against pagan worship. In 394 he abolished the Olympic Games, saying it was a symbol of the Pagan world and it’s values.

Theodosius died in 395

• Power passed to his two sons
• Arcadius, became Emperor of the East
• Honorius, Emperor of the West.

In 404, the Visigoths, under their king Alaric, threatened to overrun Italy from the northwest. Honorius moved his capital from Milan to Ravenna. In 410, Rome fell to Alaric, and in 476, Ravenna fell to Odoacer, the first Germanic king of Italy. Odoacer was overthrown by Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, established his capital at Ravenna in 493. Ravenna fell to the Byzantine emperor Justinian in 539

This time in history became known as Byzantium.

MAUSOLEUM OF GALLA PLACIDIA is dedicated to Honorius’s half-sister. The building is a small cruciform (cross-shaped) structure with barrel-vaulted arms and a tower where they cross

Built shortly after 425, 25 years before Galla Placidia’s death in 450. It was probably intended as a chapel to for Saint Lawrence but was once thought to be Galla Placidia’s tomb, hence its name today.

The chapel’s cross arms are of unequal length and it is not entirely central planned. Fusion of the longitudinal, used for basilican churches, and the central, used for baptisteries and mausoleums. Mosaics cover every square inch of the inside.

SANT’ APOLLINARE NUOVO 

Around 504, after Theodoric settled in Ravenna, he ordered the construction of his own palace-church, a three-aisled basilica dedicated to Christ. In the year 900, relics of Saint Apollinaris were transferred to this church. The building has been known since as Sant’ Apollinare Nuovo.

In the mosiac above we see Christ as the Good Shepherd. It is displayed in a lunette above the entrance.

• Jesus sits among his flock Haloed and robed in gold and purple.
• Landscape and the figures have cast shadows.
• Sheep are distributed evenly in groups of three.

Mosaics were used primarily to provide a cheap and durable flooring. Originally, small beach pebbles were set into a thick coat of cement. Artists then started arranging the stones into decorative patterns. At first, these pebble mosaics were geometric shapes and the artists used only black and white stones.

Eventually, started creating more complex designs. By the fourth century BCE, the technique had developed to a high level of sophistication. Mosaicists depicted elaborate figure scenes using a broad range of colors such as yellow, brown, and red in addition to black, white, and gray. They also shaded the figures, clothing, and setting to create depth.

In the third century BCE, designs started looking like true paintings. The new technique used tesserae (Latin for “cubes” or “dice”), tiny cut stones gave the artist more flexibility. Their size and shape could be changed and could create much more gradual gradations of color. Tesserae were usually made of glass that reflects light and makes the surfaces sparkle. Ancient Roman mosaics were usually opaque marble pieces.

Color was “placed,” not blended. They created bright, reflective texture, and simplified patterns became the rule. The higher the mosaic, the larger the pieces of tesserae. Favored simple designs so that they’d be easily understood.

Background is gold, the standard background color for medieval mosaics. The mosaic depicting the miracle of the loaves and fishes.

Jesus, beardless, in the dress of gold and purple

• distinguished by the cross-inscribed nimbus (halo) 
• signifies his divinity, faces the viewer directly. 

Instructs his disciples to distribute the bread and fish he has produced.

• The emphasis is on Jesus performing a miracle.
• The mosaicist told the story with the least number of figures necessary.
• Just a few rocks and bushes

LUXURY ARTS 

Throughout history, artists have produced what were called “minor arts” such as jewelry, metalwork, cameos, ivories. “Major arts” were sculpture and painting. “Minor” refers only to size. The minor arts were later called “luxury arts” and had high status.

Illuminated Manuscripts 

Few examples survive but illustrated books were very popular. They began in Egypt and continued in Greek and Roman times.

Medieval Manuscript Illumination

An important invention during the Early Empire was the codex which helped to spread and preserve texts. A codex is like a modern book made of separate leaves (folios) held within a cover and bound together at one side.

These replaced the long manuscript scroll (rotulus) of the Egyptians, Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans. Artists started using durable vellum (calfskin) and parchment (lambskin) which provided better surfaces for painting. Vellum replaced brittle papyrus used for ancient scrolls.

These books were created before the invention of the printing press and were called illuminated manuscripts. Latin word illuminare, meaning “to adorn, ornament, or brighten.”

The oldest examples are from 500-600 and were expensive to make and had many steps. Artists had separate jobs in the making of a book

• curing and cutting (and sometimes the dyeing) of the animal skin
• sketching lines to guide the scribe and to save spaces for illumination
• writing the text
• adding the paintings
• binding the pages
• attaching of covers, buckles, and clasps.

The covers were more decorated than the insides. The exterior might be made from gold and decorated with jewels, ivory carvings, and repoussé reliefs.

The oldest preserved painted Greek or Latin manuscript is the Vatican Vergil

• Dates from the early fifth century.
• Originally contained more than 200 pictures illustrating all of Vergil’s works.
• Today only 50 painted pages survive.

The poem recounts Vergil’s visit to a farm near Tarentum (Taranto, in southern Italy) belonging to an old man from Corycus in Asia Minor.

• Old farmer sits at the left.
• Farmhouse is in the background
• Shown in a three-quarter view.

The farmer speaks about the pleasures of the simple life in the country and on his methods of gardening. His audience is two workers. At the far right, Vergil himself in the dress of a farmhand. The style is reminiscent of Pompeian landscapes.

VIENNA GENESIS 

Oldest well-preserved painted manuscript containing biblical scenes

• Pages are calfskin dyed with rich purple.
• The scribe used silver ink for the Greek text.

Folio 7 of the Vienna Genesis illustrates the story of Rebecca and Eliezer (Gen. 24: 15– 61). Isaac, Abraham’s son, was 40 years old, his parents sent their servant Eliezer to find a wife for him. Eliezer chose Rebecca, because when he stopped at a well, she was the first woman to draw water for him and his camels.

The manuscript painter presented two episodes of the story within a single frame. 

At the left

• Rebecca leaves the city of Nahor to fetch water from the well.

In the second episode at the right

• She offers water to Eliezer and his camels, while one of them already drinks water from the well.

The artist painted Nahor as a walled city seen from above.

• Rebecca walks to the well along the columned avenue of a Roman city.
• A seminude female personification of a spring is the source of the well water. 

ROSSANO GOSPELS 

Earliest preserved illuminated book that contains illustrations of the New Testament. By this time, New Testament iconography had been well established. The subject of folio 8 is the appearance of Jesus before Pilate, who asks the Jews to choose between Jesus and Barabbas (Matt. 27: 2– 26).

The vividly gesturing figures are on two levels separated by a simple ground line.

• In the upper level, Pilate presides over the tribunal.
• He sits on an elevated dais (platform).
• The people form an arch around Pilate
• Demand the death of Jesus
• A scribe records the event.

Jesus and Barabbas appear in the lower level.

The painter explicitly labeled Barabbas.

CRUCIFIXION OF CHRIST 

First sequence (not shown) shows Pilate washing his hands and Jesus carrying the cross on the road to Calvary while Peter denys Jesus. All of this compressed into a single panel.

The next plaque (above) in the sequence shows, at the left, Judas hanging from a tree with an open bag of silver dumped on the ground beneath his feet. The Crucifixion is at the right. The Virgin Mary and Joseph are to the left of the cross. On the other side Longinus thrusts his spear into the side of the “King of the Jews” (REX IVD is inscribed above Jesus’ head).

The two remaining panels show two Marys and two soldiers at the open doors of a tomb with an empty coffin. Doubting Thomas touches the wound of Christ. The series is one of the oldest cycles of Passion scenes preserved today.

On these plaques, Jesus always appears as a beardless youth. He does not hang from the cross; he is displayed on it. 

DIPTYCH OF THE SYMMACHI 

Not everyone converted to the new religion, even after Theodosius closed all temples and banned all pagan cults in 391.

An ivory plaque, probably produced in Rome around 400, illustrates Pagan themes. This plaque may commemorate the marriage of two powerful Roman families or the death within 10 years of two prominent male members of the two families.

The families favored the artwork of the classical past. This piece depicts a woman sacrificing at an altar in front of a tree. She wears ivy in her hair and seems to be celebrating the rites of Bacchus.