Christian Art
• Sarcophagus: funeral container for a corpse
– Resurrection images absent = mysterious religion
– Expensive!
– Roman Christians
Sarcophagus of
Junius Bassus
359 CE
(Vatican City)
• Paintings
• Sculpture
– Roman Catholic Church
– Helps depict figures or explain scenes from the Bible
– For the illiterate
The Last Supper
Leonardo da Vinci, 1498
(Milan, Italy)
La Pietá
Michelangelo, 1499
(Vatican City)
• Icons: flat panel depiction of a holy being or object
– Eastern Orthodox Church
– Canvas, metal, stone, cloth, mosaic…
– Follows the commandment to not make “graven images”
Black Madonna of
Częstochowa
14th century
(Częstochowa, Poland)
• Steeple: tall tower on a church, usually topped by a
cross
– Attempts to reach into the heavens
– Guiding lights for the community
First Presbyterian
Church of Caldwell
18th century
(Caldwell, NJ)
• Cruciform Architecture
– Roman Catholic Church
– The ceiling of many churches
or cathedrals are in the shape
of a cross
St. Patrick’s
Cathedral
1878
(New York, NY)
Islamic Art
• Dome: traditional roof structure
– Cosmic shelter
– Royalty
– Direction of Prayer
The Sacred Mosque
(Mecca, Saudi Arabia)
• Minarets: tall spire with onion-shaped crown
– Call to prayer
– Direction of prayer
– Air conditioning
Twin Minarets
The Sacred Mosque
(Mecca, Saudi Arabia)
• Islamic calligraphy: artistic practice of writing
– Arabic language
– Cannot represent God with images
– Contains messages from the Koran
Timbuktu Manuscripts
Calligraphy in Arabic depicting
astronomy and mathematics
(Timbuktu, Mali)
World Religions Connections
• What World Religion does
this represent?
• Why?
• Wait…what religion?
Minaret of Jesus
Great Mosque of Damascus
(Damascus, Syria)
Hagia Sophia
(Istanbul, Turkey)
St. Peter’s Basilica
(Vatican City)
Dome of the Rock
(Jerusalem, Israel)