ART 201: HANDOUT 13, EARLY CHRISTIAN AND LATE ANTIQUE ART
Catacombs: underground cemeteries outside Rome, these are the site of the earliest Christian
paintings, which appear soon after 200 CE. Sketchy in style and presenting a limited number
of motifs (the praying figure, the Good Shepherd, the Story of Jonah, etc.), it would seem that
these images were seen as visual symbols of aspects of Christianity rather than as illustrations
of Christian scenes (Painted Ceiling, Catacomb of Ss. Pietro and Marcellino, early 4th CE).
Christian House, Dura Europos: the same twon preserves the best Early Christian housechurch, including a baptistry with crude but effective paintings (including the Good Shepherd).
Built ca. 240 (destroyed 256).
Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus: the coffin of a Mayor of Rome who died in 359. On the body,
within columnar frames are depicted diverse scenes significant to Christianity. These do not
present a coherent narrative, but their style is far more Classicizing than the 4th century
sculpture of the Arch of Constantine.
The Christian Basilica: in 313 CE the Christian religion was finally accepted by the Roman
Empire, and the first large churches were built. These adapted the format of the Roman
Basilica to Christian needs. Christian basilicas were generally timber-roofed, and often had a
transept at the sanctuary so that the plan was cross-shaped. Behind the altar was an apse (a
semi-circular vault). The Church of Old St. Peter's, Rome, begun in the 320s, is a good
example of an Early Christian Basilica. The exteriors of these churches were generally of brick
and rather plain (see the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia c. 425). All of the decorative emphasis
was reserved for the interior, in order to give the religious service and experience the highest
significance. The walls of the nave were often adorned with scenes of the Bible (Santa Maria
Maggiore, 432-440), and the apse either painted, or, if possible, decorated with wall-mosaics.
Santa Costanza, Rome: a domed round chapel built by Constantine's daughter Constantina c.
350. The mosaics on the aisle vaults still survive, and present a mixture of Christian and pagan
motifs.
Wall Mosaics: the favored medium for the decoration of Medieval church interiors, made of
glittering glass cubes which gave a magical and spiritual luminescence to the religious scenes
which they were used to create (Good Shepherd, Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, c. 425; Parting
of Lot and Abraham, Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome, 432-440). They are used to decorate not
only vaults and walls, but also domes (Baptism, Baptistry of the Orthodox, Ravenna, 458). The
style is moving towards spiritual abstraction, but still retains vague naturalistic references.
Classicism: the attempt to evoke the naturalistic style and noble idealism characteristic of the
dominant artistic style in the Mediterranean from the 5th century BCE through the 2nd century
CE. An early example is the ivory panel of the Symmachi carved ca. 400, and depicting a
sacrifice by a priestess. Another ivory, done in Constantinople in the early 6th century, depicts
the Archangel Michael floating before and above an architectural niche. The style of this ivory
recalls Greek art, but its ethereal character is Medieval.
The Vienna Genesis: an early illustrated manuscript of the first book of the Bible, probably
done at Constantinople in the early 6th century. Painted scenes (Rebecca at the Well) at the
bottom of each page illustrate the text in continuous narration; the style is not unlike that of
Trajan's column in Rome.
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ART 201: HANDOUT 14, BYZANTINE ART
Constantinople: founded by Constantine in 330 at the entrance to the Black Sea to be the
capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, became the capital of the Byzantine Empire and a great
artistic center. The Empire is named after the Greek name for Constantinople (Byzantium).
Justinian: Byzantine emperor 527-565 who reconquered most of Italy and other parts of the
western Mediterranean, and built much in Constantinople and Ravenna. An ivory depicting
him as the Christian Roman emperor survives (c. 550).
San Vitale, Ravenna: octagonal central-plan church built to Ravenna's patron saint 526-547.
Decorated richly with mosaics, including two processions at the entrance to the choir. One of
these shows Justinian and attendants, the other the Empress Theodora with attendants. These
mosaics strike a balance between Classical naturalism and the symbolism characteristic of
Medieval art.
Transfiguration Mosaics: two versions of the Transfiguration, where Christ is hailed by God
on a mountain top as his son in the company of Elijah and Moses, while three Apostles look
on, are preserved from Justinian's reign. The first, in the apse of the Church of Sant' Apollinare
in Classe near Ravenna, dates to 549 and presents a symbolic Transfiguration witnessed by
Saint Apollinaire (the first bishop of Ravenna and twelve lambs. Christ is represented by a
huge cross in a super-halo, and the Apostles are lambs. The second, in the apse of a church on
Mt. Sinai in Israel, is figural, but is given no landscape setting. It dates c. 550-565.
Hagia Sophia, Constantinople: Enormous church built by Anthemius of Tralles and Isidorus
of Miletus between 532 and 537. Not quite a central plan church (it's slightly rectangular), but
dominated by its great central dome. The openwork carved ornament of the interior is exquisite
and makes the architecture look curiously weightless. The mosaics on the interior are all post843, that is, post-Iconoclasm, and include a Virgin (Theotokos) with the Christ Child in the
apse.
Icon of the Virgin: preserved in a monastery on Mt. Sinai, this encaustic painting on wood
was probably done in Constantinople around 550-600. Interestingly, it shows three different
styles, a classical, three-dimensional rendering of the Virgin and Christ, a flat and schematic
rendering of the two saints flanking her, a a sketchy and impressionistic one for the two angels
behind her.
Iconoclasm: a period between 726 and 843 when figural religious imagery was banned in the
Byzantine Empire. Means: "image breaking."
Macedonian Renaissance: a period between ca. 850-1025 when the Byzantine Empire was
ruled by a dynasty from Macedonia in Greece and reached heights of political and cultural
success. The art of this period was particularly classicizing. The Paris Psalter (Book of Psalms)
of c. 950 shows a close adherence to Classical figural models in its style and reproduces much
of the illusion of space seen in Roman painting (David Composing the Psalms). The Harbaville
Triptych of the mid 10th century shows a similar Classicizing style in ivory, as does the gold
and enamel icon of the Archangel Michael of the 10th century. Both of these were devotional
items for focusing one's prayers.
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Hosios Loukas: a monastery in central Greece. Its main church (the Katholikon) was built ca.
1000-1030. It is decorated inside with expressive mosaics. Its exterior is brick and enlivened
only by simple decorative patterns. An earlier and smaller church of the Virgin (c. 950) is
attached to the Katholikon’s north side.
Daphni near Athens: a monastery church built c. 1100 and decorated with mosaics in a
classicizing style. The center of the dome preserves a stern Pantokrator (All-Ruler), the Christ
of the Second Coming, who is hailed by prophets at the base of the dome. The four
pendentives, or semi-domes which buttress the central dome, contain scenes of Christ's life
(Annunciation, Nativity, Baptism, Transfiguration). A scene of the Crucifixion on a side wall
in the nave is particularly classicizing in its style, but symbolic in its lack of realism, especially
of space.
Virgin of Vladimir: a painted wooden panel, originally done in the 12th century, and taken to
Russia. It shows the Virgin holding the Christ Child in the sweet, if formal, style that often
characterizes Byzantine art of the 1100s.
Nerezi, Saint Pantaleimon: a chapel painted in fresco in 1164 (paid for by a member of the
imperial family). Its scenes are more emotional than normal for Byzantine art (Lamentation),
and show an evolution in Byzantine style from the formal to the emotional.
St. Mark's, Venice: Cathedral begun 1063, a five-dome basilica based on the design of a
church built in Constantinople by Justinian in the 6th century. Its interior is covered by mosaics
in a Byzantinizing style, but mostly by local artists.
Monreale, Sicily: a huge basilica church built by the king of Sicily in the 1180s with
Byzantine style decoration. Its apse is decorated like a dome with the Pantokrator at its top.
Below, in registers, is the Virgin and Christ child flanked by angels, then saints.
The Fourth Crusade: in 1204 Crusaders on their way to the Holy Land instead sacked
Constantinople and divided up the Byzantine Empire. Although the Empire was re-established
in 1261 on a smaller scale, it never regained its old power, and finally fell when the Turks
captured Constantinople in 1453.
Late Byzantine painting: after 1261, Byzantine art went through its last great phase. The
paintings are gentler and freer than previously, and show hints of a relative naturalism
(although with powerful highlights on the drapery) in the figures similar to that of Italian
painting of the 13th century (Anastasis or Resurrection, Kariye Camii, 1310-1320). Late
Byzantine art and architecture heavily influenced the later Medieval styles of painting in
Russia and the Balkans (Andrei Rublev "Old Testament Trinity", c. 1410-1420), as well as
Russian religious architecture (Cathedral of St. Basil, Moscow, 1554-1560).
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ART 201: HANDOUT 15, ISLAMIC ART
Islam: a religion which arose in Arabia in the early 7th century (around 620-630). Developed
by the prophet Muhammed, Islam believes that it worships the same basic deity as Christianity
and Judaism, but is superior due to possessing the words of the prophet in the Koran (Quran).
Moslems, as devotees of Islam are called, worship by facing the holy city of Mecca in Arabia
and praying to their God (Allah) five times a day. Their churches, called Mosques, are halls for
prayers and for Friday services, and have a wall, called the qibla , which faces Mecca. The
center of the qibla generally is marked by a niche called the mihrab. Outside a mosque are
towers, called Minarets, from which priests call the faithful to prayer. Fired by zeal, the Arabs
burst forth from Arabia in 632 and by 740 had conquered an empire which stretched from
Spain to India. After the 10th century the Arabs were gradually subjected by an eastern people
who had been converted to Islam, the Turks.
Dome of the Rock: built c. 687-691 in Jerusalem, this central plan shrine is richly decorated
and encloses the rock on which it is believed Abraham planned to sacrifice his son Isaac in
Genesis . The Arabs believe that they are descended from Abraham and that Muhammed was
taken to heaven from this rock in 610 to hear the word of Allah. The shrine is clearly derived
from Early Christian central plan churches.
Mosque at Cordova, Spain: elegantly decorated rectangular structure, built ca. 786 and
enlarged several times thereafter up to 965, notable for its gracefully curved horseshoe arcades
and arabesque decoration. The domed niche in front of the qibla (965) is particularly beautiful.
Later Mosques: the Turks developed a new type of mosque, called the four-iwan mosque
which was usually associated with theological schools called madrasas . The four-iwan type
has vaulted halls around a central court (Mosque of Sultan Hasan, Cairo, 1356; Mosque at
Isfahan, Iran, 11th-18th). After the Turks took Constantinople in 1453 and renamed it Istanbul,
they adapted the dome of a Byzantine church to create imposing structures notable for their
impressively open interior space (Mosque of Selim, Edirne, Turkey, 1570-1574).
The Alhambra: palace built at Granada in southern Spain 1238-1391. Notable for its beautiful
curvalinear decoration (Muqarnas dome, 1354-1391), and courtyard gardens (Palace of the
Lions, 1380-90).
Calligraphy: Islamic art generally avoids religious imagery and the representation of humans;
it is basically abstract. Often the decoration takes the form of calligraphy (Page of Koran, 9th10th), where individual verses are elevated to pure decoration (see also Mihrab niche from
Iran, 1354).
Islamic tiles: often ceramic tiles with elaborately stylized vegetation and inscriptions from the
Koran decorate mosques (Mihrab from Isfahan, Persia, 1354).
Islamic textiles: a popular form of Islamic art, textiles were used for a variety of purposes.
They generally feature the same abstract imagery seen in other Islamic art (Maqsud, Funerary
Carpet from Iran, Turkey 1540).
Islamic pictorial art: Secular art may have figures. In Afghanistan, a school of manuscript
illuminators evolved a notable school of figural painting in the 15th and 16th centuries that was
transferred with the court to Iran. This featured bird's-eye perspective and flat two-dimensional
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figures in lively compositions, often illustrating secular and erotic poetry or depicting everyday
life (Kamal al-Din Bihzad, "The Seduction of Usuf,” c. 1494).
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ART 201: HANDOUT 16, ART OF THE MIGRATION PERIOD
The Dark Ages: often used to refer a period c. 600-750 when the twin shocks of the invasions of
the German tribes into the old Western Roman Empire and the onslaught of Islam led to an
almost total elimination of the urban life and the civilization of the Roman Empire in western
Europe.
Celtic-Germanic Style: an artistic style practiced by the tribes which invaded the Western
Roman Empire in the 5th century. It is characterized by linear "animal interlace" ornament of
great complexity, as well as use of many jewels for decoration (hence the “jewel style”) and was
generally limited to small and portable precious objects (Purse Cover from the Sutton Hoo Ship
Burial, c. 625). Later, the same general style is found in Viking art from Scandinavia (Animal
Head, Oseberg Ship Burial, Norway, c. 835).
Hiberno-Saxon Style: a style of Christian art which adapted the "animal interlace" of CelticGermanic art to church themes. Practiced in the British Isles, the style combined elements from
Irish Christian art (Hibernia=Ireland in Latin), and Anglo-Saxon art. It flourished in the 7th and
8th centuries. The Man, Symbol of St. Matthew, from the Lindisfarne Gospels (c. 700) shows
how artists of the style flattened figures into linear and abstracted pattern, but the facing page’s
Cross is a good example of the beauty these artists achieved through the use of complex
interlocking linear pattern, often with stylized animals in the line The same style appears in
even greater complexity in the Book of Kells (c. 790), notably in the chi-rho page that begins the
story of the birth of Christ in Matthew.
ART 201: HANDOUT 17, CAROLINGIAN AND OTTONIAN ART
Charlemagne: ruled a great empire comprising France, Germany, and northern Italy 768-814.
Crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope on Christmas Day, 800. Sponsored a Renaissance
(French for "Rebirth") in the arts which aimed at reviving Classical art and learning. The
resurgence of culture under Charlemagne and his successors is called the Carolingian
Renaissance, and lasted throughout the 9th century.
Palace Chapel, Aachen: built in northern Germany 792-805 by Charlemagne, it was a circular
church based roughly on San Vitale at Ravenna. Unlike San Vitale, the Palace Chapel has a
massive quality to its forms which looks forward to the developed Romanesque architecture of
the 11th century.
Plan of a Monastery, St. Gall: a paper plan for an ideal monastery made c. 820. The plan charts
out a self-sufficient village dominated by a large basilica-plan church with a Westwork of towers
flanking the main entrance. A Carolingian Westwork (c. 880) survives only at Corvey in western
Germany.today; it has powerful towers flanking a projecting entrance (portal).
Carolingian illumination: imitated and revived the forms of Early Christian illustrated religious
books as far as the artists were able. The illustrations (St. Matthew) in the Coronation Gospels
(c 800) imitate the style of Classical painting, and are likely by a Byzantine-trained artist. Later
Carolingian artists practiced a more expressionistic style (Gospel Book of Ebbo, St. Matthew, c.
820) The most amazing of Carolingian manuscripts is the Utrecht Psalter, illustrated in pen and
ink c. 820 (Psalm 23). It has metaphoric pictorial units which illustrate key phrases in each
Psalm. These units are arranged in spatially unified settings on the model of ancient Roman
painting, but the compositions were invented by the Carolingian artist. Carolingian illuminated
manuscripts were given splendid covers made of gold, ivory and gems. The Lindau Gospels (c.
870) has a wrought gold triumphant Christ on the cross surrounded by expressive mourners. He
is beardless, and the cover is thus based on an Early Christian prototype (probably a manuscript
illumination).
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The Ottonian Empire: after the final demise of Charlemagne's empire around 900, the next
great cultural force in European history arose in Germany. Otto I was crowned Holy Roman
Emperor in Rome in 962, and the empire that he founded lasted as the greatest political and
cultural force in Europe into the 11th century. Ottonian illumination at times adapts the imagery
of Roman imperial art to show the ruler’s divine authority (Liuthar Gospels c. 996).
Ottonian Churches: developed the Westwork or towered facade first seen in Carolingian
churches; St. Michael at Hildesheim (1001-1031) shows the rough power of an Ottonian church
with its multiple towers. In general, Ottonian churches appear squat and powerful. They often
had two transepts, one at the entrance, and the other just before the altar, and both transepts
were marked visually by massive towers. Ottonian churches remained timber-roofed, but were
the immediate ancestors of Romanesque churches (interior fo St. Cyriakus, 973). Their crypts,
basements with chapels for saints, were often vaulted.
Ottonian art: in some ways a successor to the Carolingian Renaissance, Ottonian art was less
interested in Classicism, and more fascinated with the expression of spiritual values and
feelings through visual images. This can be seen in the wooden Crucifixion of Bishop Gero (c.
970), where Christ suffers on the cross. It is also one of the first large-scale works of sculpture
to be produced since the Roman empire.
Bronze Doors of Bishop Bernward of Hildesheim: these hollow-cast double doors (1015) imitate
the format of earlier Byzantine and early Christian doors (now mostly lost), but the scenes on
them use the expressionistic Ottonian twisted poses to depict the significance for Christianity
but showing an Opposition of the Fall of Man and Jesus.
Ottonian manuscripts: these stressed a spiritual expressionism and fervor (Lectionary of Henry
II, 1014), and thus looked forward towards a main trend in Romanesque art of the 11th and 12th
centuries in Europe. The figures (Annunciation to the Shepherds) are consistently flattened, with
spatial settings stylized (abstracted) from those the artist found in his classical models. Some
Ottonian manuscripts show a survival of imagery celebrating the ruler’s status that had
developed under the Roman empire (Otto III enthroned, Gospels of Otto III, 1000). Some
Ottonian manuscripts were produced in nunneries.
ART 201: HANDOUT 18, ROMANESQUE ART AND ARCHITECTURE
Romanesque: the artistic style of western Europe from c. 1050 to c. 1150 in central France, to
c. 1200 in the rest of Europe. So-called because the barrel-vaulted ceilings of Romanesque
churches resemble the vaulting used in ancient Roman architecture.
St. Sernin, Toulouse: a pilgrimage church built in northwestern Spain 1070-1120. The church's
plan shows a basic geometry and its massive masonry makes it look powerful. It has a barrelvaulted nave with a groin-vaulted aisle to either side. The aisles continue back around the
transept and the sanctuary. There are a series of radiating chapels at the back of the church,
allowing pilgrims to venerate the relics of saints kept in the chapels even during masses. The
west façade was to have been framed by large towers (never built), and another tower (the
lantern) covers the “crossing” where the transept cuts across the main axis of the church. The
crypt preserves a relief image of Christ in Majesty signed by the sculptor Gelduinus in 1096; it is
based on ancient Roman or Early Christian precedent.
Cluny: huge and famous monastery in eastern France that spawned many branch houses. It
was famous for its music, and also had a huge church with incipient buttressing of the upper
walls (completed around 1130).
Moissac, Abbey of St. Pierre: Cluniac monastery in southern France. Its South Portal
(doorway) was adorned with relief sculpture c. 1120, including an expressively ascetic Prophet
(probably Jeremiah) wound up the trumeau (central post on a doorway). He is joined there by
lions. Above, in the tympanum , the Second Coming is depicted in an expressive fashion. The
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figures here are flattened and abstract, but less so than in central France, and probably reflect
some observation of ancient Roman sculpture.
Autun Cathedral: the tympanum (lunette or half-circular arch over a door) of the West Portal
was sculpted with a Last Judgement c. 1130 by a sculptor named Gislebertus. It includes a
notable vision of Hell, with expressive demons weighing the souls of the dead. The great central
Christ of the Second Coming is quite expressive, if very flat.
The Morgan Madonna: an iconic wooden statue of the Virgin holding the Christ child, made c.
1150-1200. Its massive qualities and stylized drapery are typical Romanesque features.
Wooden statues were often carried in parades on religious holidays.
St. Savin-sur-Gartempe: a hall church in central France built ca. 1095-1115. Its barrel-vaulted
nave preserves a notable fresco cycle of the Old and the New Testament in a schematic and
rather childlike style (Tower of Babel, c. 1100), which is, however, easily "read."
Christ in Majesty, Lerida: church at Santa Maria de Mur in northeastern Spain with a fresco in
its apse (c. 1150). that is derived from Byzantine art (see, for example the apse of Monreale
Cathedral, Sicily), but is flattened and stylized in the Mozarabic style that is based on Islamic art.
Moralia in Job: an interpretation of the Book of Job in the Old Testement illuminated at a
Cistercian monastery in France in the early 12th century. The Initial R page shows a knight (St.
George) fighting two dragosn with the aid of his squire; the figures make up the letter R.
Durham Cathedral: built in northern England 1093-1130, has groin-vaulted aisles. Its nave is
groin-vaulted with ribbing, and is the immediate ancestor of Gothic churches. Also has
interesting incised designs on its nave pillars.
St. Etienne, Caen: begun in Normandy c. 1067-1100, its austerely powerful two-towered
Westwork was built around 1100, and is the direct ancestor of Gothic facades. St. Etienne’s
interior was groin-vaulted with ribbing (like Durham) in the 1120s; it was originally timber-roofed.
Bury Bible: illuminated in England at Bury Saint Edmunds by Master Hugo c. 1135. It has a
lively figural style, with abstracted color and interesting linear patterns on the drapery (Moses
Expounds the Law) that are derived ultimately from Byzantine art, and lovely border motifs.
The Bayeux Tapestry: actually embroidered, it depicts the story of the Norman conquest of
England in 1066 with a wealth of narrative detail. Demonstrates the growing interest in secular
(non-religious) themes in later Medieval art. The style very flat and two-dimensional, but lively
(Battle of Hastings). Sewn ca. 1066-82.
Mosan Metal Sculpture: the Meuse river region in Eastern Belgium and western Germany
produced some of the finest Romanesque church furniture, notable for its Byzantine influenced
naturalism. Famous works include the bronze baptismal font of renier of Huy (1107) and the
silvere and bronze Reliquary for the skull of Pope Saint Alexander (c. 1145).
Pisa Cathedral: part of an ensemble built 1053-1272, and which includes the famous Leaning
Tower. The Cathedral (1063-1118 and later) has a facade with multiple stacked colonnades
which remind one of ancient Roman facades (i.e. the Colosseum). The nave is timber roofed in
imitation of the great Early Christian Basilicas of Rome (i.e. Old St. Peter's). The transept has a
dome and the apse bears a Byzantinizing mosaic, both testimonies to Pisa's trade with the
Byzantine Empire in this period.
Wiligelmus: sculptor who made four lively panels depicting the Creation and Fall of Man (up to
Noah) from the Book of Genesis around 1100. These were built into the façade of Modena
Cathedral after 1106. The arcaded frame of Wiligelmus’ panels suggest that he was imitating
Early Christian sculpted sarcophagi (see the Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus), although his
lumpy figures are scarcely very Roman.
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