Karina Brito
Art 1010-002
March 6, 2012
Art of the Ancients Repot
EARLY CHRISTIAN AND BYZANTINE ART
Early Christian and Byzantine Art brought an end to the Roman Empire; it
brought a beginning to a religion where everybody was persecuted for what they believe
in. Early Christianity is most known from the second century to the fourth century, and
Byzantine art is known to be from the fifth century to the fall of Constantinople. This
report is going to talk about Early Christian art, which is separated into two phases; the
period of persecution, and the period of recognition. Later is going to explain Byzantine
Art.
Early Christian art is well known to have a lot of iconography, and manuscript
illumination. The form of art that they would use was Fresco paintings, mosaics, and
sculptures. To explain better how early Christian Art started we have to look at it in two
phases; the phase of the period of persecution and the phase of the period of
recognition. The first phase, the period of persecution, is about how before Emperor
Constantine came into power; Christians were persecuted for not acknowledging the
emperor as god. Since Christians were to scare to practice their religion in the open,
they would worship in secret. They would use catacombs which were underground
burial places where Christians would hide in times of persecution. Some catacombs
were really big; the ones in Rome were 90 miles long and accommodated about six
million bodies.
Chambers (inside the catacombs) called cubicula served as small chapels where
early Christians worshipped and prayed for their dead. One of the most famous
frescoes that are painted in catacombs is The Good Shepherd. Many of the Early
Christian and Byzantine art would tell stories from the bible, the Old Testament. Since
there was so little light in the catacombs many frescoes were unfinished, but a lot had
manuscript illumination.
The second phase of Early Christian Art is known as the period of recognition. In
the period of recognition, Christianity was not forbidden no more. After Constantine
became emperor people weren’t forced to worship outside, to the other gods. During
this phase Christians used a lot of roman architecture. One of the most important
buildings they built was St. Peter’s Cathedral, which had a longitudinal plan (Latin cross
plan). Another important thing they brought was small round buildings with central
plans. The cathedrals were decorated with mosaics, which was adopted from the
Romans and comprised most of the ornamentation in Early Christian churches. Artists
of the Period of Recognition also illuminated manuscripts and created some sculpture
and small carvings.
Byzantine Art was more known to be between the fifth century to the fall of
Constantinople in 1453. Byzantine Art was created after the Early Christian era in
Byzantium, Ravenna, Venice, Sicily, Greece, Russia and other Eastern countries.
Byzantine art is a transfer from an earthbound realism to a more spiritual style.
Byzantine figures appear to be weightless; they have a great deal of symbolism and it
has more detail than Early Christian art.
One of the most highly structured buildings decorated in the Byzantine style is
San Vitale, Ravenna. San Vitale was the capital of the western empire, and it was
designed as a central plan church. It has an organic figure, both inside and outside. It
has the shape of a flower. The space flows freely, and the disparate forms are unified.
The church is decorated with mosaic borders, and carved with complex interlacing
designs. One mosaic that shows Byzantine art style is Justinian Attendants. Justinian
Attendants is an apse mosaic; it has a style of perfection. The mosaic commemorates
Justinian’s victory over the Goths and proclaims him ruler of Ravenna and the western
half of the Roman Empire. This mosaic shows us that they were changing style, which
the corporeality of the body is less significant than the soul.
Another church that it’s really important is Hagia Sophia, Constantinople. Hagia
Sophia is the church of Holy Wisdom. It is a fantastic structure that has served at one
time or other in its history as an Eastern Orthodox Church, and Islamic mosque, and a
museum. The most fascinating thing about the church is its overall dimensions and the
size of its dome. The church really represents the architectural monuments of Roman
times. The architects used four triangular surfaces called pendentives to support the
massive dome. The interior of Byzantine churches are decorated with inlaid marble and
mosaic.
Byzantine church architecture continued until the twelfth century. It used both
central and longitudinal plans. They even came up with the Greek cross plan, which
was used in St, Mark’s Cathedral in Venice. Overall Early Christian Art is really similar
to Byzantine Art. They are extremely identical on their architecture, and they came up
with the help of the Romans, with plans that made beautiful buildings. The only
difference is the time period, and the detail and symbolism in the art work.
Sources

Fichner-Rathus Lois. Understand Art. 2010,2007 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Mar 1,
2012.

"Early Christian art and architecture." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed..
2008. Encyclopedia.com. 4 Mar. 2012<http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rgrosser/germany/dka/sanvitale.jpg

http://campus.belmont.edu/honors/HagiaSophia/HagiaSophia.html