EARLY CHRISTIAN ART

BEFORE 100 CE

There is no art that has survived that can be 100 percent said to be Christian

Prior to 100 Christians may have been constrained by their position as a persecuted group from producing durable works of art.

Since Christianity was largely a religion of lower classes in this period, the lack of surviving art may reflect a lack of funds for patronage.

The Old Testament restrictions against the production of graven (an idol or fetish carved in wood or stone) images, may also have constrained Christians from producing art.

It is also possible that Christians purchased art using pagan iconography, but gave it Christian meanings. If this happened, "Christian" art would not be immediately recognizable as such.

EARLY CHRISTIAN ICONOGRAPHY

During the persecution of Christians under the Roman Empire, Christian art was necessarily and deliberately furtive and ambiguous, using imagery that was shared with pagan culture but had a special meaning for Christians.

Jesus was represented indirectly by pictogram symbols such as the Ichthys (fish), peacock, Lamb of God, or an anchor .

Later personified symbols were used, including Jonah, whose three days in the belly of the whale pre-figured the interval between Christ's death and Resurrection

The image of "The Good Shepherd", a beardless youth in pastoral scenes collecting sheep, was the most common of these images, and was probably not understood as a portrait of the historical Jesus.

These images bear some resemblance to depictions of korus figures in Greco-Roman art.

the Good Shepherd carrying his sheep (symbol of humanitarian concern)

The lamb symbolizes Jesus' sacrifice or Christians when there are several.

The figure of the Good Shepherd resembles earlier shepherd figures in pagan Classical art that represent benevolence and philanthropy. Additional meaning would have been ascribed to the figure by early Christian viewers in the context of Christ's phrase "I am the shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep," and St John the Baptist's description of Christ as "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world."

The dove is a symbol of peace and purity. It can be found with a halo or celestial light.

dove (peace hereafter)

WHO DOES THIS REMINDED YOU OF?

The images Isis Lacton Her tears would flood the Nile Compares her to Mary and Jesus. Christians adopt the mother child

image

CHRISTIAN BORROW SYMBOLS

Symbols come from Greek alphabet

Used to deceive Romans

The Chi Rho is one of the earliest forms of christogram, and is used by Christians.

It is formed by superimposing the first two letters in the Greek spelling of the word Christ ( Greek : "Χριστός" ), chi = ch and rho = r, in such a way to produce the monogram.

Although not technically a cross, the Chi Rho invokes the crucifixion of Jesus as well as symbolizing his status as the Christ.

The Chi-Rho symbol was also used by pagan Greek scribes to mark, in the margin, a particularly valuable or relevant passage; the combined letters Chi and Rho standing for chrēston, meaning "good."Some coins of Ptolemy III Euergetes were marked with a Chi-Rho.

Initially, Christians avoided iconic images of religious figures, and sarcophagi were decorated with ornaments, Christian symbols like the Chi Rho monogram and, later, narrative religious scenes.

The Early Christians' habit, after the end of their persecution, of building churches (most famously St Peter's, Rome) over the burial places of martyrs who had originally been buried discreetly or in a mass grave perhaps led to the most distinctive feature of Christian funerary art, the church monument, or tomb inside a church.

HOW ART WAS USED IN DEATH

Funerary art is any work of art forming, or placed in, a repository for the remains of the dead.

The Catacombs of Rome contain most of the surviving Christian art of the Early Christian period, mainly in the form of frescos and sculpted sarcophagi.

They show a Christian iconography emerging, initially from Roman popular decorative art, but later borrowing from official imperial and pagan motifs.

WHY THE CHANGE FROM NATURALISM

The classic style of Greek and Roman art was abandoned by the 4th century.

Naturalism is no longer important to Christians.

The spiritual has replaced the physical. The standards of beauty that defined

Classical art, specifically those defining the beauty of the human body, have been replaced by a more abstract standard of beauty.

The new standard still depended on visual balance and order, but it has little or no interest in the body, since it is the symbolism of an image that true beauty is believed to lie.

ART AS EDUCATION

Christian use the arts as a tool to educate. The illiterate Christians use the art to

understand stories/myths of the religion. People would see art and ask for the story

behind it. It helped to spread Christian. Images became famous due to them

becoming familiar to the masses . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yGyKh

CAlRQ

QUESTIONS…

Who is the Good Shepherd? Why did Christians use Greek letters to

make the word Christ? Why did Christians turn away from

Naturalism? Why is there no art before 100 ce?