(7) Church History (33-1517): Notable Artists and their Art and Architects and their Architecture (inc. Churches, Paintings, Sculptures, Icons, etc.)

Church Art (All Facts)

• Most artists in Middle Ages Europe worked for the Church

• Most artwork focused on religious themes

• Religious artwork provided images to help illiterate serfs understand the Bible

225 - Main Events (All Facts)

• Year in which the first Christian paintings appear in Rome, adorning the catacombs

324 - Archbasilica of St. John Lateran (All Facts)

• Catholic Cathedral of the Diocese of Rome in the city of Rome 

• It serves as the seat of the Pope 

• It was consecrated as a church during the reign of Constantine the Great (date displayed)

• It hosted the Council of Arles

St. Agnes Church “Outside the Walls” (All Facts)

• Church constructed during the reign of Constantine the Great 

St. Sebastian Church “Outside the Walls” (All Facts) 

• Church constructed during the reign of Constantine the Great 

• The church was built over the catacombs of the namesake saint 

Papal Basilica of St. Paul “Outside the Walls” (All Facts) 

• Church constructed during the reign of Constantine the Great 

• The church was built over the burial place of of the namesake saint

330 - Church of the Holy Apostles (All Facts)

• Constructed and consecrated during the reign of Constantine the Great 

335 - Church of the Holy Sepulchre (All Facts)

• Holiest site in Christianity

• It has been an important pilgrimage site for Christians since the fourth century

• Contains both the site where Jesus was crucified at Golgotha and the location of Jesus's empty tomb, where he was buried and resurrected

  • Christ’s tomb on Golgotha was discovered to be on the site of an old temple to Aphrodite 

• Constructed and consecrated during the reign of Constantine the Great 

  • Christians from every corner of the Roman Empire were expected to flock to Jerusalem to see this shrine, the greatest in Christianity 

• Also contained an attached basilica with five aisles and a large atrium 

360 - Old St. Peter’s Basilica (All Facts)

• Located on the Vatican Hill 

• Church that was constructed during the reign of Constantine the Great 

  • It was built over the site of the Circus of Nero 

  • Completed on the date displayed 

  • Demolished in 1505 

Mar Saba (All Facts) 

• Holy Larva (Monastery) founded by St. Sabbas the Sanctified in the 400s

• It is considered one of the world's oldest (almost) continuously inhabited monasteries, and it maintains many of its ancient traditions

548 - 565 - St. Catherine’s Monastery (All Facts)

• Christian monastery located in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt

• It was built by Justinian of the Byzantine Empire

• It enclosed what is claimed to be the area where Moses saw the Burning Bush

• It is the world's oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery

• It was built nearly 5,000 feet above sea level at the foot of Mt. Sinai 

• It was fortified 

• It was decorated with mosaics of the Transfiguration and painted icons 

• Became an anchorage point of Christianity 

360 - 1453 - Hagia Sophia (All Facts)

• Reconstructed and consecrated by Justinian of the Byzantine Empire in 537

• Designed by Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus

• Became the world's largest interior space and among the first to employ a fully pendentive dome

• It is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and is said to have "changed the history of architecture"

• Procopius, a Greek Historian under the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, once remarked that the effects of light and space inside the church made it an “ineffable beauty” and he said it seemed as if “radiance is generated within, so great an abundance of light bathes this shrine all around”

Basilica of San Vitale / Church of St. Vitalis (All Facts) 

• Church in Ravenna whose construction begun under Ostrogothic rule by a rich banker

• Its interior was decorated with beautiful mosaics made from thousands of colored glass cubes, which reflected the light and bathed the church in their rich colors, mainly green and gold

• Church which Justinian and Theodora of the Byzantine Empire had stared down from the chancel

Basilica of St. Apollinaris (All Facts)

Vivarium (All Facts)

• Monastery founded by Cassiodorus in southern Italy around 544, which had a biblical studies center and library attached to it

• It became a place where Roman scholars worked on preserving Greek and Latin classical literature

683 - Jarrow Library (All Facts)

685 - Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Abbey (All Facts)

Illuminated Manuscript (All Facts)

• Formally prepared document where the text is decorated with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations

• Were often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers and liturgical books such as psalters and courtly literature

Abbey of Echternach (All Facts)

• Founded by St. Willibrord

Lindisfarne Monastery (All Facts)

Noirmoutier Abbey (All Facts)

• Sacked by the Vikings in 842

Mandylion (All Facts)

Romanesque (All Facts)

• Roman-inspired style of architecture that came to dominate Christian Europe by 1100

• Style that was derived from the round Roman arch, which it repeats in series to divide church naves and abbey cloisters into bays and in which half-columns were built against flat wall surfaces, with capitals which no longer were in classical Roman styles

• Style characterized by its carved capitals, which appeared on church columns and around the arches of churches throughout England and Europe

  • The carved capitals took the form of demons, dragons, and fabulous monsters such as centaurs (symbolizing drunken lechery, or the basilisk, a mixture of rooster and serpent

1094 - St. Mark’s Basilica (All Facts)

1098 - Citeaux Abbey (All Facts)

• Abbey that was the original home of the Cistercian Order of Catholic monks and nuns in France

• Abbey founded on the same day as the feast of St. Benedict, which was appropriate since the 21 monks that founded it saw themselves renewing the Benedictine Rule

  • It also happened to be Palm Sunday

  • It was founded in a desolate swamp some 14 miles from the town of Dijon

1114 - Pontigny Abbey (All Facts)

• Cistercian Abbey in France

1116 - Clairvaux Abbey (All Facts)

• Third daughter monastery of the Citeaux Abbey of the Cistercian Order of Catholic monks and nuns in France

• Served as an archetype for Cistercian monasteries

1118 - Abbey of Fontenay (All Facts)

• Cistercian Abbey in France

Stained-Glass Windows (All Facts)

• By the 1100s, they demonstrated the high-level glass technology found throughout Europe

• Their creation was made possible by the coloring of glass by the addition of particular metal salts including

  • Copper for Green

  • Copper or Gold Chloride for Red

  • Iron or Silver

1131 / 1267 - Cefalu Cathedral (All Facts)

• Built during the reign of King Roger II of Sicily

1135 - Basilica of Saint Denis (All Facts)

• Built outside Paris by Abbot Suger

• Its choir and westwork was rebuilt by Suger

• It was the first example of mature Gothic, with it slender pillars and pointed arches which allowed big lancet windows with stained glass in the apse chapels, with statues having adorned the porch

1163 - Notre Dame Cathedral (All Facts)

• Catholic Cathedral in Paris

• Its external flying buttresses enabled clerestory as well as ground floor windows to be treated as a frame, with a thin web of stone and glass between

• It was known for its rose windows

1185 - Lincoln Cathedral (All Facts)

• Exemplary of High Gothic architecture, in which new construction techniques were used to varied aesthetic ends and structures themselves were made ornamental

1196 - Chartres Cathedral (All Facts)

• Exemplary of High Gothic architecture, in which new construction techniques were used to varied aesthetic ends and structures themselves were made ornamental

• Its two great spires were raised by Bishop Regnault, and could be seen 20 miles in any direction

• Its 160 windows were filled with stained glass, including its great rose window, which bathes its interior in blue light

• Its portals were decorated with holy statues

1196 - Bourges Cathedral (All Facts)

• Exemplary of High Gothic architecture, in which new construction techniques were used to varied aesthetic ends and structures themselves were made ornamental

1211 - Reims Cathedral (All Facts)

• Cathedral where French Kings were crowned

• It was rebuilt with 550 statues known as “the smiling angels”

1220 - Amiens Cathedral (All Facts)

1220 - Salisbury Cathedral (All Facts)

1239 - Wells Cathedral (All Facts)

1290 - Basilica of St. Francis / Basilica of San Francesco (All Facts)

1342 - Palais des Papes (All Facts)

• This is the Papal Palace at Avignon in France

• It

  • was an imposing building, with four wings built around a cloister

  • had no extravagant sculptures

  • had an interior that carried an atmosphere of monastic simplicity, even austerity

  • was in marked contrast to the ornate palaces which many cardinals had built on the north bank of the Rhone River just outside the city

  • had a style that suggested that is papal occupant became sensitive to the critics of the papacy’s corruption

1387 - Milan Cathedral (All Facts)

1400s - Basilica of St. Mark / Basilica of San Marco (All Facts)

• It was home to two famous Italian Dominicans, the painter Fra Angelico and the preacher Girolamo Savonarola

1377 - 1446 - Filippo Brunelleschi (All Facts)

• Italian Renaissance Architect

  • He is considered the “Father of Italian Renaissance Architecture”

• He is considered to have discovered and later used “Perspective” not just for the Italian Renaissance painters, but in his own architectural and scientific drawings of the (early) 1400s

1436 - Filippo Brunelleschi: Florence Cathedral / Cathedral of St. Mary the Flower / Santa Maria dei Fiore (All Facts)

• Known for its self-supporting octagonal dome designed by the namesake architect

1404 - 1472 - Leon Battista Alberti (All Facts)

• Italian Renaissance Architect

1420 - Leon Battista Alberti: Church of Santa Maria Novella (All Facts)

• Decorated with paintings by Paolo Uccello

1470 - Leon Battista Alberti: Basilica of San Sebastiano / Church of St. Sebastian (All Facts)

• Located in Mantua in Italy

• He crystallized Italian Renaissance ideas on architectural proportions and harmonious design

• His use of classical elements for the namesake church deprived it of an “ecclesiastical” flavor

1449 - 1494 - Baccio Pontelli (All Facts)

• Italian Renaissance Architect

1483 / 1508 - Baccio Pontelli: Sistine Chapel (All Facts)

• Named after Pope Sixtus IV

1444 - 1514 - Donato Bramante (All Facts)

• Italian Renaissance Architect

• He was not long for this world

1502 - Donato Bramante: Tempietto del Bramante / Tempietto di San Pietro (All Facts)

• Cathedral which commemorates the site traditionally regarded as the location of St. Peter’s crucifixion

• Structure which is considered a masterpiece of High Renaissance architecture, with scholars and architects noting its harmonious proportions and the namesake architect’s symbolic adaptation of Classical and early Christian architectural elements

• The namesake architect’s classical intention could be seen in miniature in the namesake

1506 - Donato Bramante / Raphael: St. Peter’s Basilica (All Facts)

• Its foundation stone was laid down by Pope Julius II, who entrusted the namesake architect to construct it

• Work which was financed by the selling of indulgences for the remission of sins

  • This was perpetuated by the Fugger banking family

• Upon the namesake’s death (pictured), the latter namesake (not pictured) took charge of building the namesake

1483 - 1520 - Raphael (All Facts)

• Italian Renaissance Painter

  • He was from Urbino

  • He was the son of a painter

  • He was a relative of Donato Bramante

  • He was a friend and commissioned painter to two Popes

• He studied with Perugino so successfully that people could (can) not tell his work from that of his master

• He studied the work of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo in Flroence

• He then went to Rome where Pope Julius II appointed him to decorate the Vatican apartments with great semi-circular frescoes

  • These frescoes consisted of biblical scenes and scenes of classical antiquity

  • He was also in charge of the decorative work at the Vatican Palace

  • He also drew the life-size cartoons for the tapestries to be woven for the Sistine Chapel

• His secular portraits were as masterly as his serene Madonna

• He died of a fever on Good Friday, his birthday, having divided his possessions among his “disciples”

1510 - Raphael: Garvagh Madonna (All Facts)

1512 - Raphael: Pope Julius II (All Facts)

• Portrait which depicts what a restless, fiery man the namesake was

• Portrait which was considered so lifelike that people trembled at it

1475 - 1564 - Michelangelo (All Facts)

• Italian Renaissance Painter and Sculptor

  • He was from Florence

  • His last name was Buonarotti, but he is better known by his first namesake name

  • He restored the “Laocoon” sculpture group of the Hellenic era which was discovered in Rome during the papacy of Pope Julius II who asked him to restore it

• He was asked to build Pope Julius II’s tomb

  • His progress on the tomb was halted by a quarrel

  • He was refused admission to see Pope Julius II about obtaining the money he had paid for the marble

  • He left Rome for Florence and refused entreaties to return, hailing himself a proud sculptor

  • He and Pope Julius II were eventually reconciled, Pope Julius II asked him not to continue working on the tomb

• He was instead asked by Pope Julius II to paint the Sistine Chapel

  • He tried to escape this task too, but at last on this request Pope Julius II could not be defied

1499 - Michelangelo: Pieta (All Facts)

1512 - Michelangelo: Sistine Chapel Ceiling (All Facts)

• Work in which the namesake painter spent four years lying on his back, working alone behind locked doors, but was constantly harassed by Pope Julius II demanding that he should work faster

• Work which depicts God’s creation of the world

1512 - Michelangelo: Sistine Chapel Ceiling, the Creation of Adam (All Facts)