Chapter 7: Late Antique Art

Jesus Christ

He founded Christianity in the first century C.E.

Church Peace

began with Constantine's victory at the Milvian Bridge in 312 C.E.

Catacomb

an underground passageway used for burial

The Annunciation

The Angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will be the virgin mother of Jesus.

The Visitation

Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth to tell her the news that she is pregnant with Jesus.

Christmas or the Nativity

The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.

Adoration of the Magi

Traditionally, three kings, who are also astrologers, are attracted by a star that shines over Jesus’s manger.

Massacre of the Innocents

After Jesus is born, King Herod issues an order to execute all male infants in the hope of killing him.

Baptism of Jesus

John the Baptist, Jesus’s cousin, baptizes him in the Jordan River.

Calling of the Apostles

Jesus gathers his followers, including Saint Matthew and Saint Peter, as his ministry moves forward.

Miracles

To prove his divinity, Jesus performs a number of miracles, like multiplying loaves and fishes, resurrecting the deceased Lazarus, and changing water into wine at the Wedding at Cana.

Giving the Keys

Sensing his own death, Jesus gives Saint Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven, in effect installing him as the leader when he is gone, and therefore the first pope.

Transfiguration

Jesus transfigures himself into God before the eyes of his apostles; this is the high point of his ministry.

Palm Sunday

Jesus enters Jerusalem in triumph, greeted by throngs with palm branches.

Last Supper

Before Jesus is arrested, he has a final meal with his disciples in which he institutes the Eucharist—that is, his body and blood in the form of bread and wine; at this meal he reveals that he knows that one of his apostles, Judas, has betrayed him for 30 pieces of silver.

Crucifixion

After a brief series of trials, Jesus is sentenced to death for sedition.

Deposition

The taking down of **Jesus’s** dead body from the cross

Lamentation

Jesus being mourned by his family and friends after his crucifixion and descent from the Cross.

Entombment

The burial of Jesus

Pieta

The lamentation of Jesus’s death

Resurrection

On Easter Sunday, three days later, Jesus rises from the dead.

New Testament

Also important are four author portraits of the Evangelists, who are the writers of the principal books, or gospels, of the \____.

Gospels

the first four books of the New Testament that chronicle the life of Jesus

Catacomb paintings

show a sensitivity toward artistic programs rather than random images.

Lunette

a crescent-shaped space, sometimes over a doorway, that contains sculpture or painting

Orant figure

a figure with its hands raised in prayer

Greek Chapel

• Named for two Greek inscriptions painted on the right niche.

• Three niches for sarcophagi.

Orant fresco

Fresco over a tomb niche set over an arched wall; cemetery of a family vault.

Good Shepherd fresco

Restrained portrait of Christ a pastoral motif in ancient art going back to the Greeks.

Loculi

openings in the walls of catacombs to receive the dead

Cubicula

small underground rooms in catacombs serving as mortuary chapels

Transept

an aisle in a church perpendicular to the nave, where the clergy originally stood

Basilicas

with their large, groin-vaulted interiors and impressive naves, were meeting places for the influential under the watchful gaze of the emperor’s statue.

Transept

an aisle in a church perpendicular to the nave, where the clergy originally stood

Nave

the main aisle of a church

Narthex/vestibule

was positioned as a transitional zone in the front of the church.

Atrium

was constructed in front of the building, framing the façade.

catechumens

Atria also housed the \____, those who expressed a desire to convert to Christianity but had not yet gone through the initiation rites.

Spolia

in art history, the reuse of architectural or sculptural pieces in buildings generally different from their original contexts

Apse

the endpoint of a church where the altar is located

Clerestory

the third, or window, story of a church

Coffer

in architecture, a sunken panel in a ceiling

Ambulatory

a passageway around the apse or altar of a church

Central plan

a church having a circular plan with the altar in the middle

Axial Plan

a church with a long nave whose focus is the apse; so-called because it is designed along an axis

Spolia

tall slender columns taken from the Temple of Juno in Rome, erected on this site; a statement about the triumph of Christianity over paganism.

Catacomb of Priscilla

• passageways beneath Rome that extend for about 100 miles and contain the tombs of 4 million dead.

• has some 40,000 burials.

• Called in that name because she was the donor of the land for her family’s burial.

Santa Sabina

• Early Christian parish church.

• As in the Jewish tradition, men and women stood separately; the men stood in the main aisle, the women in the side aisles with a partial view.

• founded by Pope Celestine I (422–432).