AP Art History: Late Antique and Byzantine (U3: Early Europe and Colonial Americas)

Catacomb of Priscilla

DOC: 200-400 CE

ROO: Rome, Italy

M: Tufa + Fresco

- tombs of several popes + christian martyrs

- poor buried in simple niches, rich buried in ornate sarcophogi

- popular pilgrimmage site

Greek Chapel (Catacomb of Priscilla)

- not a place of worship

- 3 niches for sarcophogi

- painted in pompeiian style

f(x):

- burial place for roman woman priscilla + 2 fam members

Orant Fresco (Catacomb of Priscilla)

- over a family tomb

- theory: shows cont. narrative of woman's life (marriage, motherhood, death)

- teaches what a good christian is

f(x):

- rep. either a fig. in prayer/ soul of the deceased

Good Shepherd fresco (Catacomb of Priscilla)

- shows Christ in a pastoral setting as a shepherd

- imagery of doves (peace)

- orant figures

- cruciform arrangement of images

- stories depicted in lunettes = events from Old Testament

Santa Sabina

DOC: 422-432 CE

ROO: Rome, Italy

M: Brick, stone, wood roof

- basic exterior, v. pretty interior

- focus on creating airy, weightless space (God's light/creation)

- less focus on geo. forms defining spaces (man's creation)

f(x):

- Roman basilica --> place of worship

- martryium of St. Sabina

The Hagia Sophia

DOC: 532-537 CE

ROO: Constantinople (Istanbul, Turkey)

- name= holy wisdom

- dome supported by pendentives

- patrons: Emperor Justinian + Empress Theodora

- dome: 40 windows creating halo of light

- walls had mosaics, covered when became mosque

- Ottoman empire: added towers --> mosque

f(x):

- site of elaborate religious spectacles/worship

- center of the Eastern Orthodox world for centuries

Basilica of San Vitale

DOC: 526-547 CE

ROO: Italy

M: Brick, marble, stone

- octagonal, centrally planned church

- Roman + Byzantine elements

- Roman: dome, mosaic

- Byzantine: column capitals, flying buttresses, airy interior

- several mosaics of Emperor Justinian + Empress Theodora

- lots of large windows to illuminate int.

f(x):

- martyrium

Justinian and Attendants (Basilica of San Vitale)

- mosaic

- RHS: clergy

- LHS: military + state officials

- shows Justinian as religious, military + political authority

- figs create symmetrical comp.

- Justinian robed in purple+gold, bearing halo --> shows his semi-divinity + royalty

- holds bowl for the Eucharist

Theodora and Attendants (Basilica of San Vitale)

- mosaic

- she's flanked by her court, not symmetrically --> shows she doesn't play as central as a role as her husband

- heavily ornamented in jewelry, purple robe, 3 wise men on bottom hem of dress

Vienna Genesis

DOC: early 700s CE

M: illuminated manuscript, pigment on vellum

- purple vellum w/silver script in Greek --> royal institution/patron

- cont. narrative: several events from a narrative in one frame

- figs: softly modeled, contrapposto, foreshortening

- BUT: setting's shallow, b/g lacks ground lines

--> shows society transition from classical convention --> Christian convention

f(x):

- illustrate events of Genesis

Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well (Vienna Genesis)

- Rebecca goes to spring for water (personified as Roman goddess)

- quenches thirst of camel drive/camels

Jacob Wrestling the Angel (Vienna Genesis)

- jacob, his wives, maids, kids cross roman looking bridge

- ground lines create register like comp. connected by bridge

- show roman E (registers, arch) + Byzantine E (flattened spaces, heavily clothed figs)

Virgin and Child between Saints Theodore and George

DOC: late 700s- early 800s CE

ROO: Sinai, Egypt

M: Encaustic on Wood

- example of an icon (rare b/c many destroyed in iconoclastic controversy)

- figs painted diff --> 2-3 artists worked

- some atmospheric + linear perspective

- tone: formal

- symmetrical comp. creates sense of divine order

- figs most important in foreground centrally

- all have halos --> divine