APAH: Unit 3 - Roman, Early Christian, Byzantine, & Medieval Art

House of Vetti

House of Vetti (culture & location)

Roman; Pompeii, Italy

House of Vetti (date & material)

67-79 CE; stone & fresco

House of Vetti (use & facts)

• home of two merchant brothers

• destroyed when Mt. Vesuvius (79 CE)

• narrow entrance from street leads to open atrium

• impluvium (catch basin) collets rainwater

• cubicula (bedrooms) radiate from atrium

• peristyle garden with sculpture & fountain

• no exterior windows

Coliseum (Flavian Ampitheater)

Coliseum (culture & location)

Roman; Rome, Italy

Coliseum (date & material)

70-80 CE; stone & concrete

Coliseum (use & facts)

• houesd entertainment to prevent rebellion

• system of arches

• embedded Doric, Ionic, & Corinthian columns

• held 10,000 people

• site of gladiator games (kept people from rebelling)

• could be flooded for mock battles

Basilica of Ulpia

Basilica of Ulpia (culture & location)

Roman; Rome, Italy

Basilica of Ulpia (date, material, creator)

112 CE; timber; Apollodorus of Damascus

Basilica of Ulpia (use & facts)

• housed law courts & markets

• part of the complex of Trajan (an emperor)

• 385 by 182 ft, two apses (large recesses), immense interior space

• double colonnaded aisles

• second floor had clerestory windows

• Ulpia is Trajan’s family name

Market of Trajan

Market of Trajan (culture & location)

Roman; Rome, Italy

Market of Trajan (date & material)

106-112 CE; brick & concrete

Market of Trajan (use & facts)

• housed shops

• original market had 150 shops, to form a multilevel mall

• semicircular

• used groin & barrel vaults

Column of Trajan

Column of Trajan (culture & location)

Romna; Rome, Italy

Column of Trajan (date & materials)

113 CE; brick, concrete, & marble

Column of Trajan (use & facts)

• burial chamber of Trajan depicting his success in life

• narrative or Roman battles

• emphasizes methodical planning & imperial leadership

• shows battles, Roman army building bridges, forts, training, & making sacrifices to gods

• shows theme of Roman power

• shows Trajan’s victories blessed by personification of Victory (Nike)

• relief sculpture

Pantheon

Pantheon (culture & location)

Roman; Rome, Italy

Pantheon (date & material)

118-125 CE; concrete with stone facing

Pantheon (use & facts)

• temple to all the Roman gods

• Roman engineering, practicality, & style (first dome!)

• niches carved out were occupied by statues of all gods (pan = all)

• walls are 20ft thick

• Corinthian columns

• 27ft “oculus” provides light

• coffered ceiling (makes roof lighter)

• height = width

• geometry!

Petra

Petra (culture & location)

Roman & Nabataen style; Jordan

Petra (date & material)

400 BCE-100 CE; sandstone

Petra (use & facts)

• city

• built by Nabataeans & territory annexed by Romans

• built as part of trade route

• tombs cut into rock, no remains found

• Treasury at Petra (most intricate)

• entrance is Siq (long thin pathway between rock)

Pentheus Room

Pentheus Room (culture & location)

Roman; Pompeii, Italy

Pentheus Room (date & material)

67-79 CE; paint on plaster

Pentheus Room (ues & facts)

• Décor of a house of rich merchants

• on the walls of the House of Vettii

• fresco = paint on wet plaster that sets when it dries

• shows death of Greek hero Pentheus

• located in triclinium (dining room)

• vistas of “outside” & fake marble “dado”

Alexander Mosaic

Alexander Mosaic (culture & location)

Roman; Pompeii Italy

Alexander Mosaic (date & material)

100 BCE; mosiac of tiles (tesserae)

Alexander Mosaic (use & facts)

• house decor

• 8 by 17 ft

• found in House of the Faun

• arranged in gradual curves called opus vermiculatum

• depicts Battle of Issus where Alexander defeats Persian army

Head of a Roman Patrician

Head of Roman Patrician (culture)

Roman

Head of a Roman Patrician (date & material)

75-50 BCE; marble

Head of a Roman Patrician (use & facts)

• displays Roman values of age & wisdom

• veristic portrait = extremely realistic

• shows Etruscan & Hellenistic styles

• Roman valued experience, wisdom, tenacity = age

Augustus of Prima Porta

Augustus of Prima Porta (culture & location)

Roman; Prima Porta, Italy

Augustus of Prima Porta (date & material)

1st century CE; marble

Augustus of Prima Porta (use & facts)

• shows Roman ideals: military victory, religious, powerful, ideology

• Cupid on dolphin (at bottom) = victory over Mark Antony

• son of Julius Caesar

• breastplate (cuirass) refers to Pax Romana

• idealized, young, vital, contrapposto

• warrior, civic ruler, orator

Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus

Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus (culture & location)

Roman; Via Tiburtina, Italy

Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus (date & material)

250 CE; marble

Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus (use & facts)

• sarcophagus for burial

• writhing & emotive people

• relief carving

• depicts battle between Romans & Goths (France)

• no sense of order

San Vitale

San Vitale (culture & location)

Byzantine; Ravenna, Italy

San Vitale (date & material)

536-547 CE; brick, marble, & stone, glass & gold tesserae mosaic

San Vitale (use & facts)

• Church mosaic decor

• Justinian mosaic (in apse) depicts him uniting the Church & state laws under the emperor

• balance between Church, state, & military

• elongated figures, not realistic, stiff upright pose, spiritual, ethereal, votive eyes, iconography of religion

• Theodora mosaic depicts her entering courtyard & shows her power in Byzantine empire

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia (culture & location)

Byzantine; Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey

Hagia Sophia (date, material, & creator)

532-537 CE; brick, ceramic, stone, & mosaic; Anthemius of Tralles & Isadorus of Miletus

Hagia Sophia (use & facts)

• Christian church (later mosque)

• Byzantium’s greatest building & architectural accomplishment

• Church that became a Mosque that is now a museum

• minarets added & mosaics plastered over when it became a mosque

• “floating dome of heaven” covered in windows

• mosaics covered all walls & dome

• dome built on pendentive = curved vaulted triangle supporting the dome

• Theotokos mosaic depicts Virgin & Child

• Deesis Mosaic depicts adult Christ

• symbol of Byzantium’s religious & cultural mission

• beautiful marbles from across Byzantine empire make up walls & floors

Vienna Genesis

Vienna Genesis (culture)

Byzantine

Vienna Genesis (date & material)

early 6th century CE; tempura, gold, & silver on purple vellum

Vienna Genesis (use & facts)

• illuminated manuscript for display

• Rebecca & Eliezer at the Well and Jacob Wrestling the Angel

• vellum = calfskin

• purple sheets = royal with silver writing (now tarnished)

• Rebecca page is a continuous narrative

• Rebecca has a river mermaid/goddess, out of place in Christian narrative

• Classical Greek elements (Jacob) = arches, columns, & drapery

• part of codex (book with vellum pages)-

The Virgin & Child Between Saints Theodore & George

The Virgin & Child Between Saints Theodore & George (culture & location)

Byzantine; Egypt

The Virgin & Child Between Saints Theodore & George (date & material)

6th-early 7th century CE; encaustic (pigment & wax) on wood

The Virgin & Child Between Saints Theodore & George (use & facts)

• display in a Church

• icon

• spacial ambiguity (flat)

• no expression, Virgin has no eye contact

• elongation, floating in another world (ethereal)

• Mary = “God bearer” = Theotokos

• classicizing Roman style – drapery & value shading

Catacomb of Priscilla

Catacomb of Priscilla (culture & location)

Early Christian; Rome, Italy

Catacomb of Priscilla (date & material)

200-400 CE; tufa (volcanic rock) & fresco

Catacomb of Priscilla (use & facts)

• early Christian burial site

• not a place of worship

• 3 niches of sarcophagi

• Pompeii-style paintings (realistic fresco)

• holds 40,000 dead

• burial shelves inside = loculi

• chapels here = cubicula

• orant = prayer pose

Santa Sabina

Santa Sabina (culture & location)

Romanesque; Rome, Italy

Santa Sabina (date & material)

422-432 CE; brick, stone, & wooden roof

Santa Sabina (use & facts)

• basilica church

• oldest existing Roman basilica in Rome

• colonnaded rectangular plan & architecture

• simplistic

• 5^th century carved wood doors with a cycle of Christian scenes

• 3 isles & no transept (cross part)

• spolia - stolen columns from old Roman buildings

• axial plan with long nave

• coffered roof & thin walls

• clerestory windows

• light = Christ

Golden Haggadah

Golden Haggadah (culture & location)

Romanesque/Gothic; Spain

Golden Haggadah (date & material)

1320 CE; pigments & gold leaf on vellum

Golden Haggadah (use & facts)

• illuminated manuscript for display/religious use

• Plagues of Egypt, Scenes of Liberation, & Preparation of Passover

• used to tell the story of Passover around the Seder table each year = Haggadah = narration in Hebrew

• spiritual item & work of art indicating wealth of owners

• one of the best examples of illuminated manuscripts

• decorated with gold leaf

• ceremonial purpose bc not stained or damaged?

• Jewish!

Merogingian Looped Fibulae

Merogingian Looped Fibulae (culture)

Medieval European (Byzantine/Romanesque)

Merogingian Looped Fibulae (date & material)

mid-6th century CE; silver gilt in filigree iwth inlays of garnets & other semiprecious stones

Merogingian Looped Fibulae (use & facts)

• Fibulae = brooch used as a cloak fastener; for burials

• French dynasty power solidified under Clovis

• portable, zoomorphic (animals, fish & eagle)

• interlocking animals

• displayed wealth & status of owners

• Cloisonné = soldering of gold & silver wires (see fish on main brooch body)

Lindisfarne Gospels

Lindisfarne Gospels (culture & creator)

Medieval European - Hiberno-Saxon (Irish); Eadfrith (pages), Ethelwald, & Billfrith (binding & cover)

Lindisfarne Gospels (date & material)

700 CE; ink, pigments, & gold on vellum

Lindisfarne Gospels (use & facts)

• illuminated manuscript for display

• St. Matthew (cross-carpet page), St. Luke portrait page, & St. Luke incipit page

• cross carpet = looks like a carpet with a cross on it

• page across from it begins with “novum” = new

• Chi Ro (first two letters of Christ’s name in Greek)

• St. Luke portrait shows him bearded, writing, haloed, & with a calf

Church of Saninte-Foy

Church of Saninte-Foy (culture & location)

Romanesque; Conques, France

Church of Saninte-Foy (date & material)

1050-1130 CE (reliquary - 9th century); stone, paint, gold, silver, gemstones, & enamel over wood

Church of Saninte-Foy (use & facts)

• pilgrim church & reliquary

• foy = faith

• Romanesque with rounded arches, few windows, stone, & arcaded isles

• radiating chapels for pilgrims

• reliquary of St. Foy (Faith) contains her skull

• Last Judgement Tympanum depicts hell bc role of Church is to save people’s souls (by Gislebertus)

• head of reliquary from Roman statue of child (spolia)

Bayeux Tapestry

Bayeux Tapestry (culture & location)

Romanesque; Bayeux, France

Bayeux Tapestry (date & material)

1066-1080 CE; embriodery on linen

Bayeux Tapestry (use & facts)

• Depict William the Conqueror’s great victory over the Anglo-Saxons

• depicts the Battle of Hastings (1066)

• William, Duke of Normandy defeats Anglo-Saxons (Norman conquest of England)

• actually an embroidery

Chartres Cathedral

Chartres Cathedral (culture & location)

Gothic; Chartres, France

Chartres Cathedral (date & material)

1145-1155 CE; limestone & stained glass

Chartres Cathedral (use & facts)

• Church

• stained glass window: Notre Dame de la Belle Verriere

• rose window = colored light shows God/Christ & used to teach, depicting important Church figures & leaders

• towers are different

• to be a cathedral you need 3 portals

• has flying buttresses

• Latin cross shape, has wide nave & 7 radiating chapels

• said to have garment worn by Virgin Mary when she gave birth to Jesus

• tracery = divides windows into sections & supports stained glass rose window

• floor has prayer labyrinth (pray while on a path)

• has zodiac symbols & jamb statues (outside)

Blue Virgin Window

Blue Virgin Window (culture & location)

Gothic; Chartres, France

Blue Virgin Window (date & material)

1170 CE; stained glass

Blue Virgin Window (use & facts)

• Church decoration, helped illiterate learn about Christianity?

• Our Lady of the Beautiful Window (Notre Dame de la Belle Verriere)

• colored light = divine

• part of the lancet window

• depicts Mary & Jesus

• jewel toned