Early Christian and Byzantine Art

Arch of Constantine

315 AD (IMPERIAL ROMAN ART)

• Constantine converts to Christianity

• makes the state religion of the Roman Empire

  • representing human form

    • short flat bodies —> Christian body

    • large heads —> Christian soul (emphasized)

Catacombs

Rome, 3rd-4th c.

• Loculi—> “shelves” of Christian bodies were entombed (estimated 4 million bodies entombed)

• Orant figure—> prayerful pose (Christ, crucifixion, Christ in the temple)

• Good Shepherd—> figure of Christ, New Testament book of John

Loculi

• “shelves” of Christian bodies were entombed (estimated 4 million bodies entombed)

Orant figure

• prayerful pose (Christ, crucifixion, Christ in the temple)

Good Shepherd

• figure of Christ, New Testament book of John

  • youthful (“human”) large head —> de-emphasized body

  • rescues (salvation)

  • crucifixion story

  • avoids confusion of Christ with pagan gods

Old St. Peter’s

Rome, begun 320

*Early Christian church

• provides public space for worship

• teach rituals of Christian practice

• avoid similarities to “pagan” temples to avoid confusion

  • pagan —> Christian

• brick, wood, no column orders

*Basilica Plan Church

• cruciform

Santa Pudenziana

Rome, 410

“Christ Enthroned” apse mosaic

• brick, symbolic of the body

• Central Plan Church

• apse (altar) —> ambulatory (walkway)

• central dome

• height 60 m

• mosaics of glass tesserae backed with gold

Apse mosaic “Second Coming”

• Christ between two angels, St. Virtutis + bishop

• Christ returns to judge and rule

• crown —> earthly rule

• book —> New Testament Doctrine

• orb —> earth as circular planet “round earth 

“Justinian” (Theodora) mosaics

San Vitale, Ravenna, 526-547

Justinian the Great emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, 527-565

Sant’Apollinare in Classe

549 Byzantine

• brick

• Basilica Plan Church

• Apse

  • orant figure—>

  • Apollinave: Christ-like

  • hand of God the Creator

  • alignment

St. Apollinaris amid Sheep (Hand of God the Creator)

central image of apse in the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe

Transfiguration of Christ

Hagia Sophia (“Holy Wisdom”)

[Isidore of Miletus] Constantinople, 532-537

1453 turned into a mosque, then a museum

• central plan church + basilica plan church

  • circle within a square

• 10,000 people + 5 years to complete

• hemispheric dome

• how to join circle + square

Figuras

character types

Basilica plan

• cruciform

• narthex

• nave

• apse (altar)

• transept

• aisle

apse

where the sacred altar is located

nave

processional way

aisle

3-part division

narthex

antechamber, distinct area at the entrance of churches

Central Plan

• different from Basilica Plan

• focused towards the center

• ambulatory—> walking path along interior

• gallery

• brick (unadorned)

• avoids Greek/Roman orders

Tesserae

small block of stone used in construction

Western Roman Empire

285 AD

created to handle challenges in the west

Eastern Roman Empire

285 AD

given its own administrative structure to deal with the problems in its territories

Visigothic invasion

Invade Rome: 410 AD

Kind Alaric sacked the city for 3 days after political negotiations failed

Hieratic Imagery

stylized, formal representations to convey religious importance, prioritizing spiritual meaning over naturalism

Dome (hemispheric)

• A dome shape that is a perfect half-sphere

clerestory

The upper part of the church is made up of a series of windows

pendentives

triangular, spherical architectural elements that create a transition from a square or polygonal base to a circular dome

wall piers

structural wall that is supported by vertical piers or columns at intervals