Study Notes: Art and the Roman Viewer - The Transformation from the Pagan World to Christianity

Introduction: The Taxonomy of Viewing

• Central Proposition: People relate to works of art in fundamentally different ways based on time, context, and conceptual frameworks.

  • The Fishery Example: A Roman mosaic of fish (e.g., from Pompeii's House of the Faun) might represent seafood or nature to a secular viewer. To an early Christian, the same image acts as a sign for Christ, utilizing the acronym ICHTHYS (Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour).

• Taxonomy of Viewing: The book is structured around two primary modes:

  • Realist Ways of Viewing: Psychological, dogmatic, and political ways of seeing the material world.

  • Symbolic Ways of Viewing: Primary to religious and initiate cults (Mithraism, Neoplatonism, Christianity), relating to the Sacred or the "Other World."

• Aims of the Study: To move beyond formalist art history (style-focused) to understand the functions and meanings of art within Roman culture from the age of Augustus to Justinian.

Part I: Ways of Viewing in the Roman World

Foreword: The Development of Naturalism

• Classical Art History as Progress: Roman writers like Quintilian and Pliny the Elder viewed the history of art as a "relay race" toward naturalistic verisimilitude.

  • Key Figures:

    • Eumarus of Athens: Distinguished male from female.

    • Cimon of Cleonae: Invented profile drawings.

    • Apollodorus of Athens: First to give realistic presentations.

    • Zeuxis and Parrhasius: Competed in illusion; Zeuxis deceived birds with grapes, but Parrhasius deceived Zeuxis himself with a painted curtain.

• The Politics of Style: Naturalism was not objective but had a "politics," serving as a standard-bearer for the Roman Empire's self-presentation.

• The Shift to Abstraction: Art did not become "abstract" due to a decline in skill, but because late-antique viewers sought Truth and religious edification. Naturalism's inherent deception became ethically unacceptable to those seeking spiritual Truth.

Chapter 1: Viewing and "The Real" – Philostratus and Cebes

• Philostratus and the Psychology of Realism:

  • The Text: Imagines describes a Neapolitan gallery (likely a rhetorical fiction).

  • Role of Ekphrasis: "Description" intended to bring the subject before the eyes of the audience (enargeia).

  • Theory of Phantasia: Based on Stoic belief that a mental vision (phantasia) is wider than mere imitation (mimesis). Phantasia has access to a "truer" reality beyond the senses.

  • Viewer Assimilation: The viewer uses narrative strategies to incorporate the "otherness" of art into their own psychological experience.

• Cebes and the Psychology of Allegorical Initiation:

  • The Text: Tabula describes a religious-philosophical image in a temple.

  • The Process: Unlike Philostratian viewing (where the viewer controls the image), in Cebes, the viewer is subservient to the interpretation. Understanding the image is essential for salvation.

  • Transformation: The physical enclosures in the picture appear differently to the uninitiated vs. the initiated/instructed viewer.

Chapter 2: Viewing and Society – The Roman House

• Vitruvius and the Politics of Choice:

  • Vitruvius's Invective: In De Architectura 7.5, Vitruvius attacks "modern" (Third Style) painting as "monstrous" and "false" because it depicts things that cannot exist (e.g., reeds supporting roofs).

  • Augustan Ideology: Vitruvius advocates for realism (veritas) as an aesthetic correlate to the moral revival of the state.

• Social Gradients: Houses were designed to reflect the owner's status.

  • Public vs. Private: Atria and peristyles were communia (shared with outsiders/clients), while cubicula (bedrooms) and triclinia (dining rooms) were propria (family spaces).

• Symbolic Inversion: Physical houses (e.g., Villa of the Mysteries, Samnite House) played with boundaries.

  • Example: Painted perspectives created an illusion of "outside" in an "inside" room, deconstructing the social categories of public and private.

• The Art of Memory (Ars Memoriae): Romans used the structure of their houses to memorize speeches, assigning parts of an oration to specific loci (locations) in the house. This makes the Roman house a 3D embodiment of the structure of thought.

Chapter 3: Viewing and the Sacred – The Vision of God

• Mystic Viewing Model: Based on Plotinus's Enneads.

  • Abolishing Subject/Object Distinction: In the highest mystic vision, the seer becomes one with the seen (hypernoesis).

  • The Sanctuary Simile: Plotinus compares the philosopher to a man entering a sanctuary, leaving behind external statues for the internal Divine Reality.

• Case Study: The Sinai Mosaics:

  • Location: Monastery of St Catherine at Mt Sinai (6th century).

  • Hierarchy of Vision:

    1. Moses before the Burning Bush: The initial call, removing "earthly coverings" (sandals).

    2. Moses receiving the Law: The summit of the ascent where he enters the "divine darkness."

    3. The Transfiguration (Apse): The ultimate Christian theophany where Christ's divine nature is seen "face to face."

  • Self-Reflexivity: The mosaic represents Peter waking up, reminding the monks to "stay awake" both physically and spiritually to receive the Light.

Part II: The Transformation of Roman Art from Augustus to Justinian

Chapter 5: Transformation in the Imperial Image

• Augustus (Prima Porta Statue):

  • Function: Conflates the man (Emperor) with the God.

  • Ambiguity: Augustus is shown as a citizen-commander but with bare feet (heroic/divine) and a Cupid. This conceptual instability made him a "man-god" in a single, naturalistic image.

• The Luxor Tetrarchs (Diocletian Period):

  • Shift: The single image is replaced by multiple models. Narrative style (procession) for the human aspect; hieratic style (apsed niche) for the divine aspect.

• Justinian and Theodora (San Vitale, Ravenna):

  • Mediation: Unlike Augustus (who is a god), Justinian and Theodora are human mediators between the people and God (Christ).

  • Liturgical Function: The Emperor and Empress carry the bread and wine (gifts) and participate in the liturgy alongside the viewer. Style shifts to abstraction (gold backgrounds) because the referent is the scriptural Order, not the individual's anatomy.

Chapter 6: Transformation in Religious Art (Sacrifice)

• Literal Sacrifice (Ara Pacis):

  • Definition: Traditional Roman sacrifice involves reciprocity (bribing the god) and a "deferral" of the god's presence (the cult statue is in the temple, while the altar is outside).

  • Imagery: Bucrania (cow skulls) and garlands symbolize that the "Golden Age" is bought with the cost of blood/death.

• Symbolic Sacrifice (Mithraism):

  • The Tauroctone: Mithras killing the bull is an internal, symbolic icon. The act of sacrifice is the god himself acting; the physical mithraeum is a and macrocosm of the world.

• The Living Sacrifice (Christianity):

  • Shift: Blood sacrifice is abolished. The worshipper is the sacrifice (e.g., processions of martyrs at Sant' Apollinare Nuovo). The martyrs move from the "real" cities (Ravenna/Classe) towards Christ, modeling the spiritual journey for the viewer.

Part III: Epilogue

Chapter 7: Genesis of Christian Visual Exegesis

• Luxury Display and Syncretism:

  • Projecta Casket: Combines the "Toilet of Venus" with the inscription $\text{VIVATIS IN CHRISTO}$. This shows how Hellenistic imagery was adapted into an initiate frame.

  • Evolution of Silverware: From the irony of Boscoreale (skeletons telling guests to "eat, for you will be like this") to the sacred paradigms of the David Plates (Heraclius modeled as a warrior King).

• Typological Thinking:

  • Brescia Lipsanotheca: An ivory box using Old and New Testament pairings to teach theological connections. For example, Susanna being judged is a "type" of Christ being judged.

• Final Perspective: By the 6th century, the "secular" was drained as all imagery became a symbol for the Other World. Art was no longer an imitation of natural things but an exegesis of the sacred text.