Jesus Depicted throughout Time

The Good Shepherd in the Catacombs of St. Pietro and Marcellius is a fresco found in Rome during the fourth century. It contains shapes of crosses with Christ in the center and the good shepherd. It uses orans that are figures without stretched hands representing a prayer towards Heaven.

Christian art and iconography began, about two hundred years after the birth of Christ. Western Christian art and religious iconography was based on the classical art styles and imagery by the Ancient Romans. Medieval art iconography began to relate more to text of the Bible. Religious Christian art was created in the form of illuminated manuscripts, mosaics, and fresco paintings adorned churches. The colors of art were generally muted except those used in manuscripts and stained glass windows. Figures varied in sizes in relation their importance. Unlike artists in the Byzantine period who avoided making sculptures at all costs, Romanesque artists made sculptures which were often large, made of stone, and

This paper will analyze the iconography of the mosaic, Good Shepherd (lunette, Oratory of Galla Placidia, c. 425-26, Ravenna, Italy), that is located on the lunette over the north doorway of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna. The iconography has been one of the most recognized and admired works of art since the 3rd century AD. In the mosaic, the artists present a depiction of Christ symbolic and traditional of Byzantine art during the conversion of Christianity in Roman provinces.

1. The Christ as the Good Shepherd mosaic located on the entrance wall of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna, Italy was made circa 425 AD. A mausoleum is a monumental tomb, usually meant for entombing the dead above ground. The mosaic is displayed in a lunette-a semi-circular wall of a vaulted room. Even though the image of Christ as the Good Shepherd was a common one in catacombs in previous centuries, the way that Christ was shown in art had changed since Christianity had been adopted as Rome's official religion and the image of Christ in the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia was no different. Previously Christ had been shown as a simple carpenter, but in the Christ as the Good Shepherd mosaic he is shown in a fine Roman wear. At the time, Greeks thought that they could create order within their environments and thus create statues that were "perfect." This is what they believed they were doing with the way Christ was shown in the mosaic at the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia; creating a more worldly, powerful image of Christ. Christ is shown with a large golden nimbus (halo), a royal purple mangle over a golden tunic and holding a tall cross. Also depicted in the mosaic at the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia is a set of three sheep on each side of Christ, with him touching one on the nose.

Paolo de Matteis’s esteemed work The Adoration of the Shepherds is a large painting, depicting a classic Christian Nativity scene, that is displayed in the Dallas Museum of Art. In the piece, a dozen or so individuals surround the newborn Christ and his parents, gazing at him in admiration and paying him homage while animals look serenely on and angels assemble around the heads of the Holy Family. The artist employs several classic artistic elements in his painting, such as line, light, color, and shape, to draw the viewer’s focus directly to his intended point of emphasis, the infant Jesus.

With the adoption of Christianity as the official religion, art was able, so to speak, to come above ground in the old pagan city of Rome, and painting, instead of being restricted to the decoration of the walls of the Catacombs or of small chambers and chapels, came into use on a large scale in the new churches that were at once set up. At the same time patronage moved from the hands of the poorer classes to the richer, and artists of outstanding quality came to be employed as well as those of obscurer character, who would work for small fees (www.religion-online.org). To wall painting was added the more luxurious art of mosaic; numerous sculptures were done, and minor objects, often in expensive materials, were in addition produced in the service of the Church, so that art production became at the same time both more extensive and more luxurious (www.religion-online.org ).

"The Adoration of the Shepherds" is obviously a religious painting. The birth of Jesus is clearly one of the most important and famous parts in the

The Last supper represents the first celebration of this sacrifice that is now a key part to every mass. That is why it was so important to show Jesus twice in these paintings.

When I see the painting the shape is symmetric in the sense that there are the same amount of people on both sides of Jesus. The genre of this painting is Christian art.There are also four panels on both sides of the walls. In my opinion, the target audience that this painting was intended for are those who are believers of Christ. I feel this way because I think that this painting portrays the event that is talked about in the bible in the scripture Matthew 26, verse 21 where Jesus says “…"Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.". He then continues in verse 23 saying, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me”. In the painting, you can clearly see the man two seats away from his right reaching for the bowl at the same time as Christ. This event lead to the Holy Eucharist, also known as communion or the Lord’s Supper where Christ takes the bread which was to symbolize his body and wine which was to symbolize his

The book The Clash of Gods: A Reinterpretation of Early Christian Art reevaluates fundamental pieces of Late Antiquity art, facing off with what author Thomas F. Mathews dubs the “Emperor Mystique,” an inclination to link images of Christ in this period to imperial iconography. In the first chapter, author Thomas Mathews makes a lofty claim: Late Antiquity art blanketed under the Emperor Mystique must be reassessed since art historians have tawdrily abused the theory to oversimplify Jesus’ iconographic identity. The author structures his chapter one argument into three points. First, he criticizes the idea of an unbroken art narrative consisting of a gradual flow from pagan art to Christian art, resulting in the Emperor Mystique mix of imagery as a key transition point. Then, he considers the Emperor Mystique’s prevalence in Late Antiquity. Finally, he moves on to the art historians chiefly responsible for the theory—Ernst Kantorowicz, Andreas

This essay starts with the use of Roman architecture to practice Christianity. Then I will write about how the image of the Roman emperors became the inspiration for the image of the Jesus. Finally I will discuss the way Romans used the same iconography and narrative they already had as a formula to image the bible.

The evidence suggests that both Roman and Jewish authorities were active participants in the arrest and trial of Jesus. The crucifixion was ordered by Pilate and carried out by Roman soldiers. The Jewish authorities probably acted against Jesus because he threatened their influence among the people and because he directly challenged their legitimacy as guardians of Torah and temple. Even apart from Jesus’ explicit passion predictions, there is good evidence that he foresaw and predicted his coming death. He faced strong opposition from the religious leaders and frequently compared himself to the suffering prophets of old. Rationalistic

This painting depicts one of Raphael's favorite subjects, that of Our Lady with the Infant Jesus. However, unlike his famous Madonnas, this one presents another figure, Saint John the Baptist, Jesus' cousin and precursor, as a child. All three figures look directly at the reed cross Jesus holds, a reference to his future crucifixion. The knowledge of Jesus' cruel death is shared by all of them and so is the acceptance of sacrifice in each of their lives.

An iconographic approach to interpreting Correggio’s Madonna and Child with Infant John the Baptist asks us to look for hidden meanings or symbols within the work of art. A pre-iconographic description of Correggio’s Madonna and Child with Infant John the Baptist would be the identification of a two babies and a woman. An iconographic analysis of Correggio’s Madonna and Child with Infant John the Baptist would show that the Madonna and child are common motifs represented in Christian paintings, as well is the story of John the Baptist. It was known that Saints were usually depicted with personal symbols in order to clearly identify the figure in question. The Madonna and child is a repeated motif through Christian paintings and Madonna (Virgin Mary) is commonly depicted draped in luxurious fabrics in the colours green, red and blue.

Portraits of the Madonna and Child depicting Mary holding the infant Christ provide a recurrent image in art throughout the ages. In prevalent portrayals over the span of centuries, artists reflect a wide diversity in their representations of the iconic duo. In particular, two works found in the National Gallery of Ireland in the early Italian Renaissance gallery, The Virgin and Child, Saint John the Baptist and Prophets by an unknown artist (1325-1450) and The Virgin and Child by Paolo Uccello (1435-1440), highlight the transition between Byzantine and early Renaissance paintings of the Madonna and Child, particularly in relation to subject matter, composition, material, style and meaning. Although each of these paintings of the Madonna and Child depicts the same Christian iconography of Mary and Jesus, their differences in composition and style influence their meaning, with each painting reflecting the individual artist who painted it and the different time period during which it was created.