History of Arts Research Paper

The depiction of Christ in this manner is quite rare before 450 A.D. As mentioned at the

During late Byzantine art period, there was art of Christ in Chora, which is typically in the apse of parekklesion. In addition to this, Christ as savior in Macedonia in early fourteenth century was notable

Art and the Bible, written by Francis A. Schaefer, is a short, simple to the point book regarding how a Christian should approach art. The book is divided into two sections. Section one is title Art in the Bible and section two is titled Some Perspectives on Art.

With centuries between the two works of art known as Justinian and his Attendants and the Augustus of Primaporta¸ there is a notation of change in the citizens of the empire that encompassed around the Mediterranean Sea. From the rise and fall of the Roman Empire to the growth and fabrication of Byzantine, the art was the form of propaganda used by the elites to send a strong, clear message of power and undeniable righteousness. Augustus the General and Justinian made almost 500 years apart, completely different in style and empires, both wanted to create the same hype around their beliefs. They were the chosen ones, the leaders who had connections to the secular world. They were the representations on earth, in human form, of God or Gods themselves.

Just as it’s human nature to believe in something larger or more powerful than oneself, it is also human nature to express that divinity through art, this is proven time and time again in human history. Picturing the divine is a type of testimony to show a cultures greatness. The painting Arhats Giving Alms to Beggars comes from the Chinese culture of the Southern Song period. Whereas, the mosaic Christ as Pantocrator comes from the Byzantine culture of the Greek Orthodox tradition. Although these paintings come from very different backgrounds both cultures show the divine and their pressure on mankind to follow the rules, such as giving away worldly desires. By doing so and letting go of material possessions, mankind can be hopeful of

The use of icons, nevertheless, steadily gained in popularity, especially in portions of The Roman Empire. Towards the end of the 6th century and in the 7th, icons became the object of an officially encouraged cult, often implying a superstitious belief in their animation ("Iconoclastic Controversy | Byzantine History."). Although the materialistic expression may be quite controversial, they have brought a lot more attention to the Christian religion. They had the power of bringing people together with what was being worshipped, and have also brought amounts us 2 addition branches of Christianity that include both the Catholic church, and the Orthodox church. Some of these images are worshipped worldwide throughout the Christian churches for all the right reasons. They bring the individuals together with the material expression and give them an image to their head such as Jesus Christ being painted as

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

Constantine the Great was a solo emperor who fostered the growth of Christianity in the Roman empire. To begin with, art of the Christian world focused on stylization, stiffness, and the symbolic (conceptual imagery). There was no interest in the human form or emotions shown through naturalism and illusionism because the art’s main focus was that it had aspects of faith and spirituality. This was displayed through themes that correlated with the bible, like the death and resurrection of Christ. Constantine used the Early Christian wall fresco titled Catacomb of St. Peter and Marcellinus to touch base on themes and symbolism that Christian art resonated with.

No longer was art the province of religion, it became an entertainment, a pleasure and an aspiration

Throughout the reign of the Byzantine Empire, sculpting and architecture were the pinnacle of ancient Byzantine art; leaving a vast collection of masterpieces for later cultures to admire, and even adopt their majestic styles and techniques. A focal period during the lifespan of the Byzantine Empire was the reign of Justinian the Great (527-565 A.D.), which is also referred to as the Golden Age. It is during this time that architecture and sculpture begin to flourish, along with other mediums of art such as mosaics, murals, and illuminative manuscripts. Very many religious works of art were created during this time as well, however very few survived the onset of the iconoclast uproar in 726.

The reason for this is simply being that most people would consider any painting, sculpture, photograph, etc. that portrayed the Christian faith to be Christian Art. I disagreed at first, saying that there were Christian artists that could create art without including Biblical perspectives, but that is just not true. As my aforementioned point suggests, a devout Christian artist would include a Christian perspective into their artwork even without thinking about it because being a Christian is part of who they are. I also had to take a minute and consider art created by people who believe in other religions. If I would categorize the art that they created, mostly consisting of their gods and pillars of faith, I would categorize it as (Relgion name) Art. Take for instance Buddhist Art. When I looked this up on the internet, I found multiple paintings of Buddha and other religious figures that they worship. I researched Hindu Art, Zen Art, and others to see if the results yielded were the same, I found that they were. This, along with my argument for the intersection between the Christian faith and art, lead me to the conclusion that Christin Art must exist even if the definition of Christian Art is simply, art that is created that portrays a Biblical perspective because it is nearly impossible to separate the Christian faith from

Thomas F. Mathews’ 1993 book, Clash of the Gods, offers an interpretation of the origins of early Christian art that deviates away from the theory of the “Emperor Mystique,” in which Christian images are borrowed from imperial iconography, and instead suggests that pagan iconography has a greater formative impact. Sourcing the works of early twentieth-century art historians who support these ideas of imperial influence, Mathews attempts to make a convincing argument for the latter. However, his book is highly criticized by many of his contemporaries who argue that his vision is as one-sided as that of his predecessors, and as such, offers little in the way of evaluating the relationships between pagans and Christians in context to the creation and understanding of these images. By discussing the views of Mathews and his critics, and aligning their work with theories on the power of images, this

Early Christian and Byzantine art started after Jesusí death in the first century ranging and ending to the fourth century AD. The art produced during this period was secretive because Christianity was not a formal religion but as a cult; the Romans and rest of Europe persecuted Christians so the artist disguised their work with symbols and hints of Christian aspects. Christianity was the first cult to not involve rituals of sacrifice of animals and refused to worship an Emperor causing the Roman Empire to make Christianity illegal. Byzantine art excelled in the Justinian period in the east during 520-540 AD. The art was produced in Ravenna, Byzantine, Venice, Sicily, Greece, and Russia. The

     Examples of Romanesque sculpture are dated back to the last decade of the eleventh century and then first decades of the twelfth. “The primary source of artistic patronage was provided by the monastic institutions, for whom sculptors executed large relief carvings for the decoration of church portals and richly ornate capitals for cloisters” (Cleaver 156)

While some religion’s art displays a figure in full others such as Muslim artists do not. Due to the belief that creating a representation of a living thing will lead to punishment on Judgement Day these artists deface the subject matter of