EARLY CHRISTIAN ART. — Almost nothing is yet known about the origins of Christian art, taken in the double sense, chronological and spatial, of the word. We can only surmise that its very first creations saw the light during the first half of the 2nd century and, in various places, within the principal communities scattered throughout the Roman Empire. It does not appear that there were any serious obstacles either from Judaism or from ecclesiastical authority. The Mosaic prescriptions must be understood in an antidolatry sense, and opposition to figurative art within Jewish communities was limited to the rigorist current. Their monuments (synagogue of Dura Europos, catacombs of Rome) demonstrate that Diaspora Jews were not hostile to art. Likewise, opposition within the Christian community itself is easily exaggerated, since it too was inspired by limited rigorist tendencies or by local circumstances.
As a unique example of balance, the religion of Christ, in reflecting the mysteries of the Incarnation and the Resurrection, did not hesitate to adopt the taste for figurative decoration so widespread in the Hellenistic world and to use it, purifying it, as an expression and vehicle of the highest concepts. Moreover, figurative representations are not lacking in the oldest monuments that have come down to us. They date from the last decades of the 2nd century and the early 3rd (earliest centres of the catacombs of Priscilla, Domitilla, Callixtus and Praetextatus; Christian chapel of Dura Europos). Within a short time, the first sculptures on sarcophagi follow.
From its very beginning, early Christian art reveals its fundamentally symbolic nature, and this not only, as was long believed, in the decoration of tombs, but also in that of places and furnishings for worship. It regards art as a language, as an ideographic expression, whose vocabulary and syntax are always those commonly in use, but which it employs to compose new phrases, now combined into logical and systematic discourse, now juxtaposed like those of ancient litanies, and often intelligible only to initiates.
Apart from certain representations taken directly from profane art (Orpheus, Amor and Psyche, etc.) and aside from symbolic signs, decorative motifs and reminders of earthly life, the repertoire of this art consists of symbolic figures and historical, allegorical and representative scenes, all oriented toward evoking and illustrating Christ the Saviour and the work of salvation prepared in the Old Testament, accomplished during Christ’s earthly life, continued after his death by the Church, and crowned in the blessed life. Now more, now less, according to the times, concepts related to death and to spiritual as well as bodily resurrection are placed in the foreground; to God’s intervention on behalf of the faithful of all ages; to the means of salvation, among which faith, Christian initiation and the food and drink of immortality stand out; to the intervention of saintly intercessors, among whom the Princes of the Apostles occupy the place of honour, soon followed by other martyrs; and to the triumphant glorification of Christ.
From the very beginning, two central figures appear: the Good Shepherd and the Orans, that is, the Saviour of souls and the souls saved.
From the primitive Good Shepherd to the majestic figure of Christ, which in time will become almost exclusive, one can discern a line of continuity that passes through depictions of Christ as philosopher and as the mature teacher. The Orans, originally an abstract figure, rather intent on concretizing the state of the blessed soul, comes to represent the deceased themselves conceived in this state, and finally is replaced by figures of the deceased welcomed into Paradise.
Among the scenes from the Old Testament, the earliest are those in which divine intervention in delivering from the peril of death is most clearly manifested (Noah in the ark, the sacrifice of Isaac, Daniel among the lions, the three young men in the furnace, the story of Susanna and that of Jonah, etc.), but soon the choice broadens to scenes in which this concept, though always present, is no longer expressed with the same immediacy. Iconographic themes such as those of the creation of man, the fall of the protagonists and the intervention of the Logos on their behalf are directly related to the life-and-death problem already noted, while the various prophecies of the prophets are to be connected with the mystery of the Incarnation.
Scenes from the New Testament are divided into various groups according to the fundamental concepts to which they refer. In addition to those relating to Christ (the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Adoration of the Magi and, later, scenes of the Passion, etc.), and the series of miracles (healings) that have the same purpose as the paradigms of the Old Testament, one must note scenes of the Baptism, the resurrections, the multiplication of the loaves and the miracle at Cana with their derivations; the so-called denial of St Peter; the conversation with the Samaritan woman, etc.
Among the allegorical scenes, banquets must be noted first of all, among which a first group contains evident references to the Eucharist, while a second group alludes to the refrigerium in the next life.
Even before the Peace of the Church, the first reflections of monumental art penetrate into the realm of funerary art, with the earliest depictions of Christ as teacher among the Apostles, but this iconography truly takes hold only in the second half of the 4th century and especially on the fronts of sarcophagi, with compositions such as the Traditio Legis, the council in the City or in the Heavenly Basilica, the acclamation or the homage of crowns, etc., while the cult of the martyrs leads to their representation as intercessors for the deceased. It is in this same second half of the 4th century and in the 5th that art creates allegorical figurations even in form, first of all by resorting to angels and doves to represent Christ, the Apostles and the faithful.
To study the repertoire of funerary art well, one must distinguish between paintings and sculptures, because not only in the two fields were more or less independent traditions followed, so that the catalogue of subjects is even richer in sculpture, but also because the fields to be decorated and the very nature of the materials and tools used imposed their own laws that affected both the formal execution of works of art and their iconographic conception and relative distribution within larger complexes. It does not, however, seem that Christian religion immediately had visible repercussions on style; the first Christian painters and sculptors employed the technique and style of the moment, and it will only be with the passage of time and the slow death of pagan art that one can speak of a Christian style. Certain innovations that appear fairly early, such as, for example, eyes raised to heaven, belong more to questions of content than of style.
After the Peace of the Church, Christian art developed freely even in monumental compositions directly serving the liturgy and the education of the faithful. The technique of mosaic ensured it a splendor lasting many centuries. While fully conscious of its new task, it did not, however, renounce its fundamental primitive character, and remained essentially symbolic. Both in baptisteries and martyria as well as in basilicas, its cycles of biblical scenes, apparently only narrative, increasingly reveal that the choice and arrangement of their scenes obey symbolic or typological laws. They thus form a natural transition between the primitive symbolism of the catacombs and the true
EARLY CHRISTIAN ART — Sacrifice of Abraham (early 4th century). Rome, Catacomb of Giordani.
The early Christian artists drew their subjects from both the Old and the New Testaments, as the Middle Ages would later know them.
The baptisteries, reserved for Christian initiation, also chose an iconography partly independent of that of the basilicas and emphasized above all the starry heavens in which the monogram of Christ appears, the figure of the Good Shepherd, and the Traditio Legis. Other scenes allude to the water of life, resurrection, victory over death, and the Eucharist. The figures of the Apostles and the symbols of the Evangelists, enriched with allegorical motifs and compositions, allow for a wide variety of complex arrangements. Examples include Dura-Europos; Santa Costanza; San Giovanni in Fonte in Naples; the Lateran baptistery; that of Ravenna, etc.
In the basilicas, however, one must distinguish the various parts of the building. While the apse and the triumphal arch receive compositions oriented toward the glorification of the Lord and of the entire mystical body, the side walls of the nave depict one or another part of the history of the chosen people, and on the inner wall of the entrance, at least as far as we know from a couple of examples, the historical memory of the founding of the temple is noted. The surviving ancient examples are too few to generalize the rules followed. In the apses, the majestic figure of the Lord is surrounded by the Apostolic College and the Princes of the Apostles, the titular saints and the founders of the temple, all included within the ideal framework of the Heavenly Jerusalem or Paradise. At the base of the composition, an allegorical frieze evokes the glorification of the divine Lamb. The triumphal arch, with the symbols of the Evangelists surrounding the throne or bust of Christ, the seven candelabra, the twenty-four elders, and the two allegorical cities, is commonly inspired by the vision of the Apocalypse. A quite special place is occupied by the arch of Santa Maria Maggiore, in memory of the proclamations of the Council of Ephesus. The historical scenes on the side walls usually set a series of Old Testament events against those of the New. In the two basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul, they were accompanied by medallions containing portraits of the Supreme Pontiffs. And as art evolved, representations of the martyrs first, and then of other saints of both sexes, became increasingly numerous in different parts of the sacred building.
The museums and frescoes depicting sacred figures or scenes found their logical complement in stucco decorations in the upper parts of the building and in marble incrustations in the lower parts. Unfortunately, few witnesses have come down to us. Both in the baptisteries and in the basilicas, the mosaic floors contributed to the overall decoration, not only with geometric or purely ornamental compositions but also with symbolic figurations. Architectural sculptures, even when polychromed, in friezes, capitals, and furnishings, completed the ensemble.
In the field of minor arts, early Christian art developed its activity as elsewhere, using the most varied materials. Terracotta objects, engraved or gilded glass, ivories, utensils in precious metals, gems, and textiles constitute as many fields in which the religion of Christ left its mark. First among these are illuminated manuscripts, the principal examples of which include the Vienna Bible, the Joshua Roll, and the Rossano Purple Codex. Finally, mention should be made of the carved wooden doors, the main representatives of which are those of Santa Sabina in Rome and of Sant’Ambrogio in Milan. See Plates V-VII.
For the origin of iconographic types and related questions: V. ICONOGRAFIA CRISTIANA ANTICA.