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Jesus healing the bleeding woman, Roman catacombs, 300–350. Early Christian art and architecture (or Paleochristian art) is the art produced by Christians, or under Christian patronage, from the earliest period of Christianity to, depending on the definition, sometime between 260 and 525.
Byzantine art comprises the body of artistic products of the Eastern Roman Empire, [1] as well as the nations and states that inherited culturally from the empire. Though the empire itself emerged from the decline of western Rome and lasted until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, [2] the start date of the Byzantine period is rather clearer in art history than in political history, if still ...
The earliest surviving Christian art comes from the late 2nd to early 4th centuries on the walls of tombs belonging, most likely, to wealthy [17] Christians in the catacombs of Rome, although from literary evidence there may well have been panel icons which, like almost all classical painting, have disappeared.
Early Christian and Italian Byzantine architecture formed a stylistic link with the architecture of Ancient Rome, through which the basilica plan and the Classical form of column were transmitted. [2] The architecture of Northern Italy has features in common with French and German Romanesque. [2]
Byzantine capitals break away from the Classical conventions of ancient Greece and Rome with sinuous lines and naturalistic forms, which are precursors to the Gothic style. In the same way the Parthenon is the most impressive monument for Classical religion , Hagia Sophia remained the iconic church for Christianity .
Outside Romanesque architecture, the art of the period was characterised by a vigorous style in both sculpture and painting. The latter continued to follow essentially Byzantine iconographic models for the most common subjects in churches, which remained Christ in Majesty, the Last Judgment, and scenes from the life of Christ.
The use of religious images has often been a contentious issue in Christian history. Concern over idolatry is the driving force behind the various traditions of aniconism in Christianity. In the early Church, Christians used the Ichthys (fish) symbol to identify Christian places of worship and Christian homes. [1]
Late 13th-century Byzantine mosaics of the Hagia Sophia showing the image of Christ Pantocrator.. Much of the art surviving from Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire is Christian art, although this is in large part because the continuity of church ownership has preserved church art better than secular works.