ART-HIST 305 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Jesus, Christianity, Amplitude Modulation
12 Oct 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
ART-HIST 305
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Beginnings and Endings in Early Christian Art: Catacombs
and Sarcophagi
Thursday, September 7, 2017
9:55 AM
Terms
1. Historiography: the study of how something has been studied
2. Syncretism: the amalgamation or attempted amalgamation of different religion, cultures, or
schools of thought
3. Catacomb: underground burial network
4. Loculi: burial niches
5. Arcosolium: arched burial niches
6. Cubiculum: large chamber
7. Typology: a technique for finding episodes in the Old Testament and interpreting them as
predictions for events in the New Testament as being even better
• Funerary arts = the arts of death
o More about the living than they are about the dead
o For the community around
o Earliest Christian art that we have is funerary art
• How does a new religion establish itself and what role does art play in that?
• Thesis: the brilliance of Early Christian Art was the use of appropriation of preexisting art and
techniques of syncretism
• Roman Empire
o 117 CE was the peak of the Roman Empire = 2.5mil square miles
o Brought together an enormous diversity of people
▪ Infrastructure
• Roads, transportation, routes of communication
▪ Culture
• Can have own traditions but the Roman Emperor has to be accepted as God
o Jesus began preaching among crowds, going against Judaism, and is sentenced to death
▪ Revealed to his followers that he was the son of God
▪ Told his followers that he wants them to go out and convert Jews and Gentiles (all the
other religions in the Roman Empire; pagans)
• Could not has spread without the established Roman infrastructure
▪ Problem: the religion was monotheistic; could not believe that the Roman Emperor
was God
• Did not have a problem with the Jews because of its antiquity of its oldness
• The Catacombs
o Catacomb of Callistus, stated in the 2nd century CE, Rome, Lazio, Italy
▪ Idea of refuge of Christian beliefs is fabricated
▪ Roman cremated their dead, Christians did not
• Pragmatic reason: catacombs hid a bunch of bodies since the Roman Empire
had a big population
▪ Frescos covered loculi
o The Good Shepard, Catacomb of Callistus, s2nd century CE, Rome, Italy
▪ One of the earliest standard iconography of Christ
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
▪ Leader, caregiver
▪ Look back to excerpts from the Old Testaments and saw it as evidence of the good
Lord to come
▪ Calf-Bearer (Moscophoros), Greece, c. 550 BCE
• Relating to The Good Shepard
• Intelligent move to make people not be afraid of your new religion by using old
pieces of art as reference
▪ Contrapossto
o Cubiculum Ceiling with Good Shepard, Catacomb of St. Peter and Marcellinus, 4th century
Rome
▪ Placed on the ceiling so that buried bodies can see once dead
• Heavenly sphere
• Looking down and protecting them but also raising them up since he is placed
over the dead
• Big canvas area and not going to be disrupted by foot traffic
• Spheres surrounding Jesus portrays the story of Jonah and the Whale
o Catacomb of the Via Latina, mid 4th century, Rome
▪ Syncretism
• Mythology and Old Testament
• Hercules was Greco-Roman culture
o Catacomb of Priscilla, Cubiculum of the Velatio, 3rd century CE
▪ Figure of Donna Velatio (Veiled Woman)
• Orant (praying) figure and teaching scene
• Acting as an intermediary between death and heaven
o Catacomb art is a basic way of instructing Christians of faith
▪ Affirms Christian identity through difference of Roman burial yet it emphasized that
Christian Identify is not at odds with Roman culture
• Sarcophagi
o Sarcophagi ("flesh eater") express Christian ideals
o Sarcophagus from Santa Maria Antiqua, front with scene from the story of Jonah , an orant,
a philosopher, Christ as Good Shepard, and the baptism of Christ, Rome, c. 270
▪ Syncretism
▪ Way of combining motifs that announce the arrival of the burial person
▪ A fluidity of image types that allows people to adapt these images that they need into
their culture
▪ None of the figures have anything to do with one another
• The composition of Christian sarcophagi becomes much more coherent and
unified
• Jesus Christ stops being a humble shepherd figure in terms of imagery and
likened to a royal figure
o Sarcophagus of Flavius Stilicho, Milan, Church of Sant'Ambrosio, Italy, c. 380
▪ Sarcophagi is likened to some sort of temple
▪ Bottom: Christ enthroned and flanked by Apostles
▪ Top: Portrait of the deceased, flanked by the Three Magi (right) and 3 Hebrews
refusing to worship an idol (left)
▪ Lamb, symbolic representation of Christ himself
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Beginnings and endings in early christian art: catacombs and sarcophagi. Infrastructure: roads, transportation, routes of communication, culture, can have own traditions but the roman emperor has to be accepted as god. Idea of refuge of christian beliefs is fabricated: roman cremated their dead, christians did not, pragmatic reason: catacombs hid a bunch of bodies since the roman empire had a big population. Frescos covered loculi: the good shepard, catacomb of callistus, s2nd century ce, rome, italy, one of the earliest standard iconography of christ. Look back to excerpts from the old testaments and saw it as evidence of the good. Lord to come: calf-bearer (moscophoros), greece, c. 550 bce, relating to the good shepard. Intelligent move to make people not be afraid of your new religion by using old pieces of art as reference: contrapossto, cubiculum ceiling with good shepard, catacomb of st. peter and marcellinus, 4th century.
