Early Christian Art Research Paper

Many Christians nowadays think that Early Christian art and architecture originated from Christians own designs and forms. When being asked, many Christian faith groups believe that the Christians arts were born by the Apostles after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Most of Christian followers do not know that early Christian art not only used Roman forms, it also used Roman styles such as late classical style included a proportional portrayal of the human body and impressionistic presentation of space. Late classical style is seen in early Christian frescos, such as those in the Catacombs of Rome, which include most examples of the earliest Christian art (Wikipedia). The first expressions of an art that can properly be called Christian are

These include depictions of the stories of Moses, Jonah, Daniel, Adam and Eve and Abraham and Isaac, but all of these figures were now viewed through the lens of Christianity. Early Christian artists employed them to illustrate the themes of salvation (Daniel in the lions' den, for instance), death and resurrection (Jonah being swallowed and spit out by the big fish) and sacrifice (Abraham's near sacrifice of Isaac). Christians believed that the stories of the Old Testament foreshadowed and, therefore, helped to explain the meaning of the deeds of Jesus. Early Christian artists didn't hesitate to embrace and adapt images from the Greco-Roman world either. They found meaning in the figure of the philosopher (applying it to Jesus and the apostles), the image of the festive meal (which to Christians indicated the Eucharist), the figure of the law giver (again for Jesus) and the motif of the triumphant entry (now used for Jesus's entry into Jerusalem). Even some of the most common early Christian symbols had their origins in the cultural milieus. The fish and the anchor, for instance, were common images in the Jewish and Greco-Roman worlds, which were greatly influenced by the sea. For Christians, these symbols came to represent Jesus Christ Himself (the fish) and the stability and eternal hope of Christianity (the anchor). The dove, too, which had been a Jewish symbol of peace,

Virtually, no Christian statue or sculpture in the round has survived from the early period, almost certainly because of a strong reluctance to create anything that resembled a pagan idol. The few works that have survived include statuettes of the pagan image of Hermes Kriophorus (a discreet model for the Good Shepherd, and philosophers (discreet images of Christ in the Traditio Legis). Invariably, Christ is portrayed as the Good Shepherd, or as a lawgiver, never as Himself. Other notable early Christian sculpture includes numerous examples of ivory carving, typically used for the embellishment of useful objects, or as the covers for Gospel texts, and devotional diptychs. Notable examples include the carving of the Archangel Michael (c.330, British Museum, London); the Consular Diptych of the Consul Severus (470, Leipzig); the Diptych with Six Miracles of Christ (c.480, Victoria and Albert Museum, London); the Maries approaching the Angel at the Sepulcher (c.385, Milan); the Maries at the Sepulcher and the Ascension(c.400, Pinakothek, Munich). In addition, two ivory coffins have survived: the Brescia box and a casket in the British Museum, London (c.430), decorated with four small panels depicting scenes from Christ's Passion. Including Christ condemned by Pilate, and Judas hanging from a tree next to what appears to be the earliest explicit picture of the Crucifixion. Another panel portrays the Resurrection, and shows soldiers