Sculpture of Christian Art From the Fifth to Eight Century - Christian Art History

Christian Art From the Fifth to Eight Century

Christian Art and Paintings History > Early Christian and Byzantine Art > Art of The Early Christian Period c. 300-750 AD > Christian Art From the Fifth to Eight Century > Sculpture of Christian Art From the Fifth to Eight Century

1) Introduction to Christian Art From the Fifth to Eight Century
2) Mosaics, Paintings and Illuminated Manuscripts of Christian Art From the Fifth to Eight Century
3) Sculpture of Christian Art From the Fifth to Eight Century

Sculpture of Christian Art From the Fifth to Eight Century*

Little attention is usually given to the sculptural manifestations of the Early Christian period. Although there remains scarcely any monumental, three-dimensional sculpture, relief-carving has survived in marble, stucco, wood bronze and precious metal.

The development away from the Classical mode towards shallow relief, well-defined outlines and a more ornamental style is perhaps best attested in the large impost blocks of capitals, enclosure slabs, friezes and pediments in the Early Christian churches in Constantinople, Ravenna and Salonika.

Also in Ravenna, under the vault of the Orthodox Baptistry, are to be found the imitations of "tabernacles" with pediments, in which sixteen stucco reliefs of standing figures have been carved, dated to the first quarter of the fifth century. In these the tendency towards two-dimensionality, linearity and surface patterning is clearly indicated.

Stylistically more complex are the well-known wood panels on the doors of the Basilica of S. Sabina in Rome (middle of fifth century). Scenes from the Old and New Testaments have been depicted in a style that owes much to classical antiquity as well as to eastern sources. The iconological relationship between the scenes depicted is equally obscure and has evoked scholarly debate.

Because of the dryness of the Egyptian climate, some fine wooden fragments have survived there from this period. The sculpture produced in Coptic Egypt also consists of a mixture of pagan and Christian elements and combines influences from the Imperial capital and local artistic traditions.

Ivory is a hard and durable material, ideal for the most minute representation of details. During the period under review, it was used for carving secular and sacred objects such as reliquaries and diptychs, which were used to commemorate family events or convey the news of the appointment of a new consul by the emperor. By the fifth century many of these diptychs were reused for Church purposes, being inscribed with the names of saints or of a Christian deceased. An example is the Diptych of Flavius Anastasiu.s, Consul of
Constantinople, from the beginning of sixth century.

During the sixth and seventh centuries the Empire entered a period of strife and territorial losses. The Lombard invasion of Italy in 568 left only Ravenna and the southern regions in Greek hands. In the East, the Persian conquests were followed by those of Islam, spreading from North Africa, to encompass all Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia. Constantinople was besieged, and the Slavs invaded Greece and settled there. In 680 the Bulgars moved into the Northern Balkans, where they formed a state hostile to the Empire. Thus was the Empire reduced to the Greek-speaking territories. It entered upon a turbulent period of civil and religious strife, the central
issue of the latter being the question of images.

As noted previously, the Iconoclastic Controversy erupted in 726 with the edict of Leo III against holy icons. Their veneration thereafter became the subject of controversial and heated debate at several Orthodox Church Councils. Under Constantine V, the destruction of icons was carried out ruthlessly. Monasteries were seized and taken over as imperial possessions, and Iconodules (defenders of images) were persecuted and executed.

The cult of images was temporarily restored under the Empress Irene in 787 and revived temporarily from 815-843. Empress Theodora was responsible for the full restoration of the cult of images in 843.

As a result of the destruction of churches and their decoration, comparatively little of the art from pre Iconoclastic centuries has survived. Secular art was unaffected by these imperial edicts. But during the Iconoclastic phase itself only certain decorative motifs and nonfigurative symbols such as the Cross were permitted the Church. As a result, it is the remoter parts of the Empire, in the rugged southern part of the Peloponnese, in the Mani, and on some of the Greek islands, such naxos, that both pre Iconoclastic and Iconoclastic fragments have been preserved.

*Based on notes compiled by Karin M. Skawran for the University of South Africa.

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