Introduction To The Christian Period From c. 200-313 AD - Christian Art History

God's Kingdom Art Christian Oil Paintings art history section features an introduction to the Christian period from c. 200-313 AD

The Christian Period From c. 200-313 AD

1) Introduction To The Christian Period From c. 200-313 AD
2) Art of The Catacombs
3) Sarcophagi

Introduction To The Christian Period From c. 200-313 AD*

While the cult of the Emperor Augustus was growing throughout the Roman world and while temples were still being built in honour of "Augustus and Rome", Christian communities flourished, because they answered the need for a more spiritual life and offered the hope of salvation and a life hereafter.

At first these communities were composed almost entirely of ordinary people, of Jewish and Syrian tradesmen, of slaves and women. Only later did a more wealthy and intellectual adherent appear. There was little money; Christian art started in a modest way, gradually emerging in the Roman world in which art was official, imperial and pagan. There were Jewish elements in this community which inhibited the development of a figurative art.

Poverty and persecution forced Early Christians to meet, at first, in private houses. To begin with, these houses were merely altered slightly to accommodate the rite of baptism and had no particular feature to distinguish them from outside. When these houses could no longer adequately house larger congregations, a domus ecclestiae, or house church, was evolved. In such cases, private houses were sometimes radically rebuilt. Most of these houses have been destroyed, but Dura Europos, a small fortified town on the banks of the Euphrates, the house of a Christian community has been found. It was substantially altered to house the baptistry to one side of the
house, and it was decorated with paintings executed in a simple style. These included Biblical scenes which were later to become standard iconographical types - The Good Shepherd; Christ Walking on the Waters; The Three Mary's at the Sepulchre; Christ's Miracles and others. The choice of subject matter indicates a deliberate juxtaposition of the doctrines of original sin and redemption through Christ, an allusion to the sacrament of baptism. Stylistically, these paintings have been conceived in a spirit, similar to that informing those found in Roman catacombs. Although executed by an unsophisticated artist, some innovative features can be observed. The absence of relief and the emphasis on frontality indicate, even at this early stage, that an attempt was being made to dematerialise bodily forms and stress spiritual content.

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