A DELICACY FOR THE EYES

          Christian art, unlike art from the other eras, took a long time to flourish. This is mainly because Christianity simply wasn't accepted during the reign of the Romans. The Romans, who were emperor-centered, saw the Christians as mad cult members who refused to acknowledge their emperor or any other Roman gods. Christians were under a period of persecution for a long time.

Early Christian catacomb artwork

This lead them to worship in secret, using underground burial places called Catacombs. Even though they had difficulty in hiding their religious activities, the Christians were faithful and continued with the knowledge of risking their lives. Catacombs, though underground, have thousands of decorations. Some of these include inscriptions, paintings, statues, ornaments and other items placed in the graves. Most of these decorations were used to identify, immortalize and show respect to the dead.

          Only after emperor Constantine's proclamation (Edict of Milan)were the Christians finally able to be recognized. They did no longer need to hide and worship in secret. They quickly moved above ground level and that's when numerous churches were erected. The construction of churches was based on Basilicas - since Roman architecture was what they already knew. These newly erected

A magnificent view of the former basilica Hagia Sophia.

churches were very intricate in design. The churches included various versions of towers (piers, minarets, twin bell towers, etc.), mihrabs, pendentives, rib vaults, triforiums, flying buttresses and such. The Christian architecture was commonly incorporated with various sculptures, tapestries, mosaics, frescos and stained glass. The sculptures are mostly high/ raised reliefs. The notable artworks of this are the Bernward doors and the Last Judgement tympanum. A famous tapestry is that of the Bayeux tapestry which contains the detail of the Battle of Hastings. The stained glasses are my personal favorite. They seem so brilliant and so full of life, it has that effect of making people see new wonders in the world. Stained glass windows were created to illustrate the teachings of the bible such a nifty idea.

The Bernward doors. Such small sculptures
would require lots of patience and effort.

    

Stained glass window depicting Episcopal baptism.

     

          Christian art, for me, is the most splendid out of all. I never really realized until now but it's something about the delicate shapes and lines, and the light but bold colors. Every single detail, every single effort that the creators exerted are very essential. These made the Christian art of quality workmanship. 








*all photos taken from google