Art in Roman Catholicism
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Roman Catholic art consists of all visual works produced in an attempt to illustrate, supplement and portray in tangible form the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. This includes sculpture, painting, mosaics, metalwork, embroidery and even architecture. Catholic art has played a leading role in the history and development of Western Art since at least the fourth century. The principal subject matter of Catholic Art has been the life and times of Jesus Christ, along with those of his disciples, the saints, and the events of the jewish Old testament.
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[edit] History
[edit] Beginnings
Christian art is nearly as old as Christianity itself. The oldest Christian sculptures are from roman sarcophagi, dating to the beginning of the 2nd century. As a persecuted sect, however, the earliest Christian images were arcane and meant to be intelligible only to the initiated. Early Christian symbols include the dove, the fish, the lamb, the cross, symbolic representation of the Four Evangelists as beasts, and the Good Shepherd. Early Christians also adapted Roman motifs like the peacock, grapevines, and the good shepherd. It is in the roman catacombs that recognizable representations of Christian figures first appear in number. The recently-excavated Dura-Europos house church on the borders of Syria dates from around 265 holds many images from the persecution period. The surviving frescoes of the baptistry room are among the most ancient Christian paintings. We can see the "Good Shepherd", the "Healing of the paralytic" and "Christ and Peter walking on the water". A much larger fresco depicts the two Marys visiting Christ's tomb. .[2]
In the 4th century, Christians were prepared to build larger and more handsome edifices for worship than the furtive meeting places they had been using. Architectural formulas for temples were unsuitable because pagan sacrifices occurred outdoors in the sight of the gods, with the temple, housing the cult figures and the treasury, as a backdrop. The christian model was the familiar conventional architecture of the basilicas. These had a center nave with one aisle at each side and an apse at one end: on this raised platform sat the bishop and priests. Richer materials could now be used for art, such as the mosaics that decorate Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome and the 5th century basilicas of Ravenna.
[edit] Byzantine art
Two events were of fundamental importance to the development of a unique, Byzantine, art. First, the Edict of Milan, issued by the emperors Constantine I and Licinius in 313, allowed for public Christian worship, and led to the development of a monumental, Christian art. Second, the dedication of Constantinople in 330 created a great new Christian artistic centre for the eastern half of the Empire. Major Constantinopolitan churches built under Constantine and his son, Constantius II, included the original foundations of Hagia Sophia and the Church of the Holy Apostles.[3]
Imperial Christian art replaced classical Hellenistic naturalism with a more abstract aesthetic. The primary purpose of this new style was to convey religious meaning rather than accurately render objects and people. Realistic perspective, proportions, light and colour were ignored in favor of geometric simplification, reverse perspective and standardized conventions to portray individuals and events. Early Byzantine art was also marked by the cultivation of ivory carving,[4] and the production of illuminated manuscripts. The controversy over the use of graven images, and the proper interpretation of the Second Commandment, led to the crisis of Iconoclasm or destruction of images, which racked the Eastern Empire between 726 and 843. The restoration of Orthodoxy resulted in a strict standardization of religious imagery within the Eastern Church.
[edit] Romanesque and Carolingian Art
Much of the art surviving in Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire is Christian art. While the Western Roman Empire's political structure collapsed after the fall of Rome, the Catholic religious hierarchy continued, were it could, to fund and support the production of sacred art. The most numerous surviving works of the early period are illuminated manuscripts. Copies of the scriptures illustrated on parchment and adorned with precious metals were produced in abbeys and nunneries across Western Europe. A work like the Stockholm codex aureus might be written in gold leaf on purple vellum.[5] Under the direction of the 9th century Emperor Charlemagne, new Gospels and liturgical works were prepared. Carolingian art was based in different monastic centres, known as ateliers, each of which had its own distinct artistic style. Carolingian sculptors created book covers in carved ivory, with themes largely derived from Late Antiquity. For example the front and back covers of the Lorsch Gospels are of a 6th century Imperial triumph, adapted to the triumph of Christ and the Virgin.
Romanesque art developed in Western Europe from approximately 1000 AD until the rise of the Gothic style. Church-building was characterized by an increase in height and overall size. Vaulted roofs were supported by thick stone walls, massive pillars and rounded arches. The dark interiors were illumined by frescoes of Jesus, Mary and the saints, often based on Byzantine models. Carvings in stone adorned the exteriors and interiors, particularly the tympanum above the main entrance. Durham Cathedral and Tournai Cathedral are examples of this.
[edit] Gothic Art
Gothic art emerged in France in the mid-12th century. By the late 14th century, it had evolved into a coherent universal style known as International Gothic, which continued until the late 15th century. The principal media of Gothic art were sculpture, panel painting, stained glass, fresco and the illuminated manuscript. The architectural innovations of the pointed arch and the flying buttress, allowed taller, lighter churches with large areas of glazed window. Gothic art made full use of this new environment, telling a narrative story through pictures, sculpture, stained glass and soaring architecture. Chartres cathedral is a prime example of this.
Virtually all art was still church art, and Gothic art was often typological in nature, showing the stories of the New Testament and the Old side by side in order to draw moral lessons and comparisons. The lives of the Saints' were depicted alongside biblical scenes. Images of the Virgin Mary changed from the Byzantine iconic form to a more human and affectionate mother. Artists like Giotto, Fra Angelico and Pietro Lorenzetti led the way in bringing a more natural humanity to art.
[edit] Renaissance Art
Renaissance art bridges the period of European art history between the art of the Middle Ages and Baroque art. The art of this era was heavily influenced by the "rebirth" (French: renaissance) of interest in the art and culture of classical antiquity. In the visual arts, significant achievements occurred around 1400. Masaccio's art and the writings of Leon Battista Alberti helped establish linear perspective and also the idealisation of the human body. Early Netherlandish artists in northern Europe, such as Jan van Eyck, were innovators in naturalistic oil painting and intuitive spatial compositions. The brief High Renaissance (c. 1500–1520) of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael was a culmination of the Italian achievements, while artists like Albrecht Dürer brought a similar level of intellectual and artistic innovation to northern Europe. Late Renaissance painting, from about 1520 until the end of the 16th century, is marked by various Mannerist tendencies that spread from Italy through the rest of Europe. In architecture, Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome displayed the triumph of new classical-based forms over the Gothic.
[edit] Baroque Art
The impetus for the development of Baroque art came from the Council of Trent which spurred the Catholic Counter-reformation, or fightback against Protestantism. The reformation was a holocaust of art in many parts of Europe. Although Lutheranism was prepared to live with existing Catholic art so long as it did not become a focus of devotion, the more radical reforms of Calvin and Zwingli saw images of any sort as an abomination, and art was systematically destroyed in areas where their followers held sway. In England and Scotland destruction of art was almost total, some stained glass windows alone surviving since they could not be cheaply replaced. Of thousands of high quality works of painted and carved art produced in Medieval Britain, virtually none survived.[6]
In the face of this, the Baroque style turned consciously from the witty, intellectual qualities of 16th century Mannerist art to a visceral appeal aimed at the senses. It employed an iconography that was direct, simple, obvious, and dramatic. In Baroque sculpture, groups of figures assumed new importance, and there was a dynamic movement and energy of human forms. In architecture, colour, drama and beauty were intended to overwhelm the worshipper. The architecture, sculpture and fountains of Bernini (1598–1680) epitomise the Baroque style. Bernini was undoubtedly the most important sculptor of the Baroque period. A defining statement in Baroque painting is provided by the series of paintings executed by Peter Paul Rubens for Marie de Medici at the Luxembourg Palace in Paris (now at the Louvre), in which a Catholic painter worked to impress a Catholic patron. Baroque art spread across Catholic Europe and into the overseas missions of Asia and the Americas, promoted by the Jesuits and Franciscans. Other prominent Baroque artists include, Titian, Tintoretto, El Greco, Caravaggioand Murillo.
In the 18th Century, Barogue developed into the still more flamboyant Rococco style, against which some reacted by turning back to purer classical and Palladian forms.
[edit] Modern trends
The 19th Century saw a repudiation of Classicism, which began to be seen as linked with secularism and pagan-influence. This led to a return to Gothic-influenced forms in architecture, sculpture and painting, led by people such as Pugin. Across the world, Gothic churches and Cathedrals a new wave of church-building. Architects also began to experiment with new syntheses of traditional architectural styles, producing results such as Sacre Coeur in Paris, Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and the Byzantine influenced Westminster Cathedral in London.
The 20th Century led to the adoption of modernist styles of archtecture and art, particularly during and after the Second Vatican Council. This movement rejected traditional forms in favour of utilitarian shapes with a bare minimum of decoration. Such art as there was eschewed naturalism and human qualities, favouring stylised and abstract forms. Examples of modernism include the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, and Los Angeles Cathedral.
[edit] Themes
Common themes of Catholic art:
[edit] See also
- Christian art
- Byzantine art
- Baroque
- Early Renaissance painting
- Baroque architecture
- Medieval art
- List of illuminated manuscripts
- Western Painting
[edit] References
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ "The figure (...) is an allegory of Christ as the shepherd" Andre Grabard, "Christian iconography, a study of its origins", ISBN 0691018308
- ^ Jean Lassus. Landmarks of Western Art. Ed. B Myers, T Copplestone. (Hamlyn Publishing, 1965, 1985) p.187.
- ^ T. Mathews, The early churches of Constantinople: architecture and liturgy (University Park, 1971); N. Henck, "Constantius ho Philoktistes?," Dumbarton Oaks Papers 55 (2001), 279-304 (available online).
- ^ W.F. Volbach, Elfenbeinarbeiten der Spätantike und des frühen Mittelalters (Mainz, 1976).
- ^ Michelle P Brown. How Christianity came to Britain and Ireland. (Lion Hudson, 2006) pp. 176, 177, 191
- ^ Roy Strong. Lost Treasures of Britain. (Viking Penguin, 1990) pp.47-65.
[edit] Bibliography
- Levey, Michael (1961). From Giotto to Cezanne. Thames and Hudson,. ISBN 0-500-20024-6.
- Beckwith, John (1969). early Medieval Art. Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-20019-x.
- Rice, David Talbot (1997). Art of the Byzantine Era. Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-20004-1.
- Myers, Bernard (1965, 1985). Landmarks of Western Art. Hamlyn. ISBN 0-600-35840-2.
- Brown, Michelle P. (2006). How Christianity Came to Britain and Ireland. Lion Hudson,. ISBN 0-7459-5153-8.
- Strong, Roy (1990). Lost Treasures of Britain. Viking Penguin,. ISBN 0-670-83383-5.
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