1. LATE ANTIQUITY
GARDNER CHAPTER 11-1 pp

2. THE LATE ANTIQUE PERIOD
Christianity starts as an underground religion, as the pagan religion of the Romans was still the majority.
Earliest works can be found in catacombs or on sarcophagi
Architecture: mostly basilican or centrally planned building
Founded by Jesus Christ in the early 1st century
Early leaders/popes were martyred such as St. Peter
Early Christians were persecuted by the Roman Empire but given restitution of property in 313 with the Edict of Milan.
Constantine is the great advocator for the Christian faith, often favoring them in political positions and patronizing religious buildings. He was officially converted on his death bed. 
Christians bury their dead because it resembles the burial of Jesus Christ. Under Rome are hundreds of miles of catacombs where Christians, Jews, and pagans are buried (cheaper too).
THE LATE ANTIQUE PERIOD
During the 3rd and 4th centuries a rapidly growing number of Romans rejected polytheism in favor of monotheism
Jewish and Christian art of the Late Antique period is no less Roman than a sarcophagus w/mythological scenes
Jewish and Christian sculptures, paintings and buildings of Late Antiquity are Roman in style and technique
This art differs in subject and function

3. THE CATACOMBS AND FUNERARY ARTS
Catacombs in Rome run for miles -> house as many as 4 million bodies
Christians had to be buried outside a city’s wall on private property
First gallery dug 3 to 4 feet around -> in the walls of the gallery were cut openings/loculi on above the other like shelves for the bodies
Often small rooms/cubicula served as mortuary chapels
Once full -> new galleries were excavated at right angles -> when all lateral area covered lower levels were excavated
After Christianity was officially approved churches were built above the catacombs
Early Christian art = earliest preserved artworks having Christian subjects -> not art of Christians at the time of Jesus
Most Early Christian art = 3rd and 4th cdnturies -> most found in CATACOMBS = vast subterranean passageways and chambers designed as cemeteries for bury the dead
Catacombs tunneled out of tufa bedrock -> less elaborate but more extensive than Etruscan tombs

4. (3-48/1) CATACOMB OF PRISCILLA – Greek Chapel Rome, Italy Late Antique Europe c C.E. Excavated tufa and fresco
Catacombs beneath Rome have 4 million dead and extend for about 100 miles
The Greek Chapel is named for the Greek inscription painted on the right niche
Three niches for sarcophagi
Decorated with paintings in the Pompeian style -> sketchy painterly brushstrokes
FLASHCARD

5. (3-48/2) CATACOMB OF PRISCILLA – Orant Fresco Rome, Italy Late Antique Europe c C.E. Excavated tufa and fresco
Fresco over a tomb niche set over an arched wall -> in cemetery of a family vault
Figure stands with arms outstretched in prayer
Figure is compact, dark, set off from the light background, terse angular contours, emphatic gestures
To the left – a teacher with children; to the right – a mother and child
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6. Early Christian art presents Jesus as youthful and as either the Good Shepherd or as a teacher
(3-48/3) CATACOMB OF PRISCILLA – Good Shepherd fresco Rome, Italy Late Antique Europe c C.E. Excavated tufa and fresco
The Good Shepard, the story of Jonah, and orants, painted ceiling of the Catacomb of Priscilla
Painted ceiling of cubiculum in catacomb -> painted circular frame with a central medallion and LUNETTES/semicircular frames around the circumference
Story of Jonah in the lunettes -> Jonah honored as a PREFIGURATION of Christ
ORANTS = praying figures between the lunettes
Christ as the Good Shepard in central medallion -> lost sheep on his shoulders symbolizes sinner who has strayed and been rescued
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7. JEWISH SUBJECTS IN CHRISTIAN ART
The Old Testament figures prominently in Early Christian art in media
Jesus was a Jew
Many of the first Christians were converted Jews
Christians came to view persons and events in the Old Testament as prefigurations of New Testament persons and events
The 4 most popular Old Testament stories depicted in Early Christian art
ADAM AND EVE -> original sin -> Christ came to redeem us
SACRIFICE OF ISAAC -> Abraham is ordered by God to sacrifice his son Isaac -> prefigures the sacrifice of God’s only son, Jesus
JONAH -> prophet sins -> God sends storm -> Jonah has sailors throw him overboard -> whale swallows him -> Jonah prays then whale spits him out after 3 days -> prefigures the Resurrection
DANIEL -> prophet violates Persian ban on prayer -> thrown into den of lions -> God sends angel to shut the lions’ mouths -> Daniel emerges unharmed -> Christ’s triumph over death

8. Scenes covering from Adam and Eve to Christ before Pilate
(3-additional card chapter 11) SARCOPHAGUS OF JUNIUS BASSUS - Gardner image 11-7/p.294 Rome, Italy Late Antique Europe c. 359 Marble
Scenes covering from Adam and Eve to Christ before Pilate
Sarcophagus of a wealthy, recently converted city prefect/official of Rome
Decorated on 3 sides -> two registers w/5 compartments framed by columns -> deceased does not appear on the body of the coffin -> stories from Old and New Testaments fill the niches
Central niches show Christ -> top he is enthroned between Peter and Paul, below entering Jerusalem on donkey -> scenes derive from imperial depictions
Scenes of the Crucifixion/Christ’s suffering and death rarely portrayed in Early Christian art
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9. STATUETTE OF CHRIST
Christ seated, from Civita Latina, Italy, ca , marble, 2’4” high
Monumental statues become increasingly uncommon in the 4th century
Christians tended to suspect the freestanding statue -> linked it to idol worship of the pagans
No “cult statues”, or equivalents of pedimental statues or relief friezes of Greco-Roman temples