U N I T 2 MEDIEVAL ART In this Unit you will learn about Medieval Art: from the beginnings of the first Christian communities to the splendour of Byzantine art, up until the innovations of the Italian painters, above all Giotto. This Unit will also focus on the features of Romanesque and Gothic architecture with specific analysis of peculiar examples. A. EARLY CHRISTIAN AND BYZANTINE ART During the first three centuries, Christians underwent a lot of persecutions, and for this reason they were forced to use private houses and catacombs (burial sites outside the city walls) as meeting places. There, they painted frescoes on the walls, with the symbols and the emblems of Christ, Mary, the martyrs and other biblical figures. Early Christian artists also borrowed motifs and images from Pagan art to help to depict this new ethic. For instance, the image of the shepherd, already very common in Roman decorations, was transformed into the good shepherd (like the one shown in the top picture on the opposite page), which symbolized Jesus Christ leading the flock of believers; in the same way, the lamb itself can be associated to Christ s sacrifice. The same iconography was used for sculptures, for carvings on sarcophagi and for decorations of martyria, simple buildings erected over the graves of martyrs. After the Edict of Milan (313 A.D), which named Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, the following became more widespread and accepted. As a consequence, artists began to turn to the new constructions of churches, using the architectural design of the Roman Basilica composed of a central nave with one or more aisles on either side and an apse at one end, which contained the altar. A great example of an ancient Christian Basilica is Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, built in the 5th century with a large mosaic decoration representing events of the Old Testament and New Testament. A considerable role in the development of medieval art was played by the Byzantine art, which is the artistic works produced by Eastern Orthodox states under the protection of the Empire s capital at Constantinople, but also those made in Ravenna, which was under the Byzantine Empire between 540 and 751. Empress Theodora and her retinue, 6th c., San Vitale, Ravenna. 36