Synagogue Paintings at Dura Europos (245-256 BCE) 

• small nice in center of the wall is where the torah would have been placed
• has pictures of Moses, Abraham, and other people, mixture of writing as well
• figures are "anti-naturalistic" and lack of dramatic action
• narrative style that looks like it would accompany text, taken from manuscripts (?)
  

The Good Shephard, Catacomb of Peter and Marcellinus of Peter and Marcellinus (early 300s CE), fresco

• large cubicula
• everything's in its own frame, geometric frames
• the depiction of Jesus references the calf bearer
  
• Jesus looks young (not the powerful scary dude seen later)
• the scenes surrounding the central ones are from the old testament
  
• in particular, the depiction of Jonah relates directly to 
  

Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus (359 CE) made of marble

• 10 alcoves, w/ central space has Jesus enthroned in heaven with Peter and Paul flanking him
  
• bottom scene is Jesus going into Jerusalem on the donkey
• Left most two panels t: abraham and isaac b: job following god blindly
• Right most side t: Christ in front of Pilate b: Paul being lead off to his death
• center right t: arrest of Jesus b: arrest of Peter
• scenes are placeholders for stories, meant to remind, not to explain through action
  

Christ as Sol Invictus (late 3rd century) from mausoleum of the Julii, and mosaic

• looks a lot like the depictions of Helios, but the halo is very different from how the Romans depicted their gods
• good mixture between Roman and Christian imagery
  

Old St. Peter's Basilica (begun in 320 CE) made of stone and had a wooden roof

• does not survive, but was the basic pattern for Early Christian churches
  
• most important church built in Rome
• altar was supposed to be made on the tomb of St. Peter
• stands on the w. side of the tiber river
• network of the catacombs under it
• part of a hill had to be cut away
  
• imitated Roman administrative buildings, but you walk on the smaller side, has one apse
• main central space maintained and has aisles, but has transept (creates tau cross, area for pilgrims and visitors)
• clerestory windows
• unadorned exterior (metaphoric)
  

Saint-Apollinaire Nuovo (ded. 504 CE),

• built by theodoric
• has tiny scenes above the clerestory windows of Jesus's life
• processions on both sides of martyrs (segregated by gender) marching towards the their "respective model" (aka Jesus or Mary), labels on the top tell who they are
• on the madonna side there's the three magi leading the f. martyrs
  
• speaking gesture turns into the blessing gesture
  

Saint Apollinare in Classe (533-49 CE)

• bell tower, narthex, basic basillica style church
• the apse still has its mosaic
• st. appolinarus in the center, while Jesus is represented by the cross, and God by the hand
• 12 sheep=12 apostles
• 3 other sheep=trinity
• extensive mosaic decoration
• on the top of they have the 4 beasts (evangelists) and another depiction of Jesus
  

Santa Constanza (337-351 CE), Rome

• Centrally planned (not square or rectangular, could be circular, octagonal, ect.), altar/focus at the center
  
• better for smaller gatherings of ppl
• dome
• amulatory vault that runs around the dome
• mosaic on the ambulatory vault have themes of nature, vines, puti (cupid figures), grapes, depiction of wine making, pea cocks, fruit trees, birds...scattered Christian symbols (peacocks' bodies don't decay...wtf? no.)
  

Christ as Good Shephard (425 CE) Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, mosaic

• young, beardless
• abstract landscape
• lounging with a flock of sheep
• incredbly dark inside, everything glitters, otherworldly, shimmering
  

The Vienna Genesis: Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well  (early 6th century) made of calf skin dyed purple

• letters written in silver (Greek)
• shows moment that abraham finds rebecca at the well where she gives him water for his camels
• camels expressive
• stripped down (important aspects of narrative)
• oldest manuscript we have with illustration
  

Hagia Sophia (532-537 CE) 

• Church of the holy wisdom
• 2 earlier structures named the same thing on the same plot (s. name)
• combo btw central and basilica plan (dome, but it's still rectangular leading to  the apse)
  
• put a round dome on a square building, the thrust of the dome is carried on four creat arches of the interior (pendentive)
• vast surface, gives a sense of lightness to the architecture (can't tell what's holding the weight)
• tons of clerestory windows (esp. on dome), gives sense of floating (also heavenly light, dome of heaven)
• segmented interior (center for clergy, outer part for laypeople)
• added (minarets and butresses)
• probably large silver sculpture, columns are departing heavily from the classical orders (despite volutes), had mosaics probably everywhere (esp apse)
  

San Vitale (526-547 CE)

• octagonal, and building is octagonal, apses create lots of side chapels
• collonade that runs around the central apse
  
• mosaics were designed by a theologian in a continuous program
• 2 story arch (on the threshold are the 12 disciples in medallions, portrait-like images)
• central vault with lamb being held up by 4 angels
• old testament stories (abel+ melchisedech, abraham and 3 angels)
• youthful figure of Christ sitting on a globe w/ angels introducing eclesius (offering church as gift) and san vitale
• images of Justinian and Theodora w/ their retinue most famous mosaics (depict processions, ceremony, not historical, symbolic, bishop taking them to Christ)
  

Transfiguration Mosaic from Monastery of St. Catherine (548-565 CE) mosaic

• Jesus in a mandorla, surrounded by beams of light, balanced by amazed reactions of the disciples
  
• running around outside their are busts of the apostles on the vertical axis and old testament prophets on the horizontal axis
• event from the new testament that includes moses (on the site where they thought moses gave the ten commandments to the hebrews)
  
• duality of Christ
  

Icon of Virgin and Cild from Monastery of St. Catherine (6th -7th century) made of wax and pigment on wood

• encaustic
• theotokos= virgin and child
• saints as intercessors btw christ and mary (st. 's eyes are directly look at us, mary and jesus look to the side, and the angels are looking up), also the military saints...meant to say they will protect us just as they protect mary
  
• angels look more classical, shown more 3 dimensionally
  

Mosaic of Virgin and Child from Hagia Sophia (9th Century) mosaic

• madonna over 16 ft. high
• inscription touting iconophiles and denigrating iconoclasts
• mary is wide, monumental (looks more like a queen or goddess than a mortal woman) cloaks...looks like a queen
• humongous lap to hold Christ who looks like a five year old, yet very kingly due to his rich robes and halo
  
• lots of use of line and surface pattern and weight and monumentality
  

Christ as Pantokrater, Daphni (1090-1100 CE) mosaic

• Holding a bible
• pantokrater "ruler of all"
• meant to be imposing, the christ of judgement and revelation than the nice good shepherd
• in dome
• abstraction and realism mixed together
  

Barberini Ivory (mid 6th century) made of ivory

• Christian imagery (Christ on top, looks like Justinian)
• Pagan imagery
  

Justinian from San Vitale mosaic

• Maximian definitely has power, feet farther up than J., only one labeled
  
• Justinian wearing purple like Christ, central figure, has a halo
• some facial differentiation (might have been slighy portraitlike)
• elongated bodies
• soldiers w/ shields baring the kai roh (meeting of earthly and wordly
  

Theodora from San Vitale  mosaic

• Th. brings the cup for wine (has magi on embroidered on them hem of her robe
• faces all look the same
• priests mixed with courtiers
• show the richness of the empire threw the dresses of the courtiers
  
• defined by what she wears
• pride of place by being opposite of J. w/ her own panel
  

Lamentation Wall Painting from Pantaleimon, Macedonia (1164 CE) fresco

• not a biblical event, but an emotional consequence of it
• john the evangelist completed bent over
• angels mourning
• deep blue sky, curving landscape meant to be put back into a worldly context to portray the emotion
  

Vladamir Virgin (1000 CE) made of tempera on wood

• Mary is clasping Christ, "tender image," close physical relationship
  
• sad face like she knows what's going to happen to him, looking directly at the viewer
• christ is looking at mary
• red and gold cross hatching, more abstract, body for surface and ornamentation
• only think the faces are original
  

Dome of the Rock (687-692 CE) dome is made from wood

• place of Mohammed's night journey into heaven (also the site of the first jewish temple)
• form of the building has been unchanged
  
• octagonal building with a dome on top, 2 ambulatory aisles
• many of the columns are spullia
• dome= plated with lead and gold (decoration has been changed since due to restoration, some are origininal, garden motifs)
  
• not one main entrance, center of building is the focus rock is left exposed
• originally the exterior would have been important
  
• one set of clerestory windows...heavier, less light
• Koranic inscriptions speak of Islam's superiority to Christianity

Great Mosque, Damascus (705-715 CE) made of masonry blocks and columns from the byzantine church there first

• congregational mosque, originally a Roman temple, than a Byzantine church, and then became a mosque
• tore down the structure but then used the walls around the exterior are now the walls of the building
• one main focus in the interior space (mihrab, most sacred part, on qibla wall) on a long wall, large interior space, courtyard,
  
• mosaics on the outside, collonade
• wooden roof supported by sone columns
• maqsura (where the most elite would sit)
  

Great Mosque, Kairouan (836-875 CE) made of stone

• hippostyle prayer hall
• dome over the mihrab
• congregational mosque
• more rectangular
• large courtyard with hall of pillars (meant to reflect the shape of Mohammed's house
  

Minaret from Great Mosque at Samarra (848-852 CE) made of brick

• part of a humongous congregational mosque
  
• snail or spiral form
  
• meant to be an identifying marker, but in contemporary Islam minarets are meant to call teh faithful to prayer
  

Prayer Hall of the Great Mosque, Cordoba (8th-10th CE)

• grew outwards, lots of
  
• double tiered system of coumns (all of the columns from one building), unique interior space, creates a "forest of columns," horsehoe arches
• striping on the columns is origninal

Dome of Mihrab, Great Mosque, Cordoba (10th CE)

• big dome over the space between mihrab and the columns
• multi loved arches (clover leaf)
• dome of maqsura is on an octagonal structure (skeletal...ribbing, exterior is a perfect half sphere)
• entrance to the mihrab has a horsehoe arch, ton of Koranic inscriptions

Purse Cover, Sutton Hoo (625 CE) made of gold, glass, cloisenne enamel, garnets, and emeralds

• found in a funerary mound in a ship with a king
• the top of a leather belt
• small piece
• on either side there is a man in the cnter and there are two animals (dogs?) biting his head(?) or it could be heraldic
• in the center two hawks dominating a duck (?)
  
• geometric lines, strict symmetry
  

Saint Matthew from Book of Durrow (660-680 CE) made of ink and tempera on parchment

• unsure where it was originally produced, could have been in Ireland or Scotland
  
• gospel book, thick parchment
• "author portrait" of St. Matthew in 4 colors (yellow, brown, green, black)
• Matthew's symbol is a man,
  
• his feet are facing in the same direction, flat face, no interest in foreshortenining, abstract, no interest in the naturalism in the body
• similar aesthetic to the metal work in the border and the clothing
• 6X10
  

Carpet Page from Lindisfarne Gospels (698-721 CE) made of tempera on vellum

• 10x14
• written for a monastery by a bishop
  
• carpet pages make them more luxirious, also thought to have made them because they had a magical or quality that made them very much like relics
  
• carpet page: pages as purely decoration, generally made up of abstract geometric forms
• symbolic concept of imposed order (?)
  

Saint Matthew from Lindisfarne Gospels (698-721 CE) made of tempera on vellum

• Matthew is seated actually writing his book with a man hidden behind a curtain looking out
  
• style is very different, and could have been based on classical illustration or a roman prototype but with an interest in surface and decoration (hence liberal use of line)
  
• background is left blank, meant to give it "space"

Chi-Rho page from Book of Kells (late 8th to early 9th CE) made of tempera on vellum

• not for communal use, cermonial (display piece)
  
• three greek letters (x, r, i) fill the entire page
• looks entirely abstract, but if you look closely there are depictions of human and animal heads, wild motifs structured by letters
• creation: active meditation (a form of prayer) reader: could also use it as a meditational activity when you follow the lines
  

Portrait Bust of a Flavian Woman (90 CE) made of marble

Equestrian Portrait of Charlemagne (early 9th CE) made of

• tried to model himself after Constantine (since the Equestrian statue Marus Aurelius was thought to be Constantine)
  
• has a beard/mustache, figure is more squat, heavier, small figurine, holding an orb of the earth
  

Saint Matthew from Coronation Gospels (800-810 CE)

• made for the use of Charlemagne himself
• figure of st. matthew sitting down and writing in the book
• heavily dependent on classical models with the use of classical drapery and putting him in a landscape, interest in putting him in 3 dimensional space, not a frontal pose
  

Saint Matthew from Ebbo Gospels (816-835 CE)

• quick rapid brush strokes to give it an energy, a lot of emotion
  
• landscape= frenzied strokes
• *artists are not bound to one sort of style*
  

Utrecht Psalter (820-835 CE)

• every psalm comes with a half page illustration
• commented on little vignettes of the psalm
• in pen with no color
• text and narrative, literalization of text...for reals
• parts don't add up to a story (used as a pneumonic device?)
• a lot of copies made of this book (influential)
• style of figures: free, expressive, sketchily indicated, and no rigid fontality
  

Palace Chapel at Aachen ()

• angular proportions, more marble facing than mosaics
• parts of San Vitale were used in the
  
• more massive and geometric, asserts the structure instead of tries to mask it
• two levels, central plan with a dome and an apse (rectangular) with the altar
  
• second level had a huge, plain marble thrown
• rich liturgical objects instead of mosaics
  

Plan of Monastery of St. Gall (819 CE) made of parchment

• a plan for the ideal monastery (there was already a monastery on this site)
• the church present in the plan has two apses, everything is structured round it
• interesting because it separates and yet has a unifying purpose with the church
• well planned and measured
• self contained economic system
  

St. Micheal's, Hildesheim ()

• double transept, enter from the long side
  
• by having an apse at both ends it shows the circularity (or cycle) of the sun's path
• modular plan
  
• has a westwork (massive facade at the west end of churches), two west works (due to the towers...circular and square towers)
• collonades with two larges apses, painted wooden roofs, clerestory windows, probably had frescoes on the sides (a lot like early Roman basilicas
  

Bronze Doors of Hildesheim (1000 CE)

• only clergy and monks passed through this entrance and were 16 1/2 ft high w/ 8 panels per door
  
• each of the two doors was cast in one piece
• revival of massive bronze casting
  
• left door tells the story of origin of sin (O.T.) right door tells the story of triumph over sin (N.T.)
• based on manuscript illustrations (what you would see in a book versus sculputre
• "flatness" yet animated (a lot of energy in scenes, think the lunging of god)
  

Bronze Column of Hildesheim (1000 CE) made of bronze

• inspiration was probably trajan's column (analogy of christ's victory over sin)
  
• exploits of christ
  

Gero Crucifix () made of walnut wood

• lifesize sculpture
• statue and reliquary (compartment in the back of the head to put the host, and relics of saints held in other hidden compartment)
• made to portray a sense of humanity, textures, weight...much more naturalistic
• figure exists in space, face even conveys loneliness, sadness, pain
  
• blood dripping down forehead
  

Uta Codex Page ()

• possiblity for women to be patrons of artist
• she's praying towards the image of the Virgin Mary, offering the book to the Mary
  
• it's in a lectionary (used for prayers and readings for the year
• dedication page
• complex background that resembles metal work
• byzantine influence include the use of gold and the garments they where and the use of angular lines