A History of Art for Beginners and Students: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture

by Clara Erskine Clement Waters

The ancient or classic Italian sculpture of which we have spoken may be said to have extended to about the middle of the fourth century of the Christian era. The arch of Constantine was one of its latest works, and is interesting as an example of the decline of art. The sculptures upon it, which were taken from the arch of Trajan, executed two centuries earlier, are so superior to those that were added in the time of Constantine, that nothing could give one a clearer idea of the decadence of sculpture than seeing the works of two periods thus placed side by side.

After the time of Constantine, when the Christians were no longer forced to hide their art in the catacombs, they began to have a sculpture of their own. The first Christians in Rome were brought into contact with the worship of Isis and Pan, Venus and Apollo, and were filled with horror at the sight of the statues of these divinities. They believed that any representation of the human form was forbidden by the commandment which says, "Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, nor the likeness of anything that is in the heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth." Thus it happened that when the early Christians desired to represent the Saviour they employed painting, such as is found in the catacombs, rather than sculpture, and separate statues are the rarest remains of early Christian art.

Fig. 71.—Statue of St. Peter.

The oldest Christian statue which is known in marble is that of St. Hippolytus, which is in the Museum of the Lateran Palace, where there are also two small statues of Christ as the Good Shepherd, which were found in the catacombs.

The most important statue of this period is that of St. Peter, which is held in great reverence by Roman Catholics, who kiss its toe as they enter the church of St. Peter's at Rome, and press their foreheads against the extended foot. The statue is of bronze, and some antiquarians believe that it is the Jupiter of the Capitol changed so as to answer for a statue of St. Peter; others say that it was cast from the metal of the statue of Jupiter; and the usual belief is that it was made by the order of Pope Leo I. about the middle of the fifth century as a thank-offering for the deliverance of Rome from the barbarian Attila by the miraculous protection of St. Peter and St. Paul. This statue is too rude to belong to classic art, though it is of remarkable excellence for a work of the fifth century (Fig. 71).

The principal use of sculpture by the early Christians was for the decoration of the sarcophagi, or burial-cases. These were cut in bas-reliefs after the manner of the ancients, the subjects being taken from the life of Christ; the ornaments were the Christian emblems, such as the lamb, cross, vine, palm, dove, and the monogram of Christ. As time passed the designs were more and more elaborate; stories from the Old Testament were frequently illustrated, and numerous figures were crowded together, with many symbols ingeniously inserted to make the meaning of the whole more clear.

The largest number and the best of these sarcophagi are now in the museums of the Lateran and the Vatican. In the centre of one of the finest of these is a shell, in which are the half figures of the two who were buried in this sarcophagus. At the upper left hand is the Saviour before the tomb of Lazarus; one of the sisters of the dead man kisses the hand of Jesus; next to this is the Denial of Peter; nearest the shell Moses reaches up to receive the Table of the Law. On the right of the shell, in the upper row, is the Sacrifice of Isaac and the Washing of Pilate's Hands. On the lower row, beginning at the left, is Moses causing the Water to flow from the Rock; next is the Apprehension of Peter, and next, Daniel in the Lions' Den. Besides these there are the Healing of the Blind and the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes. This will show how elaborate the carving is on these burial-cases, and how the subjects from the Old and New Testaments are mingled without order or apparent reason. These sarcophagi have been found in various parts of Italy and in France, and are seen in many museums.

In no part of the Roman Empire was sculpture as favorably regarded by the early Christians as at Byzantium. Several attempts to adorn the city with statues and other works of art were made there, and many of the Greek sculptures which had been carried to Rome were again borne off to decorate this new Capitol. The Emperor Constantine there erected a column a hundred feet high, and placed his statue on it; Theodosius also erected a column and an obelisk; but Justinian excelled all these, and about 543 A.D. set up a monument with a colossal equestrian statue of himself in bronze upon it. The column which supported this statue was of brick masonry covered with plates of bronze. From the accounts we have of it we conclude that this was a fine work for its time; it was called the Augustio, and was placed on the Augusteum near the church of St. Sophia; in the sixteenth century it had been overthrown and broken in pieces, and the metal was then melted down. The artist who executed the Augustio was Eustathius of Rome, who was sent to Byzantium for this purpose.

But the Byzantine Christians soon grew into a fixed disapproval of statues, and favored only the lesser works of art. Ivory-carving, which long before had been brought from the East by the Greeks, now came into special favor, and the Byzantine artists devoted all their talent to making beautiful works of this sort. The most important of these carvings which remains is in the cathedral of Ravenna. It is the episcopal chair or cathedra of Maximianus, and was made between 546 and 552 (Fig. 72).