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Custodians of a vast, priceless inheritance of sacred
art…
We are the custodians of a vast, priceless inheritance of sacred art.
Painting, sculpture, architecture, music — every kind of art and
craft has been put to the service of prayer, worship and evangelisation.
As a result we have monumental cathedrals and basilicas, masses and oratorios
that still stir the souls of performers and listeners born centuries after
the death of the composer, paintings and sculptures that are instantly
recognisable the world over.
But, just as importantly, the church has brought art and music to countless
people who might never otherwise have experienced it. There are generations
who would never have seen art in their own homes, were it not for reproductions
of the Sacred Heart, or small statues of the Infant of Prague. There are
generations whose only exposure to choral music, or to participating in
choral music, was in church. And, of course, there are generations of
artists and craftspeople who found an audience, or even found a livelihood,
through the church.
Devoid of art in the early centuries…
It comes as a bit of a surprise, then, to realise that for the first
two centuries of the church's life, art appears to have played almost
no role. Little or nothing in the way of Christian religious art from
this period survives.
There could be a number of reasons for this:
- This was a persecuted, underground church. They had more pressing
matters to attend to than the creation of beautiful objects.
- Given the uncertain conditions in which the church existed,
whatever art they did create might not survive.
- Its Jewish roots might have made the early church wary of painting,
sculpture and similar representational art-forms.
Whatever the reason, all that we have from this period is a few symbols,
notably the symbol of the fish but also the lamb and the cross, painted
on or carved into walls.
Probably the earliest depiction that we have of Christ dates from around
200 AD, and is actually a crude anti-Christian caricature. Found scratched
into the wall of a guardroom near the Circus Maximus in Rome, it shows
a crucified man with the head of a donkey, and the slogan (in Greek) "Alexamenos
worships his god". Most probably, it's a jibe directed
by Roman soldiers at a Christian colleague.
Crude as it may be, however, it does suggest that the image of the crucifix
was a readily recognised symbol of Christianity by this time.
Earliest devotional image…
The earliest truly devotional image of Christ that survives may be one
dating from around 235 AD which was found in an archaeological dig at
an early Christian house-church in Syria. It shows Christ healing the
paralytic ("Rise, take up your bed and walk").
Jesus is dressed as a Roman teacher. He wears a Roman tunic and sandals,
is clean-shaven and has close-cropped hair.
Since Jesus had been dead for two centuries at this point, it is very
unlikely that this is intended as an actual depiction of Jesus. As well
as leaving no images of him, the early church does not appear to have
cared what Jesus looked like — there are no descriptions of him in
any of the New Testament texts or in other writings from the period, and
it seems unlikely that an oral tradition of his appearance was handed
down for two centuries.
And, in fact, this is fairly typical of early Christian art; Christ is
portrayed as a contemporary figure. Another early image of Christ comes
from the other end of the Roman empire, a third-century villa in Britain.
It depicts Christ as a fashionably-dressed young man of the period; it
is only the inscription which identifies him as Christ. Still other images
from the period show him as a (pagan) Roman priest, complete with the
wand which the pagan priests carried. Christ does not acquire a beard
and long hair until these things come back into fashion among Christians.
Where Christ is not shown as a contemporary figure, he is shown as an
archetype. For instance, there are many early images of Christ which show
him as a shepherd. He was not, of course, a shepherd, but he often compared
his role as Messiah to that of a shepherd, and this is what these images
are referring to.
What are these images endeavouring to tell us?
And this is the key to something important. None of these images are
intended to tell us about what Christ actually looked like. That was not
something that anybody at the time seems to have cared about. Instead
they seek to tell us something about Christ — something which the
artist, or the community that he comes from, wants to say; for example,
that Christ is a wise teacher, that he fulfils the (priestly) role of
speaking to God on our behalf, that he is the Good Shepherd.
Why don't they just say these things? Well, no doubt they did, in preaching
and teaching and writing. But it's a universal human experience that there
are many things that cannot be said easily, or effectively, or at all,
in ordinary speech. That's part of the reason why we have art, and music,
and dance; they are all modes of communication.
This is not just a matter of religion. The reason we have love songs,
for instance, is that the experience of being in love, or of being rejected
in love, cannot really be communicated through ordinary speech.
And the Christian faith is based on some stupendously big ideas —
ideas which really stretch our capacity to understand, never mind our
capacity to articulate. We're not going to be able to express our faith
without making full use of all the modes of expression that we have. So
it's pretty much a given that a lively Christianity is going to produce
religious art. And that's why we have all those millions of plaster reproductions
of the Infant of Prague with the fingers chipped off, and Byrd's Mass
for Four Voices, and everything in between.
But religious ideas, especially Christian ones, can be challenging and
confronting. That makes for challenging, confronting art. Next week, I'll
have a look at some of the issues that raises.
ARTICLE
NAVIGATION: PART I | PART
II | PART III
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 Peregrinus
is a lawyer who migrated to Australia from Ireland just a few years
ago. He has a seemingly encyclopaedic knowledge of Catholic church
history and the ability at short notice to put his finger on the
facts that are needed in the many controversies that erupt on internet
discussion forums. He is based in Perth, Western Australia.
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What are your thoughts on this commentary? You can contribute to the
discussion in our forum.
Peregrinus can be contacted at: Peregrinus
<peregrinus@catholica.com.au>
©2007
Peregrinus
[Peregrinus' Archive]
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