Middle Age and Renaissance Art Period

Middle Age Art Period

Introduction

Bridge between the middle Ages and the art itself was ancient so-called early Christian art, which arose at a time when Christianity existed illegally in the pagan Roman Empire. He began to study in the era of the High Renaissance, when, in the XVI century. Accidentally discovered the underground Christian cemeteries II-IV centuries, which served as a refuge and gathering place for the Christian community (they are conventionally called the catacombs, because one of the cemeteries were discovered in the area Catacomb). The catacombs were a picture and rectangular rooms. The last preserved fragments of frescoes and marble, decorated with reliefs of the sarcophagi. It is considered that in the paintings of the catacombs used by ancient motifs spirit of the new religion was kept. It was a system of allegories and symbols associated at first with only memorial cult. Birds and animals, according to Christian notions of paradise inhabited the Elysian Fields. Orpheus is identified with the biblical King David, the Psalmist, Perseus, with St.. George, Odysseus, to resist the sirens, a Christian, resistant to worldly temptations. So painting was made up, like a cryptogram, esoteric (Karr, 2004). In the Gospel of God is compared to the husbandmen, Christ is likened to the pastor and his disciples - his flock, and on the walls of underground chambers appear the scenes images of vintage or figure of a young shepherd with a lamb on his shoulder, good shepherd, the most common in early Christian art the embodiment of Christ. It included particularly frequent motifs miraculous salvation and healing in accordance with biblical and evangelical scenes, which saw the symbol of salvation. The soul of the deceased was represented in the form of Oranta - woman praying with uplifted hands. Range of subjects was limited, did not have a coherent narrative. The other world images require a different mindset artistic language. The figures still bulky, as in late antiquity, but in Orans, for example, symbolizing the victory of spirit over the flesh, all the more emphasized flattened silhouette, drawing an outline, the body disappears under the tunic, the main attention is drawn to the face and large eyes, the figure lost sense of reality , tangibility. Thus, the images of naively sincere, friendly, shy of the execution, but complete, in the words of one researcher, "timidity before the mysteries of faith," early Christian art goes to the images of the stress-ecstatic, which is subjected to a form of dematerialization for the sake of strengthening the spiritual principle (Feber, 2002).

Discussions

Paintings of churches have differed from the paintings of the catacombs, not only technique, but mostly content. Scanty symbolism of secret refuges of Christians forced out scenes from the Christian Scriptures and the lives of the saints, the image of Christ on the throne - the ruler of the world, Christ the teacher, surrounded by disciples, apostles and evangelists. So, amid the architectural landscape of Jerusalem is depicted seated on a throne of Christ, the preaching ...