Early Medieval Art

The Jordan Times has an article about a recently-discovered cave church in Rihab. A mosaic inscription in the church of Saint Georgeous, built above the cave church ca. 230 CE, refers to “the 70 beloved by God and Divine” (see the previous link for a rather complete set of photos of the site). The archaeologists of the site claim to have discerned a living area immediately adjacent to the area for worship, as well as a water source, in order to create the picture of a secret location for persecuted early Christians to hide.

Verum Serum identifies the passage in Eusebius describing the exile of members of the Jerusalem church to nearby Pella on which the interpretation of the archaeologists depends. Wikipedia has a useful entry on the Seventy Disciples, with some helpful reminders.

*Update* See also this article in the Catholic Courier.

Before examining the historiated capitals at San Pedro de la Nave, a brief flashback through monuments familiar to students from the introductory survey provides some necessary background. 

The Sacrifice of Isaac found its earliest representation at the Dura Synagogue, in the panel above the Torah shrine.  (You may note the source of the image, Eikon: Image Database for Biblical Studies, at the Yale Divinity School).  When it appears on the Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, the writings of Irenaeus (Against Heresies) and Tertullian (An Answer to the Jews) articulate the typological relationship of the Sacrifice of Isaac to the Crucifixion of Christ.  Finally, in the mosaics at San Vitale in Ravenna, the Sacrifice of Isaac, paired within the lunette with the Visit of the Three Angels to Mamre, which in turn are together paired with the Sacrifices of Abel and Melchisedech on the other side on the altar, becomes a prototype of the liturgy.  This brief excursion into the development of the typological potential of the Sacrifice of Isaac offers a useful prelude to an understanding of its meaning at San Pedro de la Nave.

The Oratory of John VII in Saint Peter’s figures prominently in scholarship on early medieval church decoration, yet it refuses the straightforward presentation usually demanded by even an upper-level survey.  From the Oratory we have early modern documentary copies and a handful of mosaic fragments.  Further complicating matters, the cycle on the adjacent wall may or may not belong to John VII’s program.  How can we make this material meaningful?  Should the problematics of early modern copies figure in a students introduction to early medieval art?  Or would this just make early medieval art less compelling if students find themselves so frequently at such a distance from it?

Later in the semester, as a follow-up to the class on Italy in the later 9th century, which covered San Clemente in Rome, the students read William Tronzo’s “Setting and Structure in Two Roman Wall Decorations of the Early Middle Ages,” which treats the Oratory of John VII and the chapel on the back wall of the lower basilica of San Clemente.   In hindsight, an article such as this, which the students can read and reread, better serves the complexity of the material.  In its future incarnation, this survey may very well group the material of John VII with the previous topic, “Seventh-Century Rome,” and leave the Oratory, a monument that I cannot easily exclude, to Tronzo’s article.

Although the course started ca. 600, the strategic use of flashbacks, which I would do more systematically in any future reincarnation of the course, enables the introduction of important earlier monuments that anticipate the material of the course.  Among others, these monuments include: the Catacombs of Rome, Christ as Helios in the Vatican Necropolis, San Vitale in Ravenna, and Saints Cosmas and Damian in Rome.

In this particular class, I introduced Santa Maria Maggiore.  Santa Maria Maggiore may not seem the most obvious fit with the material associated with John VII.  I discussed Santa Maria Maggiore on this day for two reasons.  First, by this class, I had already wanted, on several occasions, to make references to Santa Maria Maggiore with the result that my frustration had reached a critical mass.  Second, although a fascinating patron worthy of highlighting, John VII didn’t leave as much material as I usually cover in one class, so I had time on this day.

Santa Maria Maggiore displays vivid mosaics that exemplify the use of typology in church decoration.  (John VII, as I will show in subsequent posts, actually employed a similar system in Santa Maria Antiqua, hence the connection).  Old Testament mosaics in the apse lead the worshipper to the New Testament mosaics on the apsidal arch.  The Old Testament culminates in the New, and the New thereby fulfills the Old.  And the designer of the program even altered the order of the biblical narrative in order to enhance the typological meaning of the Old Testament panels, in particular, the three scenes closest to the apsidal arch on the left wall.  The designer placed the Blessing of Melchizedek (Genesis 14) after the Visit of the Three Angels at Mamre(Genesis 18) in order to place the strongest prefiguration of the Eucharist adjacent to the wall that once framed the altar (the transept dates to a later renovation).

For Santa Maria Maggiore, neither Flickr nor Wickimedia Commons offer any help.  L’Orrizonte tardoantico e le nuove immagini, 312-468, Corpus volume 1 of the series La Pittura medievale a Roma, 312-1431, has a complete series of the mosaic panels, although each somewhat small in size (pages 312-329). The Atlante volume from the same series, to which I refer to in an earlier posting (use the search function to find) offers great reconstructions.

Book 6, Chapter 5 of Paul the Deacon’s History of the Lombards tells how in 680 the story of the dedication of an altar to Saint Sebastian in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli ended a devastating plague.  The church of Michaelangelo’s Moses preserves a mosaic panel that presents a full-length, labeled portrait of Saint Sebastian.  The coincidence of text and image helps date and contextualize this panel, elevating it from a random fragment to a historical document.  Although a minor work, who can resist such a great convergence of image and text.

Flickr has several images (search “pietro in vincoli mosaic”), none of which are especially good.

This class covered yet one more mosaic in Rome with mention in the Liber Pontificalis and accompanying inscriptions.  Flickr (”Stefano Rotondo”) has some extraordinarily large, albeit sometimes somewhat blurry images (I must here confess how much I enjoy the the random images brought by up some of these searches!).  Pope Theodore dedicated the chapel in the the fifth-century round church to two saints whose bodies he translated from catacombs on the Via Nomentana with, at the least, a side purpose of sanctifying the burial spot of his father.  The symbolic Crucifixion and the papal life together point to the Holy Land by way of the Monza Flasks of the first class. 

The material of this class proves especially useful in demonstrating contextualization through the interrelating of image and text. 

Most of the image resources for Sant’Agnese fuori le mura also apply to the Oratory of San Venanzio in the Lateran.  At Flickr, search for “S Venanzio.”  Gillian Mackie has written about the Croatian connection (published in Early Christian Chapels in the West: Decoration, Function, and Patronage), which perhaps would create a good segue-way to some Croatian material (if only one had the time!).  The Oratory of San Venanzio also provides a good occasion for another flashback, for San Venanzio forms part of the same complex as the Lateran Baptistery and the Lateran Basilica, and the composition in the apse at San Venanzio reflects, in part, the composition in the apse of the Basilica.  And we must not forget the background provided by the papal life of John IV and the inscription describing the function of the mosaic!  This pattern will repeat itself one more time…

After an assessment of religious art at the time of Gregory the Great, we stayed in Rome to discover the church art of the seventh century. 

We began with the church of Sant’Agnese fuori le mura, built and decorated by Pope Honorius 625-38).  As with San Lorenzo fuori le mura, the best images come from Maria Andaloro, La Pittura medievale a Roma, 312-1431: Atlante, volume 1.  I should also note that Walter Oakeshott’s Mosaics of Rome has decent usable images for every Roman monument with mosaics, although not so many in color.  Flickr (note link on the right side of this page) has interior shots of Sant’Agnese as well as good details of the hand of God and the face of Agnes (search “Agnese fuori le mura”).  And an official website, only in Italian, has a good set of medium-sized images.

Bill Storage also has some slightly larger than medium-sized images.

And, as is standard, Honorius’s papal biography devotes several lines to his work there, and two inscriptions frame the apse (translations of which I may post at some point in the future), so close reading well accompanies close looking. 

Also, Sant’Agnese stands above catacombs and formed part of the same complex as a Constantinian basilica and the Mauseoleum of Constantina, providing the perfect opportunity for a flashback to early Christian Rome and to Constantinian Rome.

San Lorenzo fuori le mura belongs to the papacy of Pelagius II, Gregory’s predecessor and under whom he served.  It offers the only surviving monument that we can connect, even by one degree of separation, to Gregory.  Among non-surviving monuments, we have his restorations to Saint Peter’s as described in his papal life. 

San Lorenzo has an even more interesting text, at least in my opinion- his well-known letter to Constantina (4.30, in which he refuses the empress’s request for the head of Paul.  Among other tales, Gregory relates how when workers inadvertently opened the tomb of Saint Lawrence, they all died.  San Lorenzo, like most mosaics in Rome, has two longer inscriptions.  I have not yet found translations and therefore made my own.  I have not yet decided whether to post my translations (I have prepared many this semester).  The longer inscription describes in detail the process of construction.

San Lorenzo fuori le mura also has nice spoliated building materials, including a capital depicting a trophy flanked by victories.

If you have good details, then you can also discuss the varying size of the tesserae, within single figures and across figures. 

The best images of San Lorenzo fuori le mura come from Maria Andaloro, La Pittura medievale a Roma, 312-1431: Atlante, volume 1.  

Jaca Books (click “A”, then “Andaloro”, then “Atlante: percorsi visivi…“)

Flickr has good exterior and general interior shots, but only a couple including the mosaic and none suitable for close examination of details.

The site of photographer Bill Storage also has a couple images: