Biblia pauperum ? A proposito dell’arte dei primi cristiani
2001; Brepols; Volume: 9; Linguagem: Inglês
10.1484/j.at.2.300602
ISSN2295-9718
Autores Tópico(s)Byzantine Studies and History
ResumoThe aim of this paper is to see if Christian art in its making ( 3rd to 5th centuries ) fits the paradigm of "democratization of culture" as proposed by Mazzarino. It draws firstly from late antique Christian sources, from the fourth century through Gregory the Great's well-known letters to the Bishop of Marseilles, who see the illiterate as the addressees of the church sacred paintings, to the common opinion that the earliest Christian paintings belong to the popular current of Roman art. After taking into consideration the private and funerary context of 3rd Century Christian scenes, their insertion in the standard schemes of contemporary wall decorations, the medium to low level of the artisans as revealed by the variances in pictorial quality between traditional decoration and new figural subjects, the paper reaches the conclusion that the "style" of catacombs paintings is better defined as an "artisan manner", developed as a response to specific decorative purposes, following the tradition of previous Roman production, which is in no way popular in the social meaning in the word. Any connection with the concept of popular or (in Bianchi Bandinelli's definition) plebeian current of Roman art is also questioned for the fourth century reliefs of Constantine's Arch and connected Christian sculpture, on the basis of the highly sophisticated structure of the composition of the arch and the reliefs themselves. In conclusion, while challenging the very concept of "democratization of culture" as an effective paradigm for later antique artistic production, attention is drawn to the function of paintings as cultural links between different levels of Christian society.
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