The Characteristics Of Early Islamic Art And Early Christian Art

Art and the Bible, written by Francis A. Schaefer, is a short, simple to the point book regarding how a Christian should approach art. The book is divided into two sections. Section one is title Art in the Bible and section two is titled Some Perspectives on Art.

Every religion in this world has their own culture and thereby their own creative forms, like art, dance, architecture, music and craft. Like the tradition varies from each religion to religion so as their Art. I chose to compare Art forms of Islamic Art and Hinduism Art, as Art have always exited me and inspired me in many ideas, and secondly arts have its own history and reasoning.

Early Christian and Byzantine art started after Jesusí death in the first century ranging and ending to the fourth century AD. The art produced during this period was secretive because Christianity was not a formal religion but as a cult; the Romans and rest of Europe persecuted Christians so the artist disguised their work with symbols and hints of Christian aspects. Christianity was the first cult to not involve rituals of sacrifice of animals and refused to worship an Emperor causing the Roman Empire to make Christianity illegal. Byzantine art excelled in the Justinian period in the east during 520-540 AD. The art was produced in Ravenna, Byzantine, Venice, Sicily, Greece, and Russia. The

Christian art and iconography began, about two hundred years after the birth of Christ. Western Christian art and religious iconography was based on the classical art styles and imagery by the Ancient Romans. Medieval art iconography began to relate more to text of the Bible. Religious Christian art was created in the form of illuminated manuscripts, mosaics, and fresco paintings adorned churches. The colors of art were generally muted except those used in manuscripts and stained glass windows. Figures varied in sizes in relation their importance. Unlike artists in the Byzantine period who avoided making sculptures at all costs, Romanesque artists made sculptures which were often large, made of stone, and

There exist three basic components of traditional Islamic art: calligraphy, geometric patterns, and floral and vegetal motifs. These three stylistic tools are beautifully rendered and masterfully integrated into complex works of art, but there is no question that artistic expression is severely limited under these categorizations. However, this limitation stems from Islamic theology and concept of art. The main reason for the limitation imposed on visual art is the Islamic theological prohibition of figural imagery. Social laws presented in the Hadith prevented the representation of figures because any imitation was deemed idolatrous. Also, art is considered to be decorative and imitative. Script and patterns are used to decorate

The Christian Church was absolutely instrumental in the art of the Renaissance. It was the driving force behind every inspiration; without the Church, there would have been no art. The Church was the only institution powerful enough to be able to support the commissions of all of the artwork, and it was the only institution, in which people had enough faith and devotion to spend so much of their time and money creating pieces that—although beautiful—were not necessities. The role of religion in art actually began during the Byzantine era. During this time, all artwork was religious in nature, and most of it was done in a consistently similar style so that figures from the Bible could be easily recognized by everyone and so that people

Art with biblical themes were popular in the Middle Ages because the artists were also focused on theology. Jesus and Mary were usually the main focus in most paintings. The people in the Middle Ages really appreciated godly looks and tried to incorporate the catholic religion in most if not all of their paintings (class notes). For example, Giotto’s painting Madonna and child displays Mary and Jesus in the center of the painting. Not only are Mary and Jesus in the center, they are also illustrated to be a lot bigger than the angels around them. Giotto wasn’t the only artist to place Mary and Jesus in the center and larger, this was very normal for the Middle Ages. Most artists were very influenced by the church because the church had the highest role in government.

With Christianity and Islamic religions in mind, we need to know the facts about each one before comparing and contrasting. First off, Christianity is a religion founded by a guy named Paul, around 30-35 AD. Paul founded the religion in Jerusalem, Israel and he passed it on to many people today. The founder of the Islamic religions is Muhammad. Muhammad founded the Islamic religion in Mecca, Saudi Arabia around the time of 610 AD. Both religions have a symbol that is used to recognize each religion. In Christianity they use a cross to symbolize Jesus dying on a cross. In Islamic religions

With the adoption of Christianity as the official religion, art was able, so to speak, to come above ground in the old pagan city of Rome, and painting, instead of being restricted to the decoration of the walls of the Catacombs or of small chambers and chapels, came into use on a large scale in the new churches that were at once set up. At the same time patronage moved from the hands of the poorer classes to the richer, and artists of outstanding quality came to be employed as well as those of obscurer character, who would work for small fees (www.religion-online.org). To wall painting was added the more luxurious art of mosaic; numerous sculptures were done, and minor objects, often in expensive materials, were in addition produced in the service of the Church, so that art production became at the same time both more extensive and more luxurious (www.religion-online.org ).

Christian art has never been decorative nor has it been publicized instead it was only represented throughout funerals and devotionals. The bible was a way of picturing the word and how reading it opened the word for the people. Christianity relied solely on imagination and contradicted what art work is considered today which now relies heavily on visual images. In the roman empire the people saw things through mosaics, wall paintings, portraits etc. That is how they pictured their art. They were trying to set up the way art work they believed should be viewed. They had decorations on various monuments, churches, tombs etc. which represented the pagan aspect. They wanted more visual art work whereas with Christianity they visualized through their own mind and instead lived by

Roman architecture was one thing that Early Christians took heavy influence from. Between Old Saint Peter’s, Santa Costanza, and Santa Sabina, the building layout and outer designs give away the significant resemblance of these Christian churches to older Roman basilicas. These plans show how modern Christian churches were fashioned from their ancestral models.

The Jewish community started Christianity, but Christianity later spread and convert from all over the Greco-Roman world were attracted by this religion during the progress of the first century CE. Ideas, traditions, ways of worship and traditions were brought along by the new convert of Christianity and it was adopted by their faith. This is through art because Christians who were once pagans of the Roman Empire stick to their artistic heritage when they became followers of Jesus Christ. Roman artistic forms and motifs and also Roman architecture were being used by this new convert to express their new faith. In further explanation, we’ll see how Roman art influenced the developing art of early Christians.

Christian art is classified as Byzantine, but It is also very difficult to know when Christian art

There are many similarities and differences between Classical Roman and Early Christian Art. What particularly stands out to me is how much these two cultures have in common when it comes to their art and architecture. Romans were geniuses when it came to engineering and we can see that in the monuments they left behind. Many early Christian architectural styles and ideas were adopted straight from the Romans. Their communities became organized geographically much like those of the Roman provincial governments. Christian cultural styles derived straight from Roman visual traditions. Early Christian art features the adoption of Roman art forms for Christian purposes. Their art also featured

Egypt’s religious and political system greatly influenced the arts. In particularly because most of the surviving remains discovered from Egyptian tombs depicted this god – king figure who was the human manifestation of gods, ruler of the land, a leader, etc. The king was perceived an important figure and as god in his own right, but there were actual gods Egyptians worshiped that, makes Egyptians to be a polytheistic culture. In addition, many of these gods were worshiped through rituals. These rituals would take place in the pyramids where the tombs were located. In the pyramids you would find belongings that the deceased enjoyed during their lifetime, thus the tombs embrace the concept of the afterlife, one of the greatest impacts of this