History of Ancient Christian Art

(2 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

the course proposes an introductory chronological path to the study of figurative documents with Christian commission, from the first half of the third century to the end of the sixth century. Content: 1) The origins of Christian figurative culture: symbols and signs; 2) The most ancient Christian art between symbolic perspective and narration; 2.1. The first pictorial decorations; 3) Christian funerary plastic; 3.1. From cd sarcophagi. 'paradisiacal' to the definition of the repertoire of the early fourth century; 4) The Constantinian 'turning point' and the reflection of the dogmatic definition in the figurative culture of the 4th century; 4.1. Iconographic reflections of theological questions in the figurative panorama of the fourth century: from the latest persecutions to the results of the Council of Nicaea; 5) The decoration of religious buildings in the 4th century: an open problem; 6) The fifth century and the great iconographic programs of Rome; 7) The 6th century and Ravenna.