Early Medieval

Hildesheim Doors

Genesis Left Door, Life of Christ Right Door

Saint Michael's (Germany)

1015 

Bishop Bernwood, a great art patron built the St. Michael's Church- it being a Ottonian Masterpiece with two apse, two transepts, and multiple towers. After a visit to Rome the wooden doors he saw that had episodes of the Old and New Testament inspired him to commission the bronze doors for his new church in Germany. 

This glorious doors are more than 16 feet tall. Bernward placed the bronze doors (with 16 panels of magnificence) at the entrance to the Saint Michael's from the cloister, where the monks would see them each time they walked into the church. The left side of the door highlights the biblical book of Genesis- beginning with the creation of Eve and ending with the murder of Adam and Eve's son Abel by his brother Cain. The right door corresponds to the left recounting the life of Christ- starting with the annunciation and terminating with the appearance to Mary Magdelene of Christ after the Resurrection. 

Together the doors tell the story of the Original sin and the ultimate Redemption. The expulsion from the Garden of Eden and the path back to paradise through the Christian Church. Deity paralleled so well with the Old Testament account gives a glimpse to the viewer of the power that lies within Jesus Christ- and his capability to save all man from sin. 

Saint Michael's Hildesheim, Germany

Islamic

Canteen 

Episodes From the LIfe of Christ

Syria 1240-1250 

During the 11th, 12th, and 13th Centuries a lot of Christians traveled to Islamic countries, especially to the Christian holy land, in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The Christians came as pilgrimages or as Crusaders. Many of them returned to their home lands with mementos of their journey, some wealthy individuals commissioned local Muslim artists to produce custom made pieces for them. 

This unique brass canteen decorated with scenes of the life of Christ appears to be the work of a 13th century metalsmith. The canteen is a luxurious version of the "pilgrim flasks" that Christian visitors to the Holy Land often brought back to Europe. On the flask their lie inscriptions written in Hebrew. They promise eternal glory, secure life, perfect posterity, and increasing good luck to the canteen's owner (all beautiful gifts that are allotted by the Holy God of Israel whom it depicts). 

In the center of the canteen is the Madonna and Christ child enthroned. The three panels on it depict New Testament events. The first being the scene of the nativity. The next being the presentation in the temple. Lastly the prophetic entry into Jerusalem by the Savior,Lord, and KIng. These special and specific scenes could have been chosen by the patron being places of visit while on the trip. Most scholars believe that the artist used Syrian Christian manuscripts as the course for the canteen's Christian iconography. Many of the details are paralleled to the Islamic metalwork inscribed with names of Muslim patrons. The piece in its entirety shows the artistic interactions between the Christians and the Muslims in 13th Century Syria. 

The deity of this canteen is one so great that he who created the earth condescended down to this mortal state in saving the inhabitants of the world. He being the father of salvation, redemption, resurrection, and celestial glory. 

Byzantium

Hagia Sophia

Constantinople 

Istanbul, Turkey (532-537) 

The  most important monument of Early Byzantine art is the Hagia Sophia. Justinian intended the new church to rival all other churches ever built even to surpass in scale & magnificence the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. The structure was called the "Church of Holy Wisdom, in Constantinople". As a temple/church like structure built after the Temple of Solomon during a time when truth was lost, it's intentions were good, but it lacked the fullness.  

The soaring canopy-like dome of the Hagia Sophia with the streaming light coming in and shining out through the glass windowed layer makes the dome appear as the floating "dome of heaven." Light is the mystical element. Light that glitters in the mosaics, shines forth from the marble-clad walls and floors, and pervades and defines space that, in themselves seem to escape definition. Light seems to dissolve material substance and transform in into an abstract spiritual vision.

One of the most influential mystic philosophers of the age, Pseudo-Dionysius said, "Light comes from the Good and... light is the visual image of God." 

Visitors to Hagia Sophia from Justinian's time to today have been struck by the light within the church and its effects on the human spirit. As all sacred spaces the feelings intended to be felt in them cause a reflection upon deity- in some instances or holy spaces, that of eternal deity.  

Transfiguration of Jesus
Apse Mosaic, Church of the Virgin
Mount Sinai, Egypt 
548-565

The best part about the Byzantine period is that Christ is vividly represented, bringing true deity into the spectrum of art. 
Justinian rebuilt the monastery at Mount Sinai between 548 and 565 and erected imposing walls around it. The site had been an important place of pilgrimage to many. The Mount Sinai church was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, whom the Orthodox Church had officially recognized in the mid-fifth century putting to rest the controversy about the divine nature of Christ. 


The church's apse mosaic depicts the transfiguration. Jesus appears in a deep-blue almond shaped mandorla (aureole of light). At his feet are John, Peter, and James. At the left and right are Elijah and Moses. The artist stressed the intense whiteness of Jesus' transfigured, spiritualized form, from which rays stream down on the disciples. This mosaic effectively contrast the eternal of heavenly beings with the distraught responses of earthbound. 


Christ being the deity that was transfigured back into his rightful heir and throne in Heaven is the perfect depiction from Byzantine art. 

Late Antiquity

Christ As the Good Shepherd

Mosaic from the entrance wall of the Mausoleum of Galla in Italy

425 A.D. 

During the third and fourth centuries, a rapidly growing number of Romans rejected the pagan polytheism (belief in many gods) in favor of monotheism (the worship of a single all-powerful God). Jewish and Christian art of Late Antiquity are Roman in style and technique, but they differ in subject of religious art and architecture. Art of the Late Antiquites had subjects from both the Old and New Testament. 

Christians believed that Jesus of Nazareth is the son of God, the Messiah (Savior, Christ) of the Jews prophesied in the Old Testament. His life- his miraculous birth from the womb of a virgin mother, his preaching and miracle working, his execution by the Romans and subesquent ascent to Heaven- has been the subject of countless artworks from Roman times through the present day. The primary literary sources for these representations stem from the Four Gospels of the New Testament, written by the "Four Evangelists", Saint Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 

The mosaic that I absolutely loved the most was Christ as the Good Shepherd. This mosaic is the subject of the lunette right on the entrance wall of the Mausoleum of Galla. Jesus sits among his flock, haloed and robed in gold and purple. Instead of carrying a lamb on his shoulders, he sits among the flock with watchful eyes of care, worry, and love. The subjects within the mosaic occupy a carefully described landscape that extends from foreground to background beneath a blue sky. All the forms have a three-dimensional bulk and are still deeply rooted in the classical tradition. By the third century (about when this was made) artists had invented a new kind of mosaic that permitted designs more closely approximate to paintings. 

Finally I have come into alignment with the choice of deity for a selected time period. There is none higher than God the Father that resides in Heaven whom fathered and organized my spirit with a Heavenly Mother and his Glorious Son Jesus Christ the father of my soul, salvation, redemption, resurrection, and judgement. Jesus Christ continues to act as a shepherd for his people as we find it within ourselves to succor to him and his teachings, ways, and principles. Late Antiquity was the usher of great Christian Art, and how wonderful that this focus was restored on earth for the progression of Christianity.