Discuss the Roman influences on Early Christian sculpture. Look at the Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus and compare it with some of the attributes of Roman art.
-The Early christian architecture and tis decorations began to demonstrate increasing monumentality as a result of its dependence on Roman imperial traditions. This caused the early christian sculpture to be more impressive and a work of art that demonstrated this is a fine Early Christian stone coffin, the Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus. This richly carved sarcophagus was made for a Roman who had died in 359 at age 42 and who had been “newly baptized” as an inscription would tell us. The front of this was divided by columns into ten …show more content…
The conflict which began with an edict promulgated by the Byzantine emperor Leo III in 726 which prohibited religious images, raged for more then 100 years between too hostile groups. Iconoclasts or the image destroyers that were led by the emperor and supported mainly in the eastern provinces, insisted on a literal interpretation of the Biblical ban against the graven images because they led to idolatry. Their plan was to restrict religious art to abstract symbols and plant or animal …show more content…
A good example of an early phase of Romanesque architecture is the collegiate church of Saint Vincenc which was build within the walled confines of the castle at cardona on the southern flank of the Catalan Pyrenees. The church, begun in 1029 to 1040. Some elements in this romanesque church was a barrel-vault nave which creates a continuous space marked off by transverse arches into unites of space called bays. The domed bay in front of the Chancel, which is the part of the church that contains the altar and seats of the clergy. And these bays force attention on the ceremonial heart of the church. There are blind niches in the chancel walls that establish a rhythmic variety that is accentuated in the nave by the staggered cadense of massive compound piers. These compound piers were solid masonry supports with rectangular projections attached to their four faces. These projections are their to support the building by one projection is there to rise the full height of the nave to support the transvere arch and another forms the arch that extends across the side aisle, and the others connect to the arches of the nave arcade. This building was well planned and was not only eliminating fire hazards by not using wooden roofs