Topic 3 - Christian religious painting

Question 1

What does Typology mean?

Answer 1

Foreshadowings or parallels - Christians saw parallels between the events of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament.

Question 2

What is the story of Jesus v. Rome?

Answer 2

• The biblical Jesus was a Jew and a champion of the underdog.
• He rebelled against the occupying Roman government in what was then Palestine (at this point the Roman Empire stretched across the Mediterranean).
• He was crucified for upsetting the social order and challenging the authority of the Romans and their local Jewish leaders.
• Jesus’s followers claim that after three days he rose from the grave and later ascended into heaven.
• His disciples/apostles traveled great distances and spread Jesus’s message. His life is recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which are found in the New Testament.

Question 3

Who were Christians sometimes severely persecuted by?

Answer 3

Romans.

Question 4

It wasn’t until what century that Christianity began to be understood as a religion distinct from Judaism?

Answer 4

The second century.

Question 5

In the early fourth century, the Roman Emperor Constantine did what?

Answer 5

Made it legally acceptable to be a Christian.

Question 6

Roman Emperor Theodosius made Christianity what?

Answer 6

The official state religion.

Question 7

New and Old Testaments:

Answer 7

• The first Christians were Jews (Jewish bible = the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh). But soon pagans too converted to this new religion.
• Christians saw the predictions of the prophets in the Hebrew Bible come to fulfillment in the life of Jesus Christ - hence the “Bible” of the Christians includes both the Hebrew Bible (or the Old Testament) and the New Testament.
• In addition to the fulfillment of prophecy, Christians saw parallels between the events of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament.

Question 8

What does Heretics mean?

Answer 8

Someone who goes against official teaching.

Question 9

An introduction to Christianity doc:

Answer 9

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uxhFzB9arc2XfImP7PRff8he-pptAA0jr9fIyZiMBWQ/edit

Question 10

Christian religious painting was the main focus for art from the fourth century CE until when and why?

Answer 10

The mid-nineteenth century when non-religious or secular subjects began to dominate.

Question 11

Christian religious painting encompasses subjects from what?

Answer 11

• The Old and New Testaments of the Bible.
• The Apocrypha.
• Events from the lives and martyrdom of saints.

Question 12

What was the most common subjects depicted in Medieval and Renaissance art?

Answer 12

Episodes from the life of Christ (many of which also include his mother, the Virgin Mary)

Question 13

What is the Christian New Testament?

Answer 13

The second part of the Christian Bible.

Question 14

What are Non-biblical texts?

Answer 14

Texts that were not in the Bible, but were read by Christians.

Question 15

What is a Pietà?

Answer 15

An image of the dead Christ lying on the lap of the Madonna.

Question 16

What are Apocrypha?

Answer 16

Books that are no longer included within the Bible.

Question 17

What does Sacred mean?

Answer 17

Connected with God or dedicated to a religious purpose and so deserving veneration.

Question 18

What does Secular mean?

Answer 18

Denoting attitudes, activities, or other things that have no religious or spiritual basis.

Question 19

How can you differentiate a holy person from a secular figure?

Answer 19

They have a halo, a crown of light rays, circle or disc of light around their heads.

Question 20

How can you recognise the figure of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus?

Answer 20

Mary wears a blue robe and often has her head covered.

Question 21

How can you recognise Jesus, son of God?

Answer 21

Long dark hair and a beard; the ‘naked’ Christ wears a loincloth.

Question 22

How can you recognise an angel?

Answer 22

A halo and wings.

Question 23

What does the Hierarchy of scale mean?

Answer 23

Where important figures are shown larger than others.

Question 24

What is a Continuous narrative?

Answer 24

When scenes taking place at different times and places are shown within one frame.

Question 25

What is a Narrative cycle?

Answer 25

A series of images telling a story.

Question 26

What is a Fresco?

Answer 26

A water-based painting applied directly onto wet plaster.

Question 27

How can you recognise St Peter?

Answer 27

Old, grey-haired, bearded and wearing blue and yellow.

Question 28

What is a Continuous narrative?

Answer 28

A type of narrative that illustrates multiple scenes of a narrative within a single frame.

Question 29

How do we identify saints?

Answer 29

By their attributes, which usually relate to the way in which they were martyred.

• St Sebastian, who was martyred for his homosexuality as well as his Christian faith, is usually shown pierced with arrows.
• St Lucy, protector of eyes, is often shown holding a pair of eyes in a dish.

Many saints hold a long green palm leaf, which is the general symbol of martyrdom.

Question 30

What is the general symbol of martyrdom?

Answer 30

Holding a long green palm leaf.

Question 31

How do we identify Mary Magdalene?

Answer 31

Usually has red hair and red clothing and often carries a jar of ointment.

Question 32

What does the lily symbolise in Christian religious images?

Answer 32

Virginity.
(Gabriel often plucks this from a vase in the Annunciation).

Question 33

What does the apple symbolise in Christian religious images?

Answer 33

A reminder of original sin.
(Eve committed humankind’s first sin (disobedience) when she ate the forbidden fruit, an apple, from the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden).

Question 34

What are not fixed?

Answer 34

Symbols.

Question 35

What does the Old Testament involve?

Answer 35

• Creation of the Sun and the Moon.
• Creation of Adam.
• Temptation of Adam and Eve.
• Animals entering Noah’s Ark.

Question 36

What does the New Testament involve?

Answer 36

• The Annunciation of Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary.
• The Baptism of Christ by St John the Baptist,
• Jesus carrying the cross on the way to Calvary.
• The Resurrection of Christ from the Tomb.

Question 37

What does Vanitas mean?

Answer 37

Beauty that will soon fade.

Question 38

Why did Christian tradition treated the unclothed body differently?

Answer 38

The Genesis story of Adam and Eve tells us how the body had become a site of shame.

Question 39

What are the four types of nude in sacred art and what do they mean/depict?

Answer 39

• Nuditas naturalis = the natural state of humanity before the Fall.
• Nuditas temporalis = depicting poverty.
• Nuditas criminalis = depicting the horror of lust and vanity.
• Nuditas virtualis = symbolising purity and innocence.