Maratona iconografica

https://www.edizioni-santantonio.com/catalogue/details/it/978-613-8-39420-4/via-pulchritudinis

Sacred images, both in the Western and Eastern traditions, distinguish Christianity in a preponderant way compared to all other religions, especially as regards the Orthodox. The images and symbols describe, in their artistic form, the divine word similar to a "color theology" representing a "window on infinity", as well as reflect "an image of the kingdom of God". Since its origins in Christianity, man has tried to integrate the evangelical announcement, oral and written, through images, for this reason Christian art has initially inherited some typical forms of the Greco-Roman styles, which soon took on their main character. Theological character that we know today as "sacred art", with its own rules and traditions. Sacred art is an integral part of the architecture of churches and places of worship, but not only that, it assumes its role of fundamental support in the liturgy. Art is designed, first, to be "read" and to deduce the theological and spiritual message contained therein; this happens by approaching images, figures, objects and colors, tending to decode the biblical-theological background underlying the expressive potential of visual language, essentially composed of a marked symbolism. Christian art, in its oriental iconographic form, is particularly charged with this symbolism; it represents the vocabulary, grammar and syntax that the iconographer has at his disposal to fit into the constant process of developing a real "living language", that of God. The essay approaches sacred art in an attempt to act as a bridge between West and East from different perspectives: historical, theological, liturgical and artistic; aims to make people familiar with the history of Christian art, and in general with oriental iconographic art, in order to learn the fundamental characteristics of the theology of images, and also to understand the main interpretations for the spiritual life. The essay unfolds on some main axes, at first it examines the characteristics of the history of Western art compared with Eastern iconographic art, including the origin of Christian art and the development of its fundamental characteristics; subsequently he approaches the theology of the icon, studied mainly through iconoclasm, with a particular emphasis on the patristic texts of John Damascene and the declarations of the VII Ecumenical Council (Nicaea, 787), as well as the triumph of Orthodoxy (843). Finally, it offers a possible interpretation of iconographic symbolism, with attention to the main types of icons of the Christ Pantocrator, the Acheropita and the Anastasis icon.

Studies in Iconography, 36, 2015, 99-134.

The survey discusses wall- and vault mosaics (Centcelles, Rotunda Thessaloniki), floor mosaics (Aquileia, Madaba, Petra), paintings, textiles, sculpture, sumptuary arts (silver, ivory), iconographical themes (martyrs, Christ, baptism, crucifixion), etc.

The Routledge Handbook of Early Christian Art surveys a broad spectrum of Christian art produced from the late second to the sixth centuries. The first part of the book opens with a general survey of the subject and then presents fifteen essays that discuss specific media of visual art—catacomb paintings, sculpture, mosaics, gold glass, gems, reliquaries, ceramics, icons, ivories, textiles, silver, and illuminated manuscripts. Each is written by a noted expert in the field. The second part of the book takes up themes relevant to the study of early Christian art. These seven chapters consider the ritual practices in decorated spaces, the emergence of images of Christ’s Passion and miracles, the functions of Christian secular portraits, the exemplary mosaics of Ravenna, the early modern history of Christian art and archaeology studies, and further reflection on this field called “early Christian art.” Each of the volume’s chapters includes photographs of many of the objects discussed,...

Eastern Christian Art, 2005

Icoana Credinței, 2024

The II-III centuries represented the period of the birth of Christian sacred art through Christians imitating the custom of pagans, from whose ranks most of them came, to decorate their graves, sarcophagi or mausoleums with images and even by borrowing some pagan symbols and themes, to which they obviously gave a new, Christian meaning, to which, of course, exclusively Christian themes were added, most often of biblical origin, most of them having a narrative-historical character. In the 4th-5th centuries, under the careful supervision of the Church, a synthesis was made regarding the themes addressed, by abandoning some, by taking over others from the imperial imaginary, prevalence acquiring a dogmatic character, from the desire to express and through the mediation of figurative art, not only through the poetic, transposed into songs, the truths of faith formulated at the first four ecumenical synods, but also in terms of styles. In this second stage of the history of Christian sacred art, especially in the 5th century, as a result of the synthesis achieved in the capital of the empire between the two great artistic currents that manifested themselves in painting, the Hellenistic-Alexandrian and the Syro-Palestinian, was formed the Constantinopolitan painting school and the stylistic features specific to this school crystallized. The present study aims to point out the main characteristics and developments of Christian sacred art in the Byzantine Empire starting from the time of Emperor Justinian I until the outbreak of Byzantine iconoclasm.

2016