Sculpture
Most Christians rejected cremation, and the wealthiest Christian
faithful, like their pagan contemporaries, favored impressive marble
sarcophagi for burial. Many of these coffins have survived in cata-
combs and elsewhere. Predictably, the most common themes
painted on the walls and vaults of the Roman subterranean cemeter-
ies were also the subjects that appeared on Early Christian sar-
cophagi. Often, the decoration of the marble coffins was a collection
of significant Christian themes, just as on the painted ceiling (FIG.
11-5) in the Catacomb of Saints Peter and Marcellinus.
SANTA MARIA ANTIQUA SARCOPHAGUS On the
front of a sarcophagus (FIG. 11-6) in Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome,
the story of Jonah occupies the left one-third. At the center are an
orant and a seated philosopher, the latter a motif borrowed directly
from contemporary pagan sarcophagi (FIG. 10-71). The heads of
both the praying woman and the seated man reading from a scroll
are unfinished. Roman workshops often produced sarcophagi before
knowing who would purchase them. The sculptors added the por-
traits at the time of burial, if they added them at all. This practice
underscores the universal appeal of the themes chosen. At the right11-6Sarcophagus with philosopher, orant, and Old and New Testament scenes, ca. 270. Marble, 1 111 – 4 7 2 . Santa Maria Antiqua, Rome.
This Early Christian sarcophagus depicts the salvation of Jonah, Christ as Good Shepherd, and the baptism of Christ. The two figures with unfinished
heads were intended as portraits of the deceased.
F
rom the beginning, the Old Testament played an important role
in Christian life and Christian art, in part because Jesus was a Jew
and so many of the first Christians were converted Jews, but also be-
cause Christians came to view many of the persons and events of the
Old Testament as prefigurations of New Testament persons and
events. Christ himself established the pattern for this kind of biblical
interpretation, called typology,when he compared Jonah’s three-day
stay in the belly of the sea monster (usually translated as “whale” in
English) to the comparable time he would be entombed in the earth
before his Resurrection (Matt. 12:40). In the fourth century, Saint Au-
gustine (354–430) confirmed the validity of this typological approach
to the Old Testament when he stated that “the New Testament is hid-
den in the Old; the Old is clarified by the New.”* Thus the Old Testa-
ment figured prominently in Early Christian art in all media. Biblical
tales of Jewish faith and salvation were especially common in funer-
ary contexts but appeared also in churches and on household objects.
The following are four of the most popular Old Testament sto-
ries depicted in Early Christian art:
❚Adam and EveEve, the first woman, tempted by a serpent, ate
the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge and fed some to
Adam, the first man. As punishment, God expelled Adam and Eve
from Paradise. This “Original Sin” ultimately led to Christ’s sacri-
fice on the cross so that all humankind could be saved. Christiantheologians often consider Christ the new Adam and his mother,
Mary, the new Eve.
❚Sacrifice of IsaacGod instructed Abraham, the father of the He-
brew nation, to sacrifice Isaac, his only son, as proof of his faith.
When it became clear that Abraham would obey, the Lord sent an
angel to restrain him and provided a ram for sacrifice in Isaac’s
place. Christians view this episode as a prefiguration of the sacri-
fice of God’s only son, Jesus.
❚JonahThe Old Testament prophet Jonah had disobeyed God’s
command. In his wrath, the Lord caused a storm while Jonah was
at sea. Jonah asked the sailors to throw him overboard, and the
storm subsided. A sea dragon then swallowed Jonah, but God an-
swered his prayers, and the monster spat out Jonah after three
days and nights, foretelling Christ’s Resurrection.
❚Daniel When Daniel, one of the most important Jewish proph-
ets, violated a Persian decree against prayer, the Persians threw
him into a den of lions. God sent an angel to shut the lions’
mouths, and Daniel emerged unharmed. Like Jonah’s story, this is
an Old Testament salvation tale, a precursor of Christ’s triumph
over death.Jewish Subjects in Christian Art
RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY*Augustine,City of God,16.26.The Catacombs and Funerary Art 2931 ft.