...I still have a dog-eared copy from my college days and I frequently consult it when painting, and it's worth having with you on those museum visits.
...I still have a dog-eared copy from my college days and I frequently consult it when painting, and it's worth having with you on those museum visits.
Early Christian Symbols in the Catacombs
by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson
Anchor, fish, and Chi-Rho symbols from the Catacombs of St. Sebastian.
Easter week of 2002 I visited the Catacombs of St. Callixtus in Rome, burial place of tens of thousands of early Christians. Our group descended from the warm air above, down a steep stairway into the cool and musty catacombs several levels beneath the surface. Here were thousands of niches hollowed out in the walls, used for burial from about 150 - 410 AD. Violent persecution of Christians came from time to time. Here lay also the revered tombs of the martyrs.
This underground funereal labyrinth contains some of the very earliest artifacts of Christianity we have. Here Christians mourning their loved ones would express their faith in Christ and his promises. Much of this is done in symbols — first in words and crude drawings inscribed into soft marble tombstones, later in colorful fresco paintings that adorned special areas. From the fourth century you can see a few elaborately carved sarcophagi commissioned by wealthy believers.
I was fascinated to learn that the symbol of the cross itself was only rarely used in the catacombs. Rather, other symbols are inscribed into thousands of marble tombstones as a testimony to the early Christians’ faith in Christ their Savior.
http://www.jesuswalk.com/christian-symbols/early-christian-symbols.htm
Thanks Joe I’ll check it out.
The old painters used symbols that their viewers were familiar with. Do you paint for targeted audiences? If not what is your reason for using symbols the typical viewer won’t understand? Just curious.