Christianity in art: icons and mosaics. The role of Christianity in art

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Christianity in art has played a significant role, because since its inception, a great many icons and mosaics on a religious theme have been painted. The history of Christianity has more than two thousand years, while it is one of the three world religions. It had a huge impact on the worldview of a person, during all this time a myriad of churches and temples were built all over the world. Many great artists worked to decorate them, so we can safely say that religion and art are very intertwined here.

Art in the West

In fact, the spread of Christianity took place in different conditions in the East and in the West, so there were certain differences in art. For example, Christianity in the art of icons and mosaics in Western Europe had a more realistic character, the artists there preferred to give their creations the maximum degree of truthfulness.

This led to the fact that a completely new kind of art appeared - art nova. It is characterized by the fact that the icon gradually became a full-fledged painting, but with a religious plot, because the icon painters talked aboutgospel story, trying to accurately reflect everything, even the smallest details.

Art nova and Jan van Eyck

The art nova trend also touched the art of Eastern Europe, where the painting of icons and mosaics acquired an intuitive and religious-mystical tinge. A similar thing happened in the Netherlands in the 15th century. The first painter who decided to depict a picture that had nothing to do with religion was Jan van Eyck - he created a portrait of the Arnolfini couple.

In fact, it was a real breakthrough of that time, because for the first time people were depicted in their everyday environment without any religious overtones. Until that time, the separation of such concepts as religion and art seemed impossible. But nevertheless, if you look closely at the symbols that are depicted in the picture, you can observe the presence of the Holy Spirit in the smallest details of the interior. For example, only one of all the candles was lit on the chandelier during the day - this is precisely what testifies to his mystical and mysterious presence in the room of the Arnolfini newlyweds.

Symbolism in icons and mosaics

The role of Christianity in art cannot be underestimated, because it was it that formed the whole culture of past centuries and influenced the worldview of an ordinary person. At the same time, the style of writing icons and mosaics is somewhat peculiar, and it would be impossible to understand all the details if it were not for the concept of psychology and the characteristics of that culture.

Symbolism is sometimes multi-layered and quite complexfor understanding, because it is designed primarily for the viewer to actively perceive it. Iconography - Christianity in art - is completely saturated with symbols that are not so easy to decipher, they should be understood on an intuitive level.

Character decoding

In fact, if we consider an ordinary thing, then the symbol itself will "look" at us. In any case, all Christian symbols should be taken into account, as well as the canons that reigned in the art of the Middle Ages. They appealed to the feelings of a person and to his subconscious, and not just to the mind. Since one symbol can have several meanings, then, considering the icon, you should choose exactly the one that will not contradict the style and spirit of this era, the general system, and time.

For example, if we talk about numbers, then the number 7 means a symbol of completeness, as well as the completion of an action. After all, there are seven notes, seven deadly sins, seven days of the week, or seven virtues.

Meaning of colors in icons and mosaics

If we talk about the colors that are used when writing icons, then the blue color is a symbol of everything spiritual, greatness, incomprehensibility of mystery and depth of revelation. The golden color has always symbolized the radiance of Divine glory, which descended on all the saints. That is why the background of the icon has a golden color, the radiance around Jesus, which illuminates all those around him, the halo of saints or the clothes of the Virgin, as well as Jesus. This, according to the painters, most successfully emphasizes their holiness and the fact that they belong to the world of unshakable and eternalvaluables.

Christianity in art also gave the yellow color a certain symbolic meaning - it means the highest power of angels. Some researchers are of the opinion that it is simply a substitute for gold.

Even now we have an opinion that white color symbolizes purity as well as purity. This is the so-called involvement in the divine higher world, therefore the clothes of Jesus and all the righteous on absolutely any icon or mosaic were depicted in white. The most illustrative example in this regard will be the composition "The Last Judgment".

The complete opposite of white is black, therefore its meaning is also opposite - this is the maximum distance from the Lord, involvement in hell, or black can symbolize melancholy, despondency and grief.

Artists tried to convey purity as well as righteousness in blue, which is why it was also called the color of the Virgin.

Red color has always depicted someone who has power and great power. Red is the royal color, so the cloak of the Archangel Michael, who was considered the leader of the heavenly army, as well as St. George, who was the winner of the serpent, was written in this way. But such a symbol had more than one meaning, so it could also mean martyrdom or expiatory blood.

The green color was often found in the painted icons, because it is to this day a symbol of eternal life, eternal flowering. Among other things, it is attributed to the colorHoly Spirit.

Gesticulation in icons

All painters paid special attention to the gestures of the main characters in their icons and mosaics. Christianity in art - the discussion of this topic took a lot of time among experts, so not only the colors that are used were touched upon, but also gestures, their spiritual and sacred meaning.

For example, if the hand is pressed to the chest, it always meant heartfelt empathy. If it was lifted up, then it was a silent demand or a call to repentance. If the hand was depicted stretched forward, with an open palm, then this is a kind of sign of obedience, as well as humility. If the hands were stretched forward and raised a little, then this could be a prayer for peace, for help, or a gesture of request.

If both hands were pressed against the cheeks, it meant that the person is experiencing sadness and grief. Such gestures are the most common, but, of course, there are many others that are sometimes quite difficult to describe even for experienced specialists.

Christianity in art was very scrupulous about even the objects that were depicted in the hands of the heroes of the icons. For example, the apostle Paul was most often depicted with the Gospel in his hands. Much less often he was depicted with a sword in his hands, which symbolized the Word of God. For Peter, it is characteristic that he was depicted with the keys in his hands from the kingdom of God. Plants - symbols of Christianity in art - are also quite common, for example, the martyrs were depicted with a palm branch, because it is a symbolbelonging to the Kingdom of Heaven. Prophets usually hold scrolls with their prophecies in their hands.

Icon language

Art from the point of view of Christianity is a "continuation" of the Gospel. All gestures, objects and colors that are depicted on the icon are combined into an indescribable range of energy that it radiates. This is a kind of language of the icon, with the help of which masters of the past address us, trying to make us look into the depths of the human soul and think about the mystical meaning of the Christian faith. Since ancient times, it was believed that the eyes are a mirror of the soul, so artists actively used this.

To make their characters more expressive, they deliberately distorted the proportions of the face, making the eyes bigger than they should be. In their opinion, this will focus on the eyes, and the viewer will think that they are more penetrating.

Changes in the image of the face of saints

Starting from the 15th century, in Rublev's time, this practice ceased. But, despite the fact that the eyes were already depicted by the masters as not so big and languid, they were still given quite a lot of time and attention. Among other things, there were several innovations. For example, Theophanes the Greek depicted saints on his icons with empty eye sockets, or simply with their eyes closed. It was in this way that he tried to show that the eyes of the saints are always directed not at worldly existence, but at the contemplation of the higher world, at inner prayer, as if they are aware of divine truth.

Figures of saintson icons and mosaics

Each person, looking at the icons, noted to himself that the saints seemed somehow very light, as if they were floating in the air. A similar effect was achieved by artists due to the fact that they depicted the figures of saints less densely than those around them, they painted them in few layers, while deliberately lengthening and stretching.

Such a technique created in the viewer the impression of lightness and lack of physicality of the bodies of saints, their volume was overcome. As planned, this led to the fact that they seem to hover above the ground, and this should be a direct expression of their transformed state, as well as spirituality.

Icon background and its meaning

Despite the fact that the central part of the picture has always been occupied by a person, the background that is depicted behind him is also important. As a rule, artists tried to put their own meaning there, thereby pushing art connoisseurs into long reflections about the secret that they wanted to convey to them.

Mountains, chambers, various trees were most often depicted, which in the overall composition form a picturesque landscape. If you plunge headlong into the symbolic load of all this, then the mountains denote the complex and thorny path of man to the Lord God. In fact, the separately depicted trees were given secondary importance. But, nevertheless, the oak, which was depicted quite often, has always been a symbol of eternal life. The grapevine and the bowl in the background were considered symbols of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ,but the dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

The formation of the symbolism of Christianity

Many believers claim that the sacraments of Christianity itself were created from the all-consuming chaos of paganism. That is why the art of Christianity could not get any uniform form. It looks like it was made from many tiny pieces. Some symbols were taken from the pagan faith, from Islamic art. Therefore, now medieval masterpieces can be classified not only according to such parameters as Eastern and Western Europe, but also according to many others. The fine arts of that time were in no way able to abandon the heritage of antiquity, gradually turning it into something completely new. The sources of the theological tradition of the sacred image must have been forever lost to us in history, in the darkness of the pre-Constantine era. Among the prototypes that are directly related to such a tradition, they name the image of Christ on the Shroud or on the Mandylion, which was lost in Constantinople during the sack of it by the Crusaders. No less important is the image of the Mother of God, which is attributed to St. Luke. The authenticity of such images is highly doubtful, but, nevertheless, they have been successfully used for many centuries. Jesus and the Mother of God are depicted in the way described in numerous works of martyrs of past centuries - this is where Christianity and anti-Christianity are similar in art.