Saint Peter and Paul the Apostle (St.Paul)
From Art in the First Centuries of the Christian Era
"The central body of Christian belief is contained in the New Testament, which together with the Jewish texts, called by the Christians the Old Testament, from the Bible. The four Gospels, attributed to St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. John, provide four versions of life and teachings of Jesus, and St. Paul's letters to the new Christian communities and the Acts of the Apostle record the establishment of Christianity as an organized religion" (Stokstad p.6)
"Christianity owed its success as an organized religion to the efforts of St. Paul (d A.D. 64) (Stokstad p.6).
- Efficient and practical organizer
- Inspired Apostle
- Individual salvation through Christ's sacrifice and resurrection
- Acceptance of Christ's divinity on faith
- Simple form of Christianity
"When Christ gathered with the apostles for the Jewish Feast of the Passover and defined the bread and wine as His own body and blood, He established the sacrament of Holy Communion" (Stokstad p.7).
- Added Christian commemoration to the original Jewish rite of thanksgiving for divine intervention and salvation. This ceremony has remained the core of the Mass (Stokstad p.7) -The Last Supper location turned into the House of the Lord- Domus Dei- the church (Stokstad p.7).
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- St. Peter and St. Paul were the two founders of Christen Rome (Stokstad p.41).
- The Florentine convention, was to place all the dining Apostles except the traitor Judas on the far side of a long table. Leonardo Da Vinci also adopted an arrangement that allowed his characters to face the beholder; but here even Judas joins the rest of the company (Campell and Cole p.335).
- Leonardo imagines St. Peter as a scowling character (Campell and Cole p.335).
Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, Rome, C.359. Marble 4' X 8' Grotte Vaticano
- Sculpture in the round was venerable to being charged with idol worship (Association with Pagan gods)
- Exceptions = "for portrait busts or small figures of the Good Shepherd, Christianity encouraged sculpture only on sarcophagi" (Stokstad p.23).
- 10 scenes of Old and New testaments (two horizontal registers and are set forth as if in tabernacles
- Framed by ornamental columns
- Upper central: youthful Christ enthroned in hieratic frontality and larger than Apostles (Dispenses divine law to SS. Peter and Paul (Administrators)
- Left foot of Christ rests veil of Heaven upheld by personified cosmos
- Below = the Lord's entry into Jerusalem
-Top Right = narrative of the Passion
- "SS. Peter and Paul, as if emulating their master, appear at the moment of their arrests by the Roman soldiers" (Stokstad p.24).
Passion Sarcophagus, Catacomb of Domitilla, Rome, second half of the 4th century
- Symbol and narrative
- New emblematic form
- Stylistically the same as Junius Bassus Sarcophagus (Stokstad p.25)
- Architectural frame breaks up the surface into flat, evenly measured units (Stokstad p.25)
- Symbolic washing of hands
- "The Crucifixion and Resurrection are represented not as a story but as an abstraction" (Stokstad p.25)
- A cross fills the panel
- Doves = symbol of peace and purity
- Two sleeping figures were sent to guard Jesus's tomb (soldiers who watched in vain the miracle of the resurrection)
Shrine of St. Peter and Old St. Peter's basilica
- Shrine of St. Peter became one of the greatest pilgrimage churches of the West (Stokstad p.30).
- Commissioned by Constantine 319/322 (Stokstad p.30).
- Nearly completed around his death 337
- Near the circus of Nero "over a spot which the Christian community had long venerated as the burial place of St. Peter (Stokstad p.30)
- Started as second century aedicular shrine (niche flanked by two columns and pediment) (Stokstad p. 31)
- Shrine has political and religious importance when St. Peter's successors as Bishop of Rome- the Popes- claimed authority over their fellow bishops and insisted that Rome must be acknowledged as the primary seat of all Christendom" (Stokstad p.31).
- Had to be bigger and more splendid than contemporary churches to show its significance as a saints final resting space
- Five-aisled basilica (inner length 368 feet)
- Procession of columns that support the entablature, clerestory windows, and a trussed timber roof (Stokstad p.32)
- Designed to have second-century shrine in front of the apse
- Transept : continuous transverse hall as wide and high as the nave and projecting beyond the aisles (Stokstad p.33)
- Once pagan edifices had been appropriated- the basilica, the audience hall, and the mausoleum were changed to fit Christian use (Stokstad p.33)
- Marble, alabaster, and gilt on the walls
- Mosaic of Christ flanked by SS. Peter and Paul decorated the apse
- Transept had narrative of the life of Peter (Stokstad p.33)
Pope Leo the great I 440-461 AD Pope Leo I
- Pope Leo glorifying St. Peter and St. Paul in a campaign of church decoration (Stokstad p.40-1).
- Pope Leo also ordered the decoration of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the walls (Stokstad p.41).
- Fire in 1823 devastated St. Paul's the early Christen decorations were lost
- 18th century renewal had only minor changes to original plan
The Sancta Sanctorum
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- Christ image is different (holy thing)
- That was kept with relics
- Protective power gives holiness to the place where it was kept (Nees p.139)
- Attended by the high priest, that chamber contained the Ark of the Covenant, until the Temple was sacked and the Ark seized by Romans in AD 70 (Nees p.140).
- Portrait of Icons Sts.Peter and Paul, leaves of a folding diptych from the Sancta Sanctorum, probably 7th century (each 86 x 57 mm) The later mosaic images above the shrine are based upon these icons preserved in the chapel (Nees p.142).
- There is a tradition at the Holy stairs where people kneel and pray on the steps in a Dogeza style of posture or with their arms out to possibly feel some sort of holy aura. Where they appear to be kissing the steps of the stairs inside the building. Appears to be a popular tourist attraction.
- Was once a part of the palace of the Pope's
- Pope Nicholas III 1277-1280 funded the rebuilding of the Sancta Sanctorum even an image of him handling the church in his hands as a gift from St. Peter and Paul With Christ on his throne on the other side of the window.
- The Sancta Sanctorum was built above a site for a earlier Chapel that had been destroyed by an earthquake.
- The Pillars of the Church are the saints along the columns (Frescos).
- The Frescos on the upper wall and ceiling are the angels of Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John.
- The benches along the walls is where clergy would sit during mass.
- Pope Nicholas built it so that it could act similar to the Ark of the Covenant and hold relics.
- Inspired by Paris and Constantinople Sancta Sanctorum's that held relics
- Access was lock tight and few got the chance to step inside.
- The heads of St. Peter and Paul, St. Angus, Sandals of Jesus, veil of St. Mary, and the icon of Christ among others have rested in the Sancta Sanctorum in Rome.
- Portrait of Christ being carried to heaven by Angels is above the icon of Jesus
- No place is more holy to the Christian faith.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=SIC2lu7-v_E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSQYUReOOAw
Raphael, The School of Athens, 1510-11, Fresco The School of Athens
- Caption (titulus) defines Philosophy as "the knowledge of causes" = CAUSARUM COGNITIO
- All the great philosophers of antiquity gather in a grand vaulted space that probably reflects current projects for St. Peter's (Campbell & Cole p.374).
The Deliverance of St. Peter, 1513-4, Fresco, Stanza d'Eliodoro, Vatican
- Located on the window wall opposite the Mass at Bolsena
- Chiaroscuro scene
- Directly into the wet intonaco
- Ground breaking piece showed artists that they weren't so limited in this medium
- Do not need to restrict himself or herself to the highest of tonal keys (Campbell & Cole p.392)
Works Cited
“The Emerging Face of Being One: Exploring Various Models of Christian Unity.” Journal of Ecumenical Studies, vol. 49, no. 2, Spring 2014, pp. 325–332. EBSCOhost, stats.lib.pdx.edu/proxy.php?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=97224371&site=ehost-live.
Carr, Annemarie Weyl. “Donors in the Frames of Icons: Living in the Borders of Byzantine Art.” Gesta, vol. 45, no. 2, 2006, pp. 189–198., doi:10.2307/25067140.
Campbell, Stephen J., and Michael Wayne Cole. Italian Renaissance Art. Thames & Hudson Inc., 2017.
Harrer, G. A. “THE TOMBS OF ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL.” The High School Journal, vol. 3, no. 8, 1 Dec. 1920, pp. 238–238
Nees, Lawrence. Early Medieval Art. Oxford University Press, 2002.
Stokstad, Marilyn, and Michael Watt Cothren. Art History. Pearson, 2018.
Stokstad, Marilyn, et al. Medieval Art. Prentice Hall, 2011.
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