Essay 1

Essay 1. Examine the artistic contributions of Constatine to Christianity and the effect that these had.
Art in the Late Antiquity are Roman by design and style but the subject/function is unique. Greco-Roman art depicted athletes, statesmen, war and peace narratives, and more. Christians looked down upon the practice of worshiping statues of Greek/Roman as gods. Therefore, the production of large scale sculptors decreased. The purpose of Christian art is to depict the life of Christ from birth to ascension. Early examples of bible stories can be found painted on the walls of a synagogue (meeting house used by Christians to gather for worship) in tempera. Once Constatine recognized Christianity, Christians were free to build holy churches. Due to the fact, that they did not want to copy pagan temples these churches significantly contrasted to the Greco-Roman temples. It was also essential to build a church that could house a large group within the structure.