Origin of Christian Iconography and its Growth through Art Realm

By

Sreesubha P.

Assistant Professor

Dept. of Vocational Studies (Animation & Graphic Design)

MES College, Marampally, Aluva

 Origin of Christian Iconography and its Growth through Art Realm

Abstract
Christianity, by religion and by faith is a mystery always. It reflects mysteries in its doctrine and
its concept rendering methods. Christian religious ideologies were communicated effectively
through icons or symbols as they are more familiar to common man. The concept of God can be
easily penetrated to the hearts of the plebeians through images than preaching. Iconographical
representations of religious faith created a great momentum for Christianity among people. The
popular means to spread the church preaching were promoting artistic endeavors. Since second
century CE church or religious communities patronized art carrying Christian iconography. The
symbols communicated from second century to the age of Counter Reformation and its
continuing tradition till today has strong roots in the culture of the place where it originated. This
essay tries to focuses on the historical background of the iconography associated with
Christianity and how it developed and keep rooted in the hearts of common man. ‘Origin of
Christian Iconography and its Growth through Art Realm’ suggests a perception into the efforts
of artistic attempts in the development of Christian Iconography from the second century CE.
The visual art and artists play a key role in the expression of Christian religious faith.

Keywords

Christian Iconography, symbols, icons, Paleochristian art, Early Christian art, Byzantine art,
Gothic art, Renaissance Art, DaVinci, Michelangelo, Medici, Counter Reformation, Baroque
Art, Pagan Culture.

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 Origin of Christian Iconography and its Growth through Art Realm
Christianity embedded its roots in sufferings of its God itself. In its faith, God himself becomes
man. The human element implicit in Christianity makes it accepted in the common mass. Every
religion originated as a means to provide a stability and order to the society. With the passing of
time, circumstances of human kind changed and new opinions and belief systems originated,
leaving the pre-runners behind. Religion creates a culture based on its own concepts, faith and
belief systems. Crisis and clashes arise between the new religious culture and the existed one. In
history, there were a lot of collisions while the establishment of new cultures; for example, there
was a suppressive attitude from Aryans towards the already existed people of Indus Valley
Culture during their early establishment time in Ancient India. Christianity also faced problems
in establishing their belief system in the previously existed pagan cultures.

Christianity in its Early Years

The most practiced religion in the world with more than 2 billion followers around the world,
Christianity had a simple early years with a very few believers. In its early life, the faith suffered
a lot from Jewish and Roman administrators. During those times they assemble in secrecy as
they were prosecuted for their faith. The church concentrated in launching the soul of
Christianity in the general mass till 313 CE (when Constantine removed the ban of the religion).