Early Christian art and architecture

Jesus healing the bleeding woman, Roman catacombs, 300–350

Early Christian art and architecture or Paleochristian art is the art produced by Christians or under
Christian patronage from the earliest period of Christianity to, depending on the definition used,
sometime between 260 and 525. In practice, identifiably Christian art only survives from the 2nd century
onwards.[1] After 550 at the latest, Christian art is classified as Byzantine, or of some other regional
type.[2]

It is hard to know when distinctly Christian art began. Prior to 100, Christians may have been
constrained by their position as a persecuted group from producing durable works of art. Since
Christianity was largely a religion of the lower classes in this period[citation needed], the lack of
surviving art may reflect a lack of funds for patronage, and simply small numbers of followers. The Old
Testament restrictions against the production of graven (an idol or fetish carved in wood or stone)
images (see also Idolatry and Christianity) may also have constrained Christians from producing art.
Christians may have made or purchased art with pagan iconography, but given it Christian meanings, as
they later did. If this happened, "Christian" art would not be immediately recognizable as such.

Early Christianity used the same artistic media as the surrounding pagan culture. These media included
fresco, mosaics, sculpture, and manuscript illumination. Early Christian art not only used Roman forms, it
also used Roman styles. Late classical style included a proportional portrayal of the human body and
impressionistic presentation of space. Late classical style is seen in early Christian frescos, such as those
in the Catacombs of Rome, which include most examples of the earliest Christian art.[3]

Early Christian art and architecture adapted Roman artistic motifs and gave new meanings to what had
been pagan symbols. Among the motifs adopted were the peacock, grapevines, and the "Good
Shepherd". Early Christians also developed their own iconography, for example, such symbols as the fish
(ikhthus), were not borrowed from pagan iconography.

Early Christian art is generally divided into two periods by scholars: before and after either the Edict of
Milan of 313, bringing the so-called Triumph of the Church under Constantine, or the First Council of
Nicea in 325. The earlier period being called the Pre-Constantinian or Ante-Nicene Period and after
being the period of the First seven Ecumenical Councils.[4] The end of the period of Early Christian art,
which is typically defined by art historians as being in the 5th–7th centuries, is thus a good deal later
than the end of the period of Early Christianity as typically defined by theologians and church historians,
which is more often considered to end under Constantine, around 313–325.