Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century

Weitzmann, Kurt, ed. (1979)

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The first centuries of the Christian Era were ones of extraordinary upheaval: the great traditions of the classical world were transformed by dramatic changes in the political and social structure, by continual warfare against invaders, and by the growing influence of the nascent religion Christianity. The trend of this period has been interpreted by some historians as the decline of civilization, but it is represented by its art as a time of cultural experimentation. Although they abandoned some of the realism of the classical mode, artists of the post-antique world continued to borrow from the repertoire of images of pagan and imperial Rome, ultimately creating works distinguished by spiritual grace and an abstraction of form. The innovative style that resulted from the coexistence of the Eastern and Western Empires, of the pagan, mystery, Jewish, and Christian religions, and of the urban and provincial societies was to determine the development of the Byzantine, and then the medieval, artistic traditions.

Over five years in preparation when it opened to the public in November 1977, Age of Spirituality was not only the largest exhibition ever to focus on the period of Late Antique and Early Christian art, it was also hailed as one of the most important didactic exhibitions ever assembled by an art museum. The group of 450 objects, lent by over 110 institutions and private individuals from some 15 countries, presented this little-known period to the public in five realms—the Imperial, the Classical, the Secular, the Jewish, and the Christian—which provided a historical context for the variety of works. Ranging from delicate jewelry of gold and silver, carved ivory diptychs, and rare manuscripts to monumental portraits in stone, wall paintings, and floor mosaics, the exhibition showed the period's diversity of material, style, subject matter, and technique. Architectural monuments, represented in photomontage, contributed information about the public and private lives of the emperors as well as the middle class.

This outstanding exhibition is comprehensively documented and illustrated in the present catalogue, edited by the principal organizer of the exhibition, Kurt Weitzmann, Professor Emeritus of Princeton University and Consultative Curator, The Cloisters and the Department of Medieval Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The thirty-nine authors, chosen to write from their particular areas of expertise, here publish the results of original research in twenty essays and 599 catalogue entries.

Table of contents

Foreword
Thomas P. F. Hoving

Preface
Philippe de Montebello

Acknowledgments
Kurt Weitzmann

Honorary Committee

Lenders to the Exhibition

Introduction
Kurt Weitzmann

Introduction to the Architecture
Alfred Frazer

Color Plates

I. The Imperial Realm Portraiture
James D. Breckenridge

Imperial Portraits

Imperial Medallions

Consuls

Other Officials

Scenic Representations
Richard Brilliant

Ceremonies and Processions

Warfare

The Hunt

The Arena and the Circus

Architecture

II. The Classical Realm Mythology
Richard Brilliant

Greek Gods

Popular Heroes

Mythological Themes

Personifications

Gods of the Mystery Cults

Science and Poetry
Kurt Weitzmann

Sciences

Didactic Treatises

Epos

Drama

Romances

Bucolics

Poet and Muses

Architecture
Alfred Frazer

III. The Secular Realm Representations of Daily Life
Kurt Weitzmann

Portraiture
James D. Breckenridge

Objects from Daily Life
Marvin C. Ross

Jewelry

Other Objects of Daily Use

Architecture
Alfred Frazer

IV. The Jewish Realm Representational Art
Bezalel Narkiss

Architecture
Bezalel Narkiss

V. The Christian Realm Abbreviated Representations
Erich Dinkler

Early Monuments

Old Testament

Old and New Testament

New Testament

Narrative Representations

Old Testament

Old and New Testament

New Testament and Apocrypha

Iconic Representations
Margaret E. Frazer

Apse Themes
Margaret E. Frazer

Holy Sites Representations
Margaret E. Frazer

Altar Implements and Liturgical Objects
Victor H. Elbern

The Hamah Treasure

Altar Implements

Other Cult Objects

Reliquaries

Church Furniture

Architecture
Alfred Frazer

Contributors to the Catalogue
Appendix: Chronology of Emperors and Events
Glossary
Bibliography
Index

About the authors

Jeffrey C. Anderson, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

Malcolm Bell, University of Virginia, Charlottesville

Susan A. Boyd, The Byzantine Collection, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.

James D. Breckenridge, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois

Richard Brilliant, Columbia University, New York

Katharine Reynolds Brown, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Helmut Buschhausen, Institut fur Kunstgeschichte und Institut fur Byzantinistik und Neograzistik, Universität Wien

James Nelson Carder, Mount Vernon College, Washington, D.C.

William A. P. Childs, Princeton University

Aliza Cohen-Mushlin, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Erich Dinkier, Universität Heidelberg

Erika Dinker-von Schubert, Heidelberg

Moshe Dothan, University of Haifa, Israel

Victor H. Elbern, Frühchristlich-Byzantinische Sammlung, Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, and Freie Universität, Berlin

Alfred Frazer, Columbia University, New York

Margaret English Frazer, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Danielle Gaborit, Musée du Louvre, Paris

Prudence O. Harper, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Herbert L. Kessler, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore

Dale Kinney, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania

W. Eugene Kleinbauer, Indiana University, Bloomington

Lieselotte Kotzsche, Kirchliche Hochschule, Berlin

Claire Lindgren, State University of New York at Stony Brook

Elisabetta Lucchesi-Palli, Salzburg

Anna Marguerite McCann, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

William E. Metcalf, The American Numismatic Society, New York

Bezalel Narkiss, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Andrew Oliver, Jr., The Textile Museum, Washington, D.C.

Marvin C. Ross, Formerly Hillwood Collections, The Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Archer St. Clair, Montclair State College, Montclair, New Jersey

Jack L. Schrader, The Cloisters, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Nancy Patterson Sevcenko, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Dorothy G. Shepherd, The Cleveland Museum of Art

Kathleen J. Shelton, University of Chicago

Gary Vikan, Center for Byzantine Studies, Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C.

Kurt Weitzmann, Princeton University and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Josepha Weitzmann-Fiedler, Princeton, New Jersey

William D. Wixom, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio

Stephen R. Zwirn, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

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