The Paintings in the Catacombs. The Crypt of Lucina

The catacomb paintings represent the straightforward use by churchmen of the art-forms prevailing in their day. The artists, seldom men of notable creative power, decorated the cubicula as they might have decorated the walls of a house, in the manner which they understood and which happened to be 'in the air'. Christianization of the painting simply meant adopting not only a contemporary style but also, often enough, popular subjects, and applying both to a declaration of the Gospel in ways capable of being understood at that particular time. The style used for the earlier catacomb paintings at least is the so-called Late Antique, a sketchy, impressionistic way of suggesting figures in action by means of light brushstrokes of colour on the plaster background.

The Greek aim of displaying the human body in a perfection more often imagined than perceived, and the Roman genius for detailed observation of individual character yield to a fashion which, for all its clumsy, provincial air, can be used to suggest rather than to define and thus hint at a supernatural reality lying behind the neat face of everyday existence. It may be that, as the painter Apelles declared, 'works which have charm touch Heaven', but the Christians on the whole preferred to make their approach to Heaven less by the avenue of beauty than by symbolic allusion to the hope that was in themselves. Nor did they often attempt to portray the mysterious character of the Divine as vividly as did the followers of Dionysus who, at Pompeii for example, show the initiate subjected to the most powerful emotions of terror and exhilaration.

The subjects chosen for representation in the catacombs naturally tend to be those appropriate to private tombs, with an emphasis on scenes of deliverance illustrating the power of God to save those who put their trust in Him, but straightforward decoration also appears frequently. Though there is nothing comparable for artistic quality with the graceful scenes of nature, tamed and formalized, which make the walls of the Villa of Livia²" look like a William Morris wallpaper, paintings do exist to show that the Christian artists, or those whom Christians employed, had an eye for the beauty of the world around them. One such example may be seen in the birds of the Praetextatus Catacomb; even more impressive is the landscape, with its trees and animals, which forms a background to the stylized, classical figure of the Good Shepherd in the Catacomb of Domitilla.

The artists responsible for these paintings employed two methods, fresco and tempera, with a distinct preference for fresco. Both processes required careful preparation in advance, the wall being smoothed and covered with a layer of coarse plaster made of slaked lime, sand and volcanic earth. On top of this was placed the more finished plaster surface, usually composed of lime and marble dust. The technique of fresco requires that the colour should be applied while this plaster coating is still moist. The pigments then penetrate the wet plaster and a film of calcium carbonate forms which fixes the colours. The technique of tempera, by contrast, involves the application of paint to a surface already hardened with the help of some such fixative as milk or white of egg.

During the Italian Renaissance, critics used to maintain that fresco is 'the sweetest and subtlest technique that exists', but it was a difficult process to manage partly because the result of the brush-stroke was immediately absorbed into the plaster and mistakes could therefore not be concealed, partly because the work was rather slow. It was desirable also to match the amount of wet plaster prepared every day with the area which the artist might reasonably be expected to cover; hence the measurement lines sometimes to be seen scratched on the walls and the rough, preliminary sketches traced, for instance, in the Catacomb of the Jordani.

The variety of colours is somewhat restricted. Comparatively bright and well-contrasted colours are necessary in underground, dimly-lit vaults, so that delicate shading, particularly with grey or black, is entirely out of place. On the other hand, some of the more brilliant reds and blues are not amenable to the fresco technique. Catacomb painting was therefore usually carried out in broad brush-strokes of yellow, dull red, green and brown, the figure subjects being enclosed, as a rule, within a simple framework of straight or semicircular lines.

While few of the families concerned had either the money or the inclination to search out the best contemporary artists, paintings of outstanding quality occur here and there. Two of the earliest deserve special mention. One ceiling in the Crypt of Lucina (cubiculum y) illustrates with exceptional grace a form of decoration derived from the idea of a canopy set up within the house (fig. 13). It is marked out in a scheme of circles, diagonals and crosses which, by their intersections, provide a number of compartments of various sizes, each containing a figure or a flower motif. In the Lucina Crypt ceiling, the figures are elongated and refined, very different from, say, the dumpy cherubs of the Dino Campagni Catacomb.

13. Rome, Catacomb of Callistus: a ceiling in the Crypt of Lucina

The circle in the centre encloses twenty-one compartments. Four semicircular lunettes contain flowers; then, within a pattern composed of the eight arms of an upright and a diagonal cross, appear four matching heads of youths with wind-swept hair and a number of standard decorative themes with Daniel occupying the place of honour in the middle where he stands, naked and dominant, between two diminutive lions. The divisions between the circle and the enclosing rectangle balance each other precisely, containing four winged angels of classic pattern, two 'Orants' and two shepherds, each bearing a lamb on his shoulder.

One may assign to the same period, about the middle of the third century, a painting in the Catacomb of Priscilla which, although much damaged, displays both skill and keen perception. It consists of two scenes enclosed within a rectangular frame having a primitive cotton-reel pattern on top and some loosely drawn semicircles below. On one side, beneath a pair of luxuriantly spreading trees, stands the Good Shepherd, with a lamb on his shoulders and a large sheep, looking gratefully up at him, on each side. These figures were originally moulded in stucco —plaster raised above wall level—a technique appearing only rarely in the catacombs. Beside this scene is a small group, painted in a uniform shade of pinkish brown (fig. 14).

14. Rome, Catacomb of Priscilla. Wall-painting: Virgin and Child with Prophet

The figure on the left is crudely sketched and his right arm, with hand pointing upwards to a star, is over-large in relation to his body. While, however, it is commonly assumed that this error of draughtsmanship is due to a lack of competence on the artist's part, it may be that the arm and its gesture have been intentionally emphasized. For the mother and child, who make up the rest of the group, have about them touches of the majesty and mystery which characterize paintings of a much later period, such as the fifth-century Christ in the Catacomb of Marcellinus and Peter.

The woman looks directly at the spectator; the child too, though clasped in his mother's arms, turns his head away from her to direct a steadfast gaze straight ahead. Damaged as it is, and situated in the least distinguished part of the Priscilla Catacomb, this representation of the Virgin and Child, with a prophet indicating that 'there shall come forth a star out of Jacob', offers a hint and early likeness of the art of the Middle Ages.

Painting of a rather more finished type appears in the Catacomb of the Aurelii. Here the figures reveal a classic feeling for arrangement and proportion while a touch of impressionism serves to avoid academic rigidity and impart a sense of vigorous life. One head, that of a bearded man with strong features and the eyes of a prophet who 'sees visions and dreams dreams', is a notable essay in portraiture, made more effective by the contrast it presents with the sketchy lines of the tunic and pallium below.