Catacomb Paintings: Advances in Style and Subject

The painting of Christian catacombs persisted throughout the vigorous military dictatorship of Diocletian and the surprising reversal of fortune whereby the Church, under Constantine's patronage, became the chief religious and cultural force in the Empire. For another century or more, thereafter, the painter's art continued in the service of the Church, yielding only gradually to the rich splendour of mosaic. As in the earlier period, the principal examples of Christian paintings occur in Rome, in catacombs which, however, were coming to be somewhat less highly regarded.

In general, the style in which the paintings were executed followed contemporary fashion, though certain contrasts exist between the work of artists who favoured careful, realistic technique and those who preferred an impressionistic, more 'primitive', approach which suggests rather than portrays. These two tendencies, between which most visual arts oscillate perpetually/ jostle together in the paintings of the Roman Empire.

It is customary to detect, at the end of the third century, a coarsening of taste linked with Diocletian's dependence on the support of a 'brutal and licentious soldiery' and his transfer of the capital from Rome eastwards to Nicomedia. A squat and expressionless manner of representing human beings is thought to give place, in the time of Constantine and his successors, to more exact and refined techniques, to a sensitive and softened version of the Hellenistic baroque.

But, where Christian art is concerned, such stylistic evolution cannot be traced very precisely. Much depends on the abilities of individual artists, which vary from the roughest sketches to delicate portraiture with a timeless air. Nor is the question made any easier by the fact that few of the paintings can be dated with absolute assurance. Yet it is not difficult to discern the changing spirit of the time in its artistic productions.

There is first of all the feeling that the crabbed, shorthand symbolism beloved of the earliest churchmen has been outgrown and that the characters depicted should be real people rather than abstractions. Thus the figures in the Chapel of the Five Saints in S. Callisto, dating from about 320 ad, are shown not just as representative intercessors but as Italian women, lively yet devout, with dark curly hair and finely marked features. When painting their portraits, the artist recognized the value of contrasting highlight and softer flesh colour, and set his Orans under a graceful canopy of bluish leaves and russet flowers.

Beauty of colour and form, even a certain splendour of costume, are thought to further what Origen called 'the comeliness of spiritual understanding'. Such tendencies may, however, be carried a little too far in the direction of magnificence: in the Catacomb of Thraso, about 340 ad, one woman combines a gaze of rapt devotion with somewhat imperious lines about the nose and mouth as well as a highly ornate robe and much jewellery.

As the art of Christian painting developed, influenced by and apparently in turn influencing contemporary pagan style, signs of a greater opulence appear, together with emphasis on authoritative power and majesty. Nor is this surprising as the reflection of an age when Constantine and his successors held a vast and diverse empire together by means of an efficient bureaucratic system allied to a mysterious sense of the emperor's superhuman dignity and power, and when fourth-century bishops eagerly set themselves up as ecclesiastical counterparts of the provincial governors.

Nevertheless most of the old themes of Christian art continue in the new order of the Church triumphant. They are augmented, however, by two new elements: one an increased respect paid to the virtues and influence of the saints, the other a widening of the range of subjects depicted and a keen interest in the historical details of the Biblical record. Emblems of a distinctly pagan character continue to appear beside Christian symbols, sometimes to an extent which makes it hard to decide whether the burial-place has been prepared for Christians, for adherents of another cult, or for persons of varied faith.

The classic example of a developed doctrine of the saints as effective helpers is provided by one of the chapels of the Domitilla Catacomb. A small panel in this arcosolium shows two full-length female figures standing side by side. The one on the left wears a red and yellow garment reaching to the ground; her hair, touched with the highlight of the picture, is drawn up under a veil and she faces the spectator with eyes downcast in contemplation (fig. 24).

24. Rome, Catacomb of Domitilla. Wall-painting: Veneranda ushered into Paradise

This, as the lettering indicates, is Veneranda, the dead woman. Her companion, described as 'Petronilla the martyr', looks toward her with gestures that express a kindly solicitude. For St Petronilla—'Peter's little daughter', as tradition had it—is conducting Veneranda safely into Paradise. It must, however, be added that the idea of the soul of the departed as ushered into Paradise by a friendly guide of higher spiritual stature is found as frequently in pagan as in Christian wall-painting of the early fourth century, as the tomb of a certain Vibia clearly demonstrates. Here the scene, painted in redbrown and blue on a pale background, is supplied with short inscriptions which remove any possible ground for misinterpretation.

Vibia enters through an archway, her whole demeanour expressing timidity and wonder. The Good Angel (so labelled) clasps her hand reassuringly and draws her towards a banqueting-couch where guests recline, raising their right hands in greeting to Vibia as she comes forward to join them. The whole composition closely resembles some earlier pictures of a Christian agape held in the world beyond, for the various faiths drew readily enough from a common stock of images and the craftsmen employed were ready to put their techniques at the disposal of patrons of any creed.

Preoccupation with the authority of the emperor naturally led to emphasis on the majesty of Christ. No longer the youthful hero of David's line, he sits, bearded and dignified, in austere contemplation. This, at least, is how he is shown in the Catacomb of Marcellinus and Peter, his red robe contrasting with the white apparel of Peter and Paul. Below, the saints—Gorgonius, Marcellinus, Tibertius and another Peter—raise their hands in adoration of the Lamb, whose destiny of innocent, sacrificial death is the reverse of the grandeur depicted above. This impressive painting, with its lively sense of religious truth, is thus arranged, after the fashion of certain sarcophagi of the period, in two tiers, the one being an explanatory comment on the other.

The idea of Christ as Ruler of the Universe finds clear expression in the Catacomb of Commodilla where, within a frame coloured red and brown, the Master's head and shoulders are set in a manner expressing authority, almost the remote authority of unyielding cause and effect which marks the medieval pictures of Doomsday (fig. 25). Christ's brown hair falls in ordered waves to meet his long beard as he gazes into eternity with eyes firm-set under the splodgy curves which represent his brow. A halo surrounds his head and, to press home the lesson, the letters alpha and omega, placed at each side, declare him to be the Beginning and End of Creation.

25. Rome, Catacomb of Commodilla. Wall-painting: Christ as Ruler of the Universe

And since Christ's authority is mediated through the Church, 'One, Holy and Catholic', to show him seated among a council of apostles is to proclaim him at his most majestic and, incidentally, to emphasize the value of orthodox faith as opposed to heretical speculations. A fourth-century painting in the Catacomb of the Jordani, for instance, shows Christ as the central figure between two groups of six men rhythmically balanced in a double row, all wearing white togas with black shoulder-stripes but each displaying individuality of pose and expression. Here, however, Christ is still the youthful hero-figure among companions in a high enterprise, and that is also how he appears in a semicircular lunette of the Domitilla Catacomb: a striking, prophetic figure enthroned in the midst of nine roughly painted and wooden-looking apostles.