Medieval Art and Christianity
- Early Christians faced a huge problem when it came to depicting God, the Devil, or any other religious being in art because, according to the 10 commandments, it was forbidden to create an image of God. However, since a lot of the Christians of this time were originally Pagan, it was difficult to not use images for religious ritual. "When God dictated the ten commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai, God expressly forbade the Israelite from making any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth” (Exodus 20:4). Early Christians saw themselves as the spiritual progeny of the Israelite and tried to comply with this commandment. Nevertheless, many early Christians were converted pagans who were accustomed to images in religious worship. The use of images in religious ritual was visually compelling and difficult to abandon" (add citation).
- Since these early Christians were basing their work off of God and other religious figures they sought to create an "idealistic human" and this was where they were running into the problems that were mentioned above. These artists were using an illusionary style to make their art as lifelike as possible. Eventually there was a switch and instead of striving to create the perfect illusion of an image, artists began to abstract their work. This allowed them to continue with what they were doing, but they avoided “idolizing” their God. This helped create a distance between the new christian empire they were trying to create, and their pagan past.