Buku
The making of Europe
THE NEW PEOPLE. Painting from the Cemetery of St. Priscilla in the Catacombs, Rome. Wilpert, Die Katakombenge- mälde und ihrer alten copien (Herder, Freiburg i.B)rnrnThe art of the catacombs is the first outward manifestationrnrnof Christian culture, and shows in a remarkable way how thernrnexternal forms of the old Roman-Hellenistic culture werernrnassimilated and modified by the new spiritual forces. EarlyrnrnChristian art took over the traditional commonplaces of thernrnHellenistic house-decorator, and infused them with a pro-rnrnfound spiritual meaning. The subjects are mere generalisedrnrntypes or symbols a fish, a dove, or a figure borrowed fromrnrnheathen mythology-the value of which consists entirely inrnrntheir hieratic and mystical significance to the initiated. Ofrnrnthese figures the most popular is that of a woman in anrnrnattitude of prayer the orans a figure that symbolised atrnrnonce the soul of the the deceased, the freed and enlightenedrnrnspirit of man, and also the Virgin Church, the Bride of thernrnSpirit.
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