Christian Art

The art of God is life. The art of man is man caring about the art of God. Art is worked media that enact the play between the artist's state of consciousness and his/her perceived interactions with life. Art is aesthetic inquiry by artists and art perceives alike that explore, with childlike wonder, the art of God. These researches and experimentations serve to develop people's grasp of the art of God - the art of God including the people themselves.

Little is known about Christian art in the first two centuries after the death of Jesus. Among the earliest manifestations extant are the early 3d-century paintings on the walls of the catacombs in Rome. Whereas the style resembles that of secular Roman wall painting, the subject matter consists mainly of biblical figures. Narrative cycles covered the upper walls, triumphal arch, and apse of basilican churches. The Christian faith was bound by the authority of sacred writings, and it placed increasing importance on the production of books and their illumination.

Scenes of the life of Jesus or more ceremonious compositions were created, showing the enthroned Christ receiving the homage of the apostles. Christian places of worship were of necessity inconspicuous and had no fixed architectural form. Early Christian builders adapted structures that had long been used in the Hellenistic and Roman worlds.