Compositional Models of the Early Christian Catacomb Painting.  Semiotic Analysis


	Philosophy and Culture Reference: Kuvatova V.Z. Compositional Models of the Early Christian Catacomb Painting. Semiotic Analysis // Philosophy and Culture. 2015. № 3. P. 469-476. URL: https://en.nbpublish.com/library_read_article.php?id=66391 Kuvatova V.Z. Compositional Models of the Early Christian Catacomb Painting. Semiotic Analysis Abstract: This article is focused on Roman Early Christian catacomb painting of the pre-Constantinian and early Constantinian period (III – 1st half of the IV century). It attempts to examine the impact of syntactic connections in the iconographic models of the Early Christian catacomb painting on the symbolic meaning of such models. The characteristics of the Early Christian catacomb painting make it an interesting subject for the semiotic approach. The limited amount of the visual citations of the Bible and other Early Christian texts in the pre-Constantine and early Constantine period allow to trace sustainable compositional patterns. Meanwhile, the relative flexibility of the compositional models (as compared to sarcophagi, e.g.), on the one hand, and a considerable amount of thematically isolated architectural areas (cubicula, arcosolia, loculi), on the other hand, predetermined the intense use of syntactic instruments for the development of semantic schemes. The specific characteristics of the Early Christian art stipulated the employment of the semiotic method as a principal research strategy. The semiotic method is not very popular among the Russian art historians. Meanwhile it offers wide opportunities for the study of art symbolic systems and the Early Christian art, in particular. Keywords: semiotic analysis, semiotics of art, semiotic method, Roman catacombs, funerary art, late Antiquity, catacomb painting, Early Christian art, composite laws, symbolic images This article can be downloaded freely in PDF format for reading. Download article References 1. Zanker P. & Ewald B.C. (2012) Living with Myths. The Imagery of Roman Sarcophagi. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2. Bisconti F. (1996) La Madonna di Priscilla: interventi di restauro ed ipotesi sulla dinamica decorativa // Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana, LXXII, 1-2 3. Rossi G.B. DE (1864) La Roma soterannea descritta ed illustrata. Roma: Cromo – Litografia Pontificia 4. Wharton A.J. (1995) Refiguring the Post Classical City. Dura Europos, Jerash, Jerusalem and Ravenna. New York: Cambridge University Press 5. Snyder G.F. (2003) Ante Pacem. Archaeological Evidence of Church Life before Constantine. 2nd Ed. Macon: Mercer University Press 6. Grabar A. (1968) Early Christian art. From the Rise of Christianity to the Death of Theodosius. New York: Odyssey Press 7. Pastoureau M. (2004) Une histoire symbolique du Moyen Age Occidental. Paris: Editions du Seuil 8. Bisconti F. (2011) Le pitture delle catacombe romane. Restauri e interpretazioni. Todi: Tau Editrice 9. Dunbabin, K.M. (2003) The Roman Banquet: Images of Conviviality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 10. Pavia C. (2000) Guida delle catacomb romane. Dai tituli al’Ipogeo di via Dino Compagni. Roma: Gangemi Editore 11. Borg B.E. (2013), Crisis & Ambition. Tombs and Burial Customs in Third-Century CE Rome. Oxford: Oxford University Press 12. Tronzo W. (1986) The Via Latina Catacomb. Imitation and Discontinuity in Fourth-Century Roman Painting. The Pennsylvania State University Press 13. Pergola A. (2011) Il quadrante delle interpretazioni. In Bisconti F. (ed.) L’ipogeo degli Aureli in Viale Manzoni. Restauri, tutela, valorizzazione e aggiornamenti interpretativi. Citta del Vaticano. Pontificia Commissione di Archeologia Sacra 14. Finney P.C. (1997) The Invisible God. The Earliest Christians on Art. 2nd Ed. New York: Oxford University Press 15. Nicolai V.F., Bisconti F., Mazzoleni D. (2009) The Christian Catacombs of Rome. History, Decoration, Inscriptions. 3rd Ed. Regensburg: Schnell & Steiner 16. Jensen R.M.(2008) Dining with the Dead: From the Mensa to the Altar in Christian Late Antiquity. In Brink L., Green O.P. & D. (eds.) Commemorating the Dead. Text and Artifacts in Context. New York: de Gruyter 17. Dresken-Weiland J. (2010) Bild, Grab und Wort. Untersuchungen zu Jenseitsvorstellungen von Christen des 3. und 4. Jahrhunderts. Regensburg. Verlag Schnell & Steiner 18. Wilpert J. (1903) Die Malereien der Katakomben Roms. Freiburg im Breisgau: Herdersche Verlagshandlung 19. Grabar A. (1980) Christian Iconography. A Study of Its Origins. 2nd Ed. Princeton: Princeton University Press 20. Shultze V. (1880) Archaologische Studien uber altchristliche Monumente. Wien 21. Uspenskiy B.A. (1995) Semiotika iskusstva. Moskva, Shkola russkoy kul'tury

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Kuvatova V.Z. Compositional Models of the Early Christian Catacomb Painting. Semiotic Analysis