Begins with the observation that in earliest Christian art the Old Testament is more dominant than the New Testament.
Assumes that even before early Christian art there was Jewish Biblical iconography,
in the Jewish centres of the Middle East...
show more
Begins with the observation that in earliest Christian art the Old Testament is more dominant than the New Testament.
Assumes that even before early Christian art there was Jewish Biblical iconography,
in the Jewish centres of the Middle East (Pächt).
This Jewish art not only refers back to the Biblical text, but also draws on apocryphal writing, and Jewish interpretative literature (Midrash).
Later Christian art draws on this Jewish iconography, as seen in the various echoes of the Jewish Midrash and apocryphal literature, which found their visual expression in later Christian art.
Refers to the Biblical prohibition of pictures. This must be seen in the context of pagan practices of the specific surroundings. If a practice of worship can be excluded, or if it did not exist at all in the region, there was nothing to interfere with the practice of art, especially when it had to do with two dimensional painting.
Schubert therefore assumes that there must already have been Jewish picture cycles in the 2nd century AD. The frescoes of the Dura Europos Synagogue in Eastern Syria (year 244) provide irrefutable proof of this assumption.
Deals with the Biblical iconography in the Dura Europos within the context of the canonical Bible text and Midrash literature: the anointing of David, the sacrifice of the Baal priest.
The methodology of using Midrash literature can also be applied to Christian art. There are image themes in which the canonical bible text does not allow a satisfactory interpretation. When Midrash literature leads to an understanding of the iconography, then one can assume that there is an older Jewish model.
Yet there are traditions in which both Midrashic literature and Patristic sources can be seen. In such the use of a Jewish model is not likely.
Nevertheless, earlier research also indicates iconographic parallels between paintings in the synagogue of Dura Europos and later Christian examples. As the painting in the synagogue only existed for eleven years before being destroyed by a Sassanian attack, they could have had an influence on Christian art. Schubert therefore assumes that there are common Jewish models, for instance the conversation between the Pharaoh and the Israelite midwife in the Ashburnham Pentateuch, the Old English Heptateuch and the Bury St. Edmunds Psalter. The daughter of the Pharaoh finding the infant Moses in the so-called Pamplona Bibles, Navarra, around 1300).
During various periods of the fourth century the scenes painted on the catacombs of the Via Latina were mainly from the Old Testament. These contain Midrash elements, which according to Schubert also indicate Jewish origins of the models used (examples: Abraham meeting the three angels in Mamre, Pinhas punishing Zimri and Kosbi).
The same phenomenon of Midrash element in iconography can also be observed in the Vienna Genesis, as well as in the Ashburnham Pentateuch. In the Vienna Genesis it is most of all the Joseph iconography which plays an important role, from which one can perhaps deduce that there had been a narrative of the story of Joseph in Jewish picture cycles (examples in the Vienna Genesis: the story of Asnat, Joseph’s wife; Joseph’s seduction by Potiphar’s wife; in the Ashburnham Pentateuch: Isaac and Ismael fight over the first born’s claim; Rebecca in Sem’s school).
Similar themes later re-appeared in Hebrew manuscript illustrations (conversation between Pharaoh and the Israelite midwife in the Golden Haggadah, the Kaufmann Haggadah or the Picture Bible of the Venetian woodcutter Moses dal Castellazzo
Such element, which can indicate a meeting of Jewish and Christian art then lost significance in the course of the centuries.
This topic was then discussed in detail in Kurt Schubert (publisher) Spätantikes Judentum und frühchristliche Kunst (Studia Judaica Austriaca II), Late Antiquity Judaism and Early Christian Art, Vienna 1974
(Translator: Joan Avery)
The Corresponding illustrations, selected by the Center of Jewish Art (Hebrew University, Jerusalem), can be found here: http://phaidra.univie.ac.at/detail_object/o:521471
show less