Hexateuch in the mosaics of Santa Maria Maggiore at Rome
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/BPTh.2011.008Keywords
Early Christian art, mosaics, Bible illustrations, basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore at RomeAbstract
The main nave of the Santa Maria Maggiore at Rome has been decorated with 42 mosaic panels, presenting the scenes from the Pentateuch and the Book of Josue. The mosaics were created at the time of the construction of the basilica in the first half of the fifth century and thus they are the oldest monumental Bible illustration cycle. Some illuminated codices probably served as a model for the mosaics, but the final result is rather an original conception, linked theologically with the mosaics of the triumphal arch of the basilica. The paper describes the surviving 27 mosaics. Their conformance to traditional Roman iconography is underlined. The main idea behind the cycle is interpreted as an attempt to convince the people of Rome that the history of the People of God, which begins with the patriarchs of the Old Testament, is as glorious and ancient as the Roman one.
References
Brenk B., Die frühchristlichen Mosaiken in S. Maria Maggiore zu Rom, Wiesbaden 1975.
Byvanck A. V., Das Problem der Mosaiken von Santa Maria Maggiore, w: Festschrift Hans R. Hahnloser, Basel 1961, 15-26.
Cecchelli C., I mosaici della basilica di S. Maria Maggiore, Torino 1956.
Deckers J. G., Der alttestamentliche Zyklus von S. Maria Maggiore. Studien zur Bildgeschichte, Bonn 1976.
Ewangelia Pseudo-Mateusza, 22-24 (wyd. M. Starowieyski, Apokryfy Nowego Testamentu, t. I/1, Kraków 2003).
Gandolfo F., La basilica sistina: i mosaici della navata e dell'arco trionfale, w: Santa Maria Maggiore a Roma, red. C. Pietrangeli, Firenze 1988, 85-123.
Karpp H., Die frühchristlichen und mittelalterlichen Mosaiken in Santa Maria Maggiore zu Rom, Baden-Baden 1966.
Kollwitz J., Der Josuazyklus von S. Maria Maggiore, „Römische Quartalschrift" 61 (1966), 105-110.
Richter J. P., Cameron Taylor A., The Golden Age of Classical Christian Art, London 1904.
Saxer V., Sainte-Marie-Majeure: une basilique de Rome dans l'histoire de la ville et de son église (Ve-XIIIe siècle), Rome 2001.
Smith S., «The Promissed Blessing»: The Iconography of the Mosaics of S. Maria Maggiore, „The Art Bulletin" 61 (1979), 518-540.
Sperduti L., La Basilica paleocristiana, w: Santa Maria Maggiore a Roma, red. R. Luciani, Roma 1996, 49-72.
Wilpert J., Die Römischen Mosaiken und Malereien der kirchlichen Bauten vom IV. bis XII. Jahrhundert, Freiburg im Br. 1917, I/1, 423-473.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
CC BY ND 4.0. The Creator/Contributor is the Licensor, who grants the Licensee a non-exclusive license to use the Work on the fields indicated in the License Agreement.
- The Licensor grants the Licensee a non-exclusive license to use the Work/related rights item specified in § 1 within the following fields: a) recording of Work/related rights item; b) reproduction (multiplication) of Work/related rights item in print and digital technology (e-book, audiobook); c) placing the copies of the multiplied Work/related rights item on the market; d) entering the Work/related rights item to computer memory; e) distribution of the work in electronic version in the open access form on the basis of Creative Commons license (CC BY-ND 3.0) via the digital platform of the Nicolaus Copernicus University Press and file repository of the Nicolaus Copernicus University.
- Usage of the recorded Work by the Licensee within the above fields is not restricted by time, numbers or territory.
- The Licensor grants the license for the Work/related rights item to the Licensee free of charge and for an unspecified period of time.
FULL TEXT License Agreement
Stats
Number of views and downloads: 975
Number of citations: 0