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Paintings in the Roman Catacombs

(paintings, c. 300)

The earliest surviving Christian art is not hanging on the walls of a museum or adorning a cathedral but rather can be found in the labyrinth of tombs underneath the city of Rome. At a time when Christianity was not seen as an acceptable religious option, Christian art went underground. Literally. Beneath the streets of the Roman capital and its suburbs, Christians decorated the tombs of their loved ones with simple paintings of biblical scenes or Christian symbols, there in the dimly lit maze of catacombs.

One of the common images in early Christian art, an image that can frequently be seen in the catacombs as well as in mosaics and in the earliest statuary, is the depiction of Christ as the Good Shepherd. His features bear a strong resemblance to traditional depictions of Apollo in classical art—handsome, strong, and dignified—and he is tending to his flock with gentle care, usually with a lamb draped over his shoulders. It is an image that reminds the viewer of Jesus’s love for his people and the protection he offers in a world filled with predators—precisely the message most needed by early Christians suffering from marginalization and persecution. In the days of Christian faith’s infancy it could be dangerous to be a believer. And because the image of a shepherd with a flock wasn’t a blatantly religious image, it was art that could communicate from one Christian to another without drawing unwanted attention from hostile authorities. It was a sort of coded message of reverence for the Savior based upon Jesus’s words from John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd.”

Roman catacombs [© Romaine/Wikimedia Commons, CC-by-1.0]

Finding a way to memorialize their dead was one of the things that inspired the artists who created most of the earliest surviving Christian art, and much of it can be found in these catacombs. These underground burial sites were composed of a network of narrow interconnected passages with niches where the dead could be laid. Developed in the second century, about the time of the persecution of Christians under the emperor Decius, the catacombs were a common burial ground until the mid-fifth century. There were about 550 miles of catacombs around Rome, and an estimated 4 to 6.5 million people were buried in them. They were a popular option for citizens of Rome who could not afford land in which to bury their dead, as real estate was scarce and expensive in the capital of the Roman Empire. Since the early Christians generally considered cremation to be a pagan practice, burial in the catacombs was a good and reasonably priced alternative. The soft volcanic rock underground was easy to dig and carve but hardened nicely when exposed to air, so these niches in the network of catacombs were an ideal way to lay the bodies of loved ones to rest.

Contrary to popular mythology, the catacombs were not generally used either as places to hide from persecution or as places where Christians worshiped. But they were places that were visited with some frequency, where one might celebrate a deceased loved one by having a funerary meal—a kind of “picnic with the dead.” And since the early Christians had few other public places to display their art, the catacombs are one of the main places in which it can be found.

The Good Shepherd, Catacombs of Priscilla, Rome [Wikimedia Commons, CC-PD-Mark]

The art used to decorate these funereal niches is somewhat crude and naïve in style, pretty much what you would expect from paintings done underground by the light of a torch. We do not know the identity of the artists who created the images for the catacombs or exactly when they were created, but they share a simple beauty and dignity and are the earliest artistic masterpieces of the Christian tradition. Classical Greek and Roman art was their main stylistic source, and the most common subject matter is either stories from the Old Testament or events from the life of Christ.

These early Christian artists drew especially upon the redemptive stories of the Old Testament, stories where God was portrayed as a deliverer, such as the story of Daniel and the lions, the three Hebrew brothers in the fiery furnace, Noah and the ark, or the trials of Jonah (who was considered as a prefiguration of Jesus and his resurrection). Their favorite subjects from the life of Jesus were the miracle stories, especially stories of healing. Interestingly, images of the cross and the crucifixion are very rare in early Christian art, and it seems there was a distinct preference for images and symbols that represented resurrection and immortality—images such as doves, palms, peacocks, the phoenix, and the lamb. Instead of focusing on the sufferings of Christ, as became so common in later Christian art, these early artists seemed more interested in painting pictures that offered hope.

In a time when it was a crime to practice the Christian faith, and where one could be sentenced to death for proclaiming Jesus as Lord instead of Caesar, it should not be surprising that much of this art also shows an interest in venerating the holy martyrs of the faith, those who had surrendered their lives in the cause of Christ. In fact, Christians sometimes jockeyed for a place in the catacombs so they could bury their dead as near as possible to where the martyrs of the faith had been laid.

In ancient Rome, wealthy Christians were fewer in number but they could more easily afford to be buried in the traditional way rather than in the catacombs. They were often laid to rest in a sarcophagus, a stone casket on which decorative art could be carved. One of the most well preserved of the surviving sarcophagi is that of Junius Bassus (c. 350). The front of this sarcophagus is decorated with two rows of sculpted images that are more artistically refined than the paintings in the catacombs. The top level depicts scenes of Abraham, Paul, Christ with Peter and Paul, Christ before Pilate, and Pilate washing his hands of responsibility for Jesus’s fate. The bottom level has carvings of Job, Adam and Eve with the serpent wound around the tree of life, Christ’s entry into Jerusalem and meeting with Zacchaeus (the wee man in the tree), Daniel flanked by tamed lions, and the apostle Paul being led to his execution. These key biblical stories show both the Old Testament roots of the faith and scenes from Jesus’s life. (The scene of Paul’s execution is not recorded in Scripture but drawn from extrabiblical studies.)

In the generations that followed, Christian art would begin to become more grand and showy, striving for splendor and a highly aesthetic effect. The earliest Christian art, however, with its greater simplicity and obvious devotion, remains a powerful testimony to the way that art could reflect deep faith and trust in God, even at a time of great persecution. Despite the threat of death, early Christians held fast to a faith in the God who was a deliverer, and who would ultimately snatch them even from the jaws of death. That message echoes out from the Roman catacombs.