Context: In 324, Constantine began to establish sanctuaries and basilicas to commemorate sacred spaces. As the monasticism movement grows, more people begin to go on pilgrimages to these sacred spaces. When Justinian comes into power, he takes advantage of this and builds a pilgrimage route throughout Ephesus, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Corinth, and Carthage. As he does so, he spreads the theme of Theotokos, a theme which is not made popular until the 11th century.
Subject/Connection to Lecture: Several artifacts and figures in the apse have religious and and political meanings. For example, in the lecture, we discussed how Coptic censers hanging down were used to encourage a smell of divinity. Their inclusion in the frescoes around Christ and the Virgin Mary not only communicates a sense of the divine, but also are historically relabeled as Byzantine. It also emphasizes Justinian’s themes of Theotokos and Galaktotrophousa. All combined, the censers and forefront positioning in the frescoes emphasize Mary’s role as co-redemptrix - the bearer and sustainer of salvation.
Style/Material: The polychromy caused by the use of tempera and encaustic materials adds to the complexity of the work. Additionally, the density of the paintings and use of patterns, coupled with the abstract style, contribute to the archimorphic style of the frescoes. Dialectic interplay between the mediums like architecture, textile, and painting in part explain how Coptic art was reduced to a subsection of Christian or Muslim art.
Connection to Reading: Bolman analyzes the lavish ornamentation in the triconch apse and how it demonstrates an evolution of abstractionism. Transitioning from naturalism and illusionism with simple color palettes, the figures in the Red Monastery are flat images with no motion, and vibrant colors. The frescoes demonstrate the eventual transition from naturalism and illusionism to abstraction with harder edges and flatter images, and finally to abstractionism with flat, still, colorful figures.
Gavin Richardson Object Annotation 3
Gavin Richardson
Created on February 6, 2026
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Transcript
Context: In 324, Constantine began to establish sanctuaries and basilicas to commemorate sacred spaces. As the monasticism movement grows, more people begin to go on pilgrimages to these sacred spaces. When Justinian comes into power, he takes advantage of this and builds a pilgrimage route throughout Ephesus, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Corinth, and Carthage. As he does so, he spreads the theme of Theotokos, a theme which is not made popular until the 11th century.
Subject/Connection to Lecture: Several artifacts and figures in the apse have religious and and political meanings. For example, in the lecture, we discussed how Coptic censers hanging down were used to encourage a smell of divinity. Their inclusion in the frescoes around Christ and the Virgin Mary not only communicates a sense of the divine, but also are historically relabeled as Byzantine. It also emphasizes Justinian’s themes of Theotokos and Galaktotrophousa. All combined, the censers and forefront positioning in the frescoes emphasize Mary’s role as co-redemptrix - the bearer and sustainer of salvation.
Style/Material: The polychromy caused by the use of tempera and encaustic materials adds to the complexity of the work. Additionally, the density of the paintings and use of patterns, coupled with the abstract style, contribute to the archimorphic style of the frescoes. Dialectic interplay between the mediums like architecture, textile, and painting in part explain how Coptic art was reduced to a subsection of Christian or Muslim art.
Connection to Reading: Bolman analyzes the lavish ornamentation in the triconch apse and how it demonstrates an evolution of abstractionism. Transitioning from naturalism and illusionism with simple color palettes, the figures in the Red Monastery are flat images with no motion, and vibrant colors. The frescoes demonstrate the eventual transition from naturalism and illusionism to abstraction with harder edges and flatter images, and finally to abstractionism with flat, still, colorful figures.