Style and Content in Christian Art Book

When I first received this book, the title suggested to me that it would be an overview of Christian art.

It is, but its focus is strictly Western (there are no Indian or Japanese or African Christian paintings here, even though those do exist). This is somewhat limiting, but still interesting.

Dillenberger does not tacke Christian art as a whole - this is not strictly a recounting of several centuries of Christian art.

Instead, it takes key examples of the zeitgeist for Christian art - the Junius Bassus sarcophagus, for example, as an example of very early Christian art - and interprets them in their historical, cultural, and even Scriptural context.

For example, early Christian art tended to focus less on Christ Himself - for reasons explored in the book - than on scenes from the Hebrew Scriptures that seemed to exemplify the central salvation narrative of Christ's sacrifice.

So, for example, Daniel in the Lion's Den was not merely depicted for its own value, but because it was seen, typologically, as pre-figuring the salvific work of Christ on the cross.

The eras of art studied are Early Christian, Medieval and Byzantine, Renaissance, High Renaissance, The Northern Renaissance, Italy of the 16th and 17th centuries, and the Modern period.

Art from the eras tends to focus on the "Masters" of each genre - Fra Angelico, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Brugel the Elder, Durer, among others.

A prejudice of mine is that I do not care much for "modern period" art, so while I found the other chapters very interesting, the "modern period" did little for me. I am simply not attracted to the art (though Rouault, whom I'd not heard of before, is quite good). For someone interested in the Modernist art movement, it would no doubt hold far more interest.

Also, while there are many plates, none are in colour, which made me go to the Internet to search out and explore the coloured versions on my computer screen. The plates, while plentiful and generous, really needed to be in colour, in my estimation. Even with the Modernist works, the black and white versions are simply not nearly as good as a colour reproduction. Rouault's Head of Christ, for example, is much more striking in colour, to say nothing of Brugel the Elder's works, or the The Fall and Expulsion by Michelangelo.

A more accurate title would be "Masterpieces of Christian Art," because there is Christian art beyond the examples chosen. Nevertheless, worth a read for those curious about the subject, as it makes a good introduction, and is even interesting for topics one has little interest in (i.e. for me, the Modern period).