Dogmatic Sarcophagus

The Dogmatic Sarcophagus, also known as the "Trinity Sarcophagus" is an early Christian sarcophagus dating to 320–350,^[2] now in the Vatican Museums (Vatican 104).^[3] It was discovered in the 19th century during rebuilding works at the basilica di San Paolo fuori le Mura, in Rome, Italy.

Together with the Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, it one of the most important examples of Christian-Roman sculpture of the Constantinian era. It draws its name from its clear references to the dogmas of the Council of Nicaea (325), in particular to Christ being consubstantial with God the Father, as shown (for example) by the scene of a figure with the appearance of Jesus between Adam and Eve, though whether the figure is to be understood as Christ or God the Father is less clear – the dogmatic point works either way.^[1]

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STEVEN ZUCKER: We're in St. Peter's Basilica, and we're looking at a famous early Christian sarcophagus. It's the tomb of Junius Bassus. Now it's a little complicated because what people generally see is the copy that the Vatican has in their museum. But we're in the Treasury, and this is the actual sarcophagus. BETH HARRIS: And so Junius Bassus was a Roman prefect in around the mid fourth century. STEVEN ZUCKER: Right. We know he had his position in 359. BETH HARRIS: So we're looking at a very early moment, soon after Constantine has made it legitimate to be a Christian in the Roman Empire. And Constantine is in the process of, in a way, making Christianity or leading toward Christianity becoming the official religion of the Roman Empire, which will happen in the end of the 300s. STEVEN ZUCKER: So this is an early example, then, of a kind of openness and really a magnificent rendering of the iconography of Christian tradition. BETH HARRIS: Right. And what's interesting is that it doesn't look the way that we expect to, in a way, because Christ is here in the center represented with probably Peter and Paul, or two figures on either side of him. STEVEN ZUCKER: It looks likely Peter and Paul, yes. BETH HARRIS: But he looks very useful, like the young philosopher-teacher. STEVEN ZUCKER: He's even holding a scroll in his hand. BETH HARRIS: And he's seated and frontal, though not entirely frontal. So I guess what I'm saying is that things that we normally associate with representations of Christ, where he looks like an emperor who's older, and he's got a beard-- here he's represented very youthful. Although he's seated and frontal, he does have a kind of naturalism and movement to his body. His left leg comes forward a little bit. His head is slightly turned. And he's got his foot above an image of a river god. STEVEN ZUCKER: Which is interesting because it shows Christianity surmounting the old polytheistic traditions of the ancient Romans. BETH HARRIS: Using the iconography of ancient Roman pagan art in a new Christian context. STEVEN ZUCKER: I really am interested by the point you made earlier about Christ not fulfilling the physical attributes that we come to expect. And this is so early that, in a sense, those traditions hadn't yet developed. BETH HARRIS: Exactly. STEVEN ZUCKER: They hadn't yet been really constructed and accepted. So this is a very flexible moment. BETH HARRIS: Right. That iconography is being developed. And here, he looks much more like a pagan figure, in a way. STEVEN ZUCKER: That's certainly true because of the classical garb that he wears. And it's interesting stylistically because this sculpture is really showing a pretty high-pitched naturalism in terms of the rendering of the bodies, the contrapposto that we see the figures standing in, and even some of the sort of emotional attributes of figures. BETH HARRIS: There is a kind of naturalism, although we see the beginnings of a kind of early Christian style. There are some hints of what's to come. The heads are a little bit too large for the bodies. The bodies are starting to be a little bit on the stubby side. So it's a very interesting transitional moment. STEVEN ZUCKER: We see some other scenes from the Bible. And we're seeing early expressions of it here, but these are ways of representing the scenes that will become very familiar to us. BETH HARRIS: So we have Adam and Eve on the lower register. STEVEN ZUCKER: Right. BETH HARRIS: And also other Old Testament scenes that would have prefigured the events in Christ's life. Right. So that idea of saying that events in the Old Testament, such as the sacrifice of Isaac, prefigured Christ's own sacrifice for the salvation of mankind, so that way of saying that Christ's life is a fulfillment of the prophecy and the events of the Old Testament. STEVEN ZUCKER: What we're witnessing here is the invention of a new iconography. This Is the invention of a new visual language for the telling of this critical stories. BETH HARRIS: What I'm also noticing is just how deeply carved it is. It is essentially a relief sculpture. But the figures are in very, very high relief. Some of them seem to be entirely separate from the marble ground. And I love these columns with capitals and bringing together of the classical and the beginnings of the Christian.

Description

The front face is split into two registers, typical of the style of the time, with Old Testament and New Testament subjects and a central shell-shaped clipeus containing the portraits of the dead couple, embraced and wearing marital clothes typical of the 4th century (tunica manicata, dalmatina and toga contabulata by the man, who holds a rotulus in his hand, and tunic and palla by the woman). The heads are basic types, showing there was either no desire or not enough time to personalize the sarcophagus.

In the upper register are five episodes, two from the book of Genesis and three miracles of Christ:

Three similar bearded figures representing the Trinity, the middle enthroned representing God the Father, creating Eve from the rib of Adam, who lies on the ground.^[1]
A younger, beardless, figure with the conventional appearance of Christ between Adam and Eve, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
Marriage at Cana
Multiplication of the loaves
Resurrection of Lazarus

In the lower register are six scenes, one linked to Christ's birth, two to the Bible and three to St Peter:

Adoration of the Magi, with an enthroned Virgin and Child, and with Magi in oriental dress and Phrygian caps, and with Balaam behind the throne
Healing the blind
Daniel in the lions' den
Habbakuk with the basket of loaves and the angel
Peter denying Christ, with the crowing cockerel from the Gospel account
Peter's arrest, by two soldiers wearing Pannonian caps
Moses or Peter creating a spring of water in the presence of a centurion (with the latter wearing typical 4th century military dress)

The sarcophagus can be dated to between 330 and 340 due to the male hairstyles (apart from those of Christ and Peter), the squat square figures and the lack of calligraphic detail. There are echoes of the previous "plebeian" official art, which has led some to suggest that the sarcophagus is from the same workshop that produced and amended the reliefs for the Arch of Constantine (dedicated in 315).

Iconography

The account in Genesis naturally credits the Creation to the single figure of God, in Christian terms, God the Father. However the first person plural in Genesis 1:26 "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness", and New Testament references to Christ as creator (John 1:3, Colossians 1:15) led Early Christian writers to associate the Creation with the Logos, or pre-existing Christ.

A number of other sarcophagi, most conveniently collected in the same Vatican collection as the Dogmatic Sarcophagus, also show groups of three figures usually interpreted as representing the Trinity in scenes from Genesis. Sometimes one figure is beardless, while the other two are bearded.^[4] Given the funerary context, and that adjacent scenes often show New Testament miracles, including the Raising of Lazarus, the emphasis of these scenes may relate as much to the overcoming of sin and hope of new life as the Fall of Man.^[5]

Christ was compared to Adam in Romans 5:14–21, and was sometimes called the "new Adam", especially in connection with baptism (at this period catechumens were apparently naked when this was administered). This may also be referred to in the second scene, or the central figure may represent the Divine Logos, who is also shown with the appearance of Jesus.^[6] The scene represents the "division of labours" between Adam and Eve; the central figure holds a sheaf of corn in one hand and a dead hare (in another Vatican example a lamb) in the other,^[7] although one might expect hunting hares to be Adam's task and agriculture Eve's, rather than the opposite as the sarcophagus seems to suggest.

Adam and Eve also functioned as typological forerunners of Jesus and Mary, and the Tree of Knowledge of the Cross of the Crucifixion. In addition they represented faithfulness in marriage, and scenes of them between the Logos are interpreted by some as representing their marriage ceremony, suitable for the sarcophagus of a married couple.^[8]

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c Milburn, Robert (1991). Early Christian Art and Architecture. University of California Press. p. 68. ISBN 0-520-07412-2.
^ Various scholars give narrower ranges, but the great majority of dates given fall within this range
^ There is another "Trinity Sarcophagus" at Arles, alsao with a three-figure Trinity.
^ Jensen 2003, Figs 5–11.
^ Jensen 2003, p. 37–38.
^ Jensen 2003, p. 27-29.
^ Jensen 2003, p. 33.
^ Jensen 2003, p. 47-52.

References

(in Italian) Ranuccio Bianchi Bandinelli and Mario Torelli, L'arte dell'antichità classica, Etruria-Roma, Utet, Turin 1976.
Jensen, Robin M. (2003). "Interpreting Christian art: Reflections on Christian art". In Hornik, Heidi J.; Parsons, Mikeal Carl (eds.). The Fall and Rise of Adam and Eve in Early Christian Art and Literature. Mercer University Press. ISBN 0-86554-850-1.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dogmatic sarcophagus.

Image of front of sarcophagus

This page was last edited on 13 January 2024, at 20:06

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