Art history Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Art history - Essay Example visually appears the same as buon fresco, the pigments simply adhere to the surface since they are not absorbed into the wall; hence fresco secco does not have buon secco’s longevity (Gardner et al: 410). â€Å"This mural painting is among the greatest twelfth century European paintings in the United States†(MFA1, 2008). Earlier it had decorated the apse or semicircular area behind the altar of the monastery church of Santa Maria de Mur, in the foothills of the Spanish Pyrenees. The large-eyed, solemn figure of Christ, dominates the composition. He holds a book on which is inscribed reinforcing passages relating to Christ’s centralization in Christian art and doctrine, which states: â€Å"I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man cometh into the Father but by me†. All four Evangelists, who are authors of the New Testament Gospels, surround Christ. The fresco’s lower tiers contain the twelve Apostles, the original followers of Christ, and scenes from the Bible. The formality, symmetry and positioning of the figures are Byzantine, but the Spanish artist substituted Byzantine mosaic in favor of direct painting on plaster coated walls. The iconographic scheme in the semi-dome of the apse is more closely related to those of the Romanesque Church portals of France. In the fresco, Christ in a star-strewn Mandorla is flanked by the signs of the four Evangelists, which is the apocalypse theme that greatly fascinated the Romanesque imagination. Seven lamps between Christ and the Evangelist signs symbolize the seven Christian communities where St.John addressed his revelation, the Apocalypse, at the beginning of his book. Below, the apostles stand in pairs, adding to the formality of the composition. The main figures are presented with partitioning of the drapery into volumes, made to look tubular by local shading. The painter stiffened the irregular shapes of actual cloth into geometric patterns. The effect overall is one of simple, strong, and str aightforward