Christian and Islamic art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Christian and Islamic art - Essay Example Though the traditions that make up the techniques and philosophy of Islamic artworks are derived from Islamic ideas, works categorised as Islamic art are not necessarily religious in their use or significance; it is often the case that the themes of these works are entirely secular in nature. CHRISTIAN ART is art that spans many segments of Christianity. For each religious sect, art mediums, style, and representations change; however, the unifying theme is ultimately the representation of the life and times of Jesus Christ and in some cases the Old Testament. Much of the art surviving from Europe after the fall of the Roman empire is Christian art. The religious hierarchy of the Catholic Church funded and supported production of sacred art. As a stable Western European society emerged during the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church led the way in terms of art, using its resources to commission paintings and sculptures. Christian art is found in architecture, principally in the form of churches, cathedrals, monasteries, tombs and manuscripts. Over the centuries, Christian art has had three primary purposes: Depicting the actual events of the Bible, depicting the events of the Christian life or communicating the message of Scripture in a visual form. Today’s Christian art is denoted by a combination of Biblical events and Scriptural truth. Traditional Christian art mediums include architecture, iconography, sculpture, wood carving, manuscript miniature, stained glass and oil on canvas. the Quran, or the Muslim holy book, which is written in Arabic. Another important characteristic is the covering of surfaces with patterns composed of geometric or vegetal elements. Figural imagery is also used widely in manuscript illustrations, though not in a religious context. Robert Irwin says optics, perspective, colour and geometry shed light on Islamic art, so also did astronomy and astrology. In most manuscript