italianartsociety:ByJean Marie CareyOn 29 October 312, Constantinethe Great entered Rome after his v
italianartsociety:ByJean Marie CareyOn 29 October 312, Constantinethe Great entered Rome after his victory at the Battleof the Milvian Bridge. Constantinewas met with popular jubilaition and a grand adventus was held in the city. Thebody of the defeated Maxentius was fished out of the Tiber and posthumouslybeheaded.Constantine succeeded hisfather Constantinus Chlorus (293-306) as co-emperor in 306. With the defeat of hislongtime rival Maxentius he became sole ruler in the West. In 313, withLicinius (307–24), the Eastern Emperor, he published the Edict of Milan, whichopenly favored Christianity. Constantine defeated Licinius at the Battle of Chrysopolisin 324 and united the Empire under his control. Artistic and literary sourcesduring his reign show an imperial policy dominated by the newly authorizedreligion, and new artistic values gradually transformed public art into a morefully recognizable Christian form. Constantine believed that his militarysuccesses were attributable to the Christian God, whose sign of the Cross hadappeared to him, superimposed on the sun, at the Milvian Bridge. In the finalbattle he ordered the monogram of Christ to be painted on his soldiers’shields, thus establishing the cross and the chi-rho in later iconography. Hisvictory was commemorated in 315 with the construction of a triumphal arch inthe Roman Forum.Constantinewas a patron mainly of architecture, particularly of churches. His mostimportant undertaking was the foundation of a new capital, Constantinople (now Istanbul),which was begun in 324 and dedicated in 330. Many of the traditional featuresof Rome were reproduced, including a central forum, a senate house, an imperialpalace and a main street, called the Mese. The churches sponsored byConstantine outside Constantinople included both martyria and city cathedrals.Among the former was the basilica of Old St Peter’s, which was built to housethe Apostle’s shrine and serve as a funeral hall. Two of the best-knowncathedrals founded by the Emperor are the Basilica Constantiniana, now thebasilica of S Giovanni in Laterano, and the double cathedral of Trier, Germany.An innovation of the period was the frieze sarcophagus, which had a forerunnerin the Etruscan burial tradition.Piero dellaFrancesca’s Constantine’s Dream, part of the frescocycle of the Legend of the True Cross (c. 1452–66; Arezzo) is an embellishmentof the legend of Constantine’s vision at the Milvian Bridge.The 29thof October was a significant date in other ways for Roman Byzantium. In 437, Valentinian III, Western Roman Emperor, married LiciniaEudoxia, daughter of his cousin Theodosius II, Eastern Roman Emperor in Constantinople, unifyingthe two branches of the House ofTheodosius. In 969 Byzantinetroops overran and occupied Antioch, then part of Syria. Its ruins are now partof southern Turkey.Reference: “Constantinethe Great.” In The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art andArchitecture. Oxford University Press, 2012.http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195395365.001.0001/acref-9780195395365-e-620.Roman Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine (Basilica Nova), 306-312 Photo: Loren Partridge.Roman early Christian Mosaic (detail), c 400. The Archive for Research on Archetypal Symbolism, Nr. 28508.Red porphyry sarcophagus of Constantina, daughter of Constantine the Great, c. 400. Rome, The Vatican Museum, Nr. 5Ac.006c. Found at Gunderstrup, Jutland, Denmark, 1891.Gold fragment of a Cruciform Fibula inscribed with the Name of Emperor Constantine the Great (Elément de fibule cruciforme célébrant le dixième anniversaire de règne de l'empereur Constantin en 315 après J.-C.), 315. Musée du Louvre/Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Nr. BJ 947. Photographer: Hervé Lewandowski.Constantine’s Column, erected ca. 330. Istanbul, Turkey. The column commemorates the declaration of Byzantium (Nova Roma) as the new capital cityof the Roman Empire. The column is located on Yeniceriler Caddesi in centralIstanbul, between Sultanahmet and Beyazit Square. Shmuel Magal, Sites andPhotos.Coin Showing Emperor Constantine the Great and Constantineon Horseback, c. 324-325. The Art Institute of Chicago, Nr. AIC_.1922.4903Pierodella Francesca, Legend of the TrueCross: Constantine’s Dream, c. 1452. Church of San Francesco – Arezzo.Further Reading: Elizabeth Hartley. Constantine the Great:York’s Roman Emperor. York: York Museums and Gallery Trust, 2006. -- source link