KEY Magazine Fort Worth

Picturing the Bible The Earliest Christian Art on View
at the Kimbell Art Museum November 18 - March 30, 2008

Click here for the cover story in PDF format.

The Kimbell Art Museum’s exhibition Picturing the Bible: The Earliest Christian Art, featuring works from the third to sixth century A.D. that illustrate Old and New Testaments themes, can be seen from November 18, 2007 through March 30, 2008.

No Christian images are known to date before the beginning of the third century A.D., however, by the early third century Christians began to use Old Testament motifs such as images of Abraham and Isaac, Jonah, and Daniel, as well as symbolic images, including the Good Shepherd and the fish, the latter an allusion to Jesus (“ichthys”), “fish” in Greek, an acrostic for Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior. By the fourth century, numerous illustrations of the New Testament were being created in a variety of media, including catacomb paintings, mosaics, sarcophagi, ivories, and probably Bibles, although none survived into the following century.

Picturing the Bible includes The Ascension, from the Rabbula Gospels, Syria, 586, the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenzianna, Florence; the Reliquary Cross of Justin II, the Byzantine emperor, 568-574, Treasury of Saint Peter’s, Vatican City; a Book Cover with Scenes from the Life of Jesus, Fabbrica del Duomo di Milano e del Museo del Duomo, Milan; Adam Naming the Animals, from an ivory diptych, Museo Nazionale del Bargello, Florence; an Ivory Plaque with Pilate Washing His Hands, Christ Bearing the Cross, and Peter Denying Christ, Rome, c. 420-430; and a Gold Glass Medallion with Bust of Christ, Rome late 4th century, from The Trustees of the British Museum, London, among many other treasures from around the world.

Another important reliquary comes from the Museo Diocesano of Milan. A rare silver reliquary, the Capsella of San Nazaro was discovered in 1578, when Saint Carlo Borromeo, the archbishop of Milan, ordered the exploration of the area beneath the high altar of the church of San Nazaro, the fourth-century Basilica Apostolorum.

Also crafted in silver are two plates depicting scenes from the life of David, on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Part of a series of nine plates, these silver objects were discovered in a collection in Cyprus in 1902.

This exhibition is the first major review of third- to sixth-century Christian art since The Age of Spirituality at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1977. Many important advances have been made in scholarship since that time.

Timothy Potts, former director of the Kimbell Art Museum and organizer of the exhibition, said: “The origins of Christianity have been a very active area of research in recent years from a variety of perspectives–historical, theological, and artistic. But there has never been an exhibition that brings this new evidence together, allowing visitors to see in the works of art themselves how and why a distinctively Christian visual artistic culture emerged.”

Developed and organized by the Kimbell, its exclusive venue, Picturing the Bible is guest-curated by Dr. Jeffrey Spier of the University of Arizona. The exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. Promotional support is provided by American Airlines, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and WFAA-TV (Channel 8).

An honorary international scientific committee, made up of scholars, clergy, and museum officials, has been assembled to consult on Picturing the Bible, including Sir John Boardman, Emeritus Lincoln Professor of Classical Archaeology, Oxford University; Professor Francesco Buranelli, Director General of the Vatican Museums, Vatican City; Professor Johannes G. Deckers, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich; Professor Robin Margaret Jensen, Vanderbilt University Divinity School, Nashville; Professor Herbert L. Kessler, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore; Mr. Neil MacGregor, Director, The British Museum, London; Dr. Timothy Potts, former Director, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth; Professor Gemma Sena Chiesa, Università degli Studi, Milan; and the Most Reverend Kevin W. Vann, Roman Catholic Bishop of Fort Worth.

An exhibition catalogue by guest curator Jeffrey Spier, published in association with Yale University Press, New Haven and London, features essays by Herbert Kessler, Robin Jensen, Steven Fine, Johannes Deckers, and Sister Mary Charles-Murray. The catalogue is available in the Exhibition Shop--hardcover, $65, and softcover, $40.

General admission to the exhibition is $14, $12 for seniors age 60+ and students with ID, and $10 for children between 6 and 11. Entry for children under 6 and Museum members is free. An Acoustiguide audio tour is included in the ticket price. Members may purchase an audio tour for $3. Admission prices are half-off on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Fridays from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. (not applicable for Member audio tours). 3333 Camp Bowie Blvd., 817-332-8451, www.kimbellart.org.

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