Saint James The Lesser: Religious Art Analysis

Throughout history many artists have portrayed their faith in religious icons as an expression of devotion as well as showing of their own talents. Religious images from Constantine’s reign of Rome onward till the 1400s had no realistic qualities. Using Saint James the Lesser, Compared to; God as the Creator of the World, both as examples of Religious images that are separated by time and skill. Although God as the Creator of the World was created only 200 years prior the differences in color, style, and form are great while still having similarities in the structure. Before the reign of Constantine in Rome in early 300 C.E. Tributes to the pagan Gods were crafted by artisans in their professions. Greek statues were full of detail, scale and

God as the Creator of the World created in France in CA 1220-1230 CE, was created 1100 years after Christianity was legalized and began to grow expeditiously. Garnished with gold leaf on pristine vellum paper, crafted to show the faith to their god by placing the image within a bible to be seen by all the followers. Although this page is praised as a religious relic and artwork the amount of detail that was placed within it is lacking compared to that of ancient pagan cultures and more modern art. When comparing God the Creator of the world with Saint James the Lesser a sever lack of fine details can be seen. While both images do have shadows and highlights within the drapery that the individual subjects are wearing, the drapery on God as the Creator of the World is still shallow, lacking depth, A sense of where the light is coming from, as

While the page from the bible denotes God himself the painting shows Saint James a Virtuous follower of the Christian faith. The use of threes and forming a trinity in the composition of the images is noticeable with both artist utilizing highlighted objects and natural eye movement to portray this imagery. A style that has been introduced into the imagery is from ancient Greece sculptures, having the subject appear to leave the frame towards the viewer. By being able to show a subject leaving the frame it gives a sense of the third dimension and that there is more to the image then just what is framed. The facial expressions on each subject are stern and focused compared to the start of Christian art, where the subjects would be displayed more joyous, while also having less Hair and clean shaven. This is based from the Roman Statues of the Pagan god Apollo. With the similarities between both images showing that some concepts in composition can continue through the