ART 263 / MAN 263
The Business of Art

Church Patronage
Part III

The Age of Constantine the Great
(reigned AD 306-337)

The Roman Emperor, Constantine the  Great, (note the Portrait of Constantine from the Basilica Nova, Rome, Italy c. A.D. 315-330) took hold of an empire with many problems, including barbarians chipping away at Rome’s borders, the Western half of the empire slipping into decline, and many Roman citizens not following the official state (pagan) religion. Constantine did several things to stabilize the empire militarily, economically and artistically.

1. To move the Roman capital to the economically more stable East, to a city
           which was named Byzantium, and renamed it Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul)
2. To convert to the Christian religion and make Christianity the new official Roman religion.
   

 In Rome, Constantine wanted to promote the idea that
he was like Augustus Caesar (the first Roman emperor), who was good, and commissioned many public works. Along with many secular buildings, including baths, courts (note the Basilica of Constantine Rome, Italy c. A.D. 310-320 shown to the right), and a triumphal arch (A.D. 312-315 shown to the left).  Constantine was the patron of the city of Rome’s first churches, including St. Peter’s.

St. Peter’s may have been begun as early as 319. It was situated on a spot on the West side of the Tiber River, over what was believed to be St. Peter’s grave (note the drawing of the cemetery from the old basilica of St. Peter's in Rome, Italy shown to the left.)  The floor plan was based on that of a Roman basilica. Roman basilicas were court buildings with a semi-circular apse at each end where court cases were tried, a large central area and side aisles (note the basilica plan from the Forum of Trajan c. A.D. 112, Rome, Italy shown to the right). Old St. Peter’s and other early Christian churches adopted the basilica plan because it could accommodate large numbers of people (St. Peter’s could hold 3,000-4,000 people), had a long central aisle for processions, and the apse at the Eastern end was a good place for an altar. The Western apse was abandoned and an atrium put in its place. The diagram below depicts the plan of the old St. Peter's basilica c. A.D. 325, Rome, Italy).

Old St. Peter’s was a very expensive project. Constantine saw himself as both Roman Emperor and Champion of Christianity, and expended Imperial funds to solidify the new religion. Old St. Peter’s had a 300 foot long narrow central aisle flanked by four side aisles. Over St. Peter’s tomb was a grand canopy on 4 curving columns called a baldachin, to mark the spot of honor (note the baldacchino pictured at the right by Gianlorenzo Bernini, 1624-1633, approx. 100' high in the new St. Peter's basilica in Rome, Italy). The exterior of old St. Peter’s was plain, but the interior was covered with colorful fresco paintings and mosaics. There were grand marble columns, massive chandeliers, gold, silver and jeweled ornaments. It was likened to the ideal Christian--plain outside with a beautiful soul inside.

Here is a picture of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, a fifth century basilica, which may give some small idea of what Old St. Peter’s may have looked like.   At the time of the sack of Rome in 410 St. Peter’s was spared, and spared again in the sack of 455. By this time, Constantinople was flourishing, and Old Rome was on despair. Over the centuries many Popes tried to keep St. Peter’s in repair. The Bubonic Plague, which struck Europe in 1348 and killed as much as half of the population, caused people to abandon overpopulated Rome for Avignon , France. When Pope Urban V returned to Rome in the latter half of the fourteenth century, he found St. Peter’s in disrepair, with cows grazing inside. By 1420 St. Peter’s was tumbling into ruin.

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