Medieval Naturalism

Early versus Late medieval times Christian Art

In order to illustrate the return of naturalism from the early to late medieval periods I will be using the artworks entitled The Miracle of the Loaves and the Fishes by Church of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo created in the 6th century and the piece God as architect of the world, by French Master in 1220 A.D. The first artwork will show the use of the philosophical meaning of Supernaturalism as well as the artistic definition through the use of symbols and background information on the scene depicted in the portrait. The other piece of art will illustrate naturalism through the object choices and the interpretation of those choices. Nonetheless, both of these pieces are showing the omnipotence of God
through different lenses.

The Christian art from the early medieval times shows the supernaturalism of God through the use of symbols and choice of scripture. The scene depicted is from Mathew 14: 13-21 of the bible where God turn 2 fish and 5 pieces of bread to feed multiple people. When using the website titled Christian symbols, shows that bread symbolizes life. Therefore, when God is touching the bread and multiply it for everyone it represents him being the giver of life. The presence of fish in the picture has represented many when spelled in Greek. It means Savior, God, and son. Depicting God as the ultimate savior and Lord of the world, he the Lord of everyone even though he is one person. The artist himself use of only the information available in the bible praises the Lord's name. He shows God using nothing but his hands to touch the fish and bread showing that the power is coming from him alone. The artist name the artwork , The miracle of the loaves and fish, within the title the author is already showing the uncomprehending able capability of God through the word miracle, due to the fact that the word miracle is usually associated with things that cannot be proven or explained by science.

God as the architect of the world is the other piece of art that also demonstrate the great capacity of God but in a naturalist way.
The picture depicts God creating the universe. Nonetheless, God is using a compass to help him trace it. In the philosophical sense of naturalism, God uses a compass, which shows that the author is using a manmade object to assist God in order to illustrate his point. The Authors choice of the title also shows the naturalism in the word choice architect. An architect is someone “who designs buildings and in many cases also supervises their construction” according to murrain dictionary. Anyone who studies and put their mind to it can become one, which again shows the artist naturalism by placing God in a limited human form. The use of the Halo also shows the naturalism, in that the halo was used in order to show the divinity of that person which in this case is God. The picture depicts God working on a project. The work put depicts God as a human doing extraordinary things through manmade object and philosophy such as a compass and the knowledge of architecture. The pieces are different when it comes to the author's choice of title, and
symbols.

On the other hand, both artworks seem to have been doing the same thing and that demonstrates the omnipotence of God.
The first picture shows God using the power from him to multiply the bread, while the other shows God creating the entire universe using as much precision as possible. In order for the later artist to help the audience understand the scene, he had to use naturalism. Through the use of the Compass, the viewers were able to understand precision and relate to the idea due to their knowledge and experience with the compass. The earlier artist didn’t feel the need to understand in detail the power of God, but the only trust in God obey. The reason for naturalism was probably due to the lack of faith and trust for knowledge and understanding at that time. Though the interpretation and route to faith were different both artworks were praising God
omnipotence,

All these evidence, support that the early medieval time artwork where based on supernaturalism due to the lack or need for education and the great availability of faith. While the late medieval artwork had naturalism due to the interpretation and the need to make the other people understand. However, both of the pieces undeniably are a form of praise to God. Though one is more evolved than the other. They are both Christian artwork that is serve as a way of praising God.