How does Early Christian and Byzantine portraiture represent both a continuation of and a break from the past? Look up the Fayum Portraits and the Ravenna Portrait of Justinian as a starting point for your thinking.
The early portraiture from the early Christians and Byzantines show a continuation from the past in different ways. One way is that many of these early portraits that we see today often depicted a person in a different event. This shows that the past can be seen in early portraits where a specific person was influenced by the event. The Ravenna Portrait of Justinian is a good example of how you can see emperor Justinian and the Bishop of Ravenna with other soldiers around him. This portrait represents the Roman Empire in the time of Justinian, which continues the past. The past is also continued by when artists used some of the materials that were sacred in making portraits back then. If there was a material that was important in making a portrait, we can see the material being used in the portrait, continuing the past materials used back then in today's world.
The early portraiture represents a break in the past in other ways, too. One way is that some of the portraits of early Christians and Byzantines were very abstract and focused more on the detail of the portrait. This shows that the detail in the painting often spoke louder than the meaning behind the portrait. Also, artwork at this time often was seen in great architectural buildings, so we can focus on the massive buildings of the time instead of the past events. So the artists at this time showed great detail in their portraits, but they also had a great story equal to the artwork depicted in the portrait.
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