Early Jewish and Christian Art

Early Jewish artforms included frescoes, illuminated manuscripts and elaborate floor mosaics.

Early Christian, or Paleochristian, art was created by Christians or under Christian patronage throughout the second and third centuries.

After their persecution ended, Christians began to build larger edifices for worship than the meeting places they had been using.

Despite an early opposition to monumental sculpture, artists for the early Christian church in the West eventually began producing life-sized sculptures.