1. Exploring Art:A Global,Thematic
Approach
Chapter 9
Mortality and Immortality

2. Early Tombs, Mounds and Mountains
Ancient burials
Furnished tombs
Development of cemeteries and grave
monuments: Christian burials; Islamic
mausoleums.
Reliquaries
Modern commemorative art: cemeteries;
memorial art and practices

3. Stonehenge—as well as—many ancient tombs is oriented to the movement of celestial
bodies.
Stonehenge—monolithic
rock structure

4. The earliest tombs were hill-shaped.
Newgrange, County Meath, Ireland, 3200 BCE

5. Egyptian Tombs & Mortuary Temples
From the Great Pyramids at Gizeh to hidden
mountainside chambers
Still pillaged by grave robbers
King Tutankhamen’s grave remained virtually
undisturbed until 1922
Decor included servant statues to help in the
afterlife
Wall painting adorned tomb walls
Fowling Scene, figure 10-4

6. Egyptians used the pyramid form to create the meeting place between life on earth and
eternity. The pharaohs were believed to be descendants of the most powerful god, Re the
Sun God.
PYRAMIDS AT GIZA,2525-2550 BCE

8. Fowling Scene, Thebes, Egypt, c.1400-1350
Wall painting from the tomb of Nebamun

9. Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, Deir el-Bahri, Egypt, c.1490 BCE

10. Etruscan Tombs were very much like houses.
The tombs chambers were carved directly out of soft bedrock
called tufa.
Buried their dead in earthen mounds
furnished for the afterlife
Around Cerveteri, a necropolis of earthen
mounds organized into “streets”
Tombs’ interiors simulate domestic interior
Indicate importance of sociability and the
pleasures of living
Tomb art
Banqueters and Musicians from the Tomb of the
Leopards.

11. Banqueters and Musicians. Mural painting from the Tomb of the Leopards. From a
cemetery near Tarquinia, Etruria (Italy), c. 480–470 BCE. Hirmer Fotoarchiv.

12. Sarcophagus with Reclining ouple, Etruria, c.420 BCE

13. Funeral Complex of Shi Huangdi
Shi Huangdi means “First Emperor”
Ying Cheng founded the Qin Dynasty in 221 BCE
Underground funeral palace
Discovered in 1974 as peasants dug for a well
Uncovered an army of more than 6,000 figures
Soldiers from Pit 1, figure 10-8
No two soldiers’ faces are alike

14. Soldiers from Pit 1, Shaanxi, China, 221-206 BCE painted ceramic; average figure
height, 5’9”

15. Royal Tombs of the Moche Civilization
Over 350 tombs discovered in Peru during
the 1980s and 90s
Contents of tombs varied widely
Indicated highly stratified society
Furnished tombs showed rank in society
Warrior priests had most elaborate tombs
Gold and silver used in symmetrical and
matching patterns

16. Peanut Necklace, Moche
Civilization, Peru, c. 300.
Gold and silver necklace
from the Royal Tomb of
Sipan, 20” diameter.
The peanuts may
symbolize ceremonial
food or a food of honor.
The Moche used gold
and silver symmetrically
—even some nose
plates are symmetrically
half gold and half silver

17. Viking Ship Burial
Tombs reflect importance of sea travel
to Viking civilization
Oseberg ship burial, excavated 1904 near
Oslo
Elaborately designed ship
Animal designs
Winding, inter-laced designs
Also seen in Viking jewelry

18. Viking Longship Oseberg
The word viking was introduced to the
English language with romantic
connotations in the 18th century.
In the current Scandinavian languages the
term viking is applied to the people
who went away on viking expeditions,
be it for raiding or trading.
The medieval Scandinavian population is
also referred to as Norse.
The curves of the ship culminate in tall
spiral posts…the forward one is
carved like a coiled snake.
Animal forms are interlaced in complex,
lace-like patterns.

19. Cemeteries and Grave Monuments
1st
millennium BCE transitioned from mound tombs
to other forms of funerary art and architecture
Ancient Greeks common monuments
(The ancient Greeks developed the earliest
commemorative funerary architecture in Europe and the
Middle East)
 Small columns supporting vases, urns, small statues
 Life-size freestanding figures of young men or women
 Relief carvings on stone slabs
 The Grave Stele of Hegeso
Early Romans
 Buried outside city walls
 Built tombs in several styles
Modern cemeteries developed in response to an increase in urban
populations and concerns about pollution and sanitation.

20. The New York Kouros at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art

21. Grave Stele of Hegeso, Athens,
Greece, c.410-400 BCE
Greek grave markers usually showed
quiet, everyday moments.

22. Vatican Museum: Funerary Relief w/ Circus Maximus, Trajanic or early Hadrianic

24. Burial in Places of Worship
Christian burials
No cremation so body could be resurrected
Catacombs (vast underground passages)
Used to bury martyrs, hide fugitives, worship
Christian status changed with Constantine
Legalized Christianity in 313 CE
Tombs became increasingly ornate
Baldacchino, figure 10-16

25. Mortuary chapel of The Good Shepherd, the story of Jonah, and orants, painted
ceiling of a cubiculum in the Catacomb of Saints Peter and Marcellinus, Rome,
Italy, early fourth century

26. Early Christians buried their dead in vast underground networks called Catacombs.

27. Detail, Christ Figure, Deësis Mosaic, mid-13th century, Hagia Sophia
Later Christian art became more formalize.
This is an example of a Byzantine icon.

28. In 313, under the emperor Constantine, Christianity became the official religion
of Rome. Old St. Peter's, Rome, c. 330, CE
St. Peter’s tomb lay in the ground—marked
by six twisting marble columns and four brass
candelabra, each 10’ tall and finished in silver.

30. Gianlorenzo Bernini.
Baldacchino (bronze canopy)
1624 - 33.
Gilt bronze (stripped from the Pantheon and
melted), height approx. 100’
What the Barbarians didn’t do the Barberini’s
did.

31. Westminster Abbey, is a large,
mainly Gothic church, in
Westminster, London, just to the
west of the Palace of
Westminster.
It is the traditional place of
coronation and burial site for
English, later British and later still
(and currently) monarchs of the
Commonwealth Realms.
It briefly held the status of a
cathedral from 1546–1556, and is
currently a Royal Peculiar.

32. Chapel of Henry VII, Westminster
Abbey, London 1503-19
Large chapel, almost a separate
church, on the back of London’s
Westminster Abbey.
The tomb established the abbey’s
fame, making it a destination for
pilgrims.

33. Islamic Mausoleums
Most famous Islamic mausoleum is the Taj
Mahal
Resting place of Murntaz Mahal, wife of Shah
Jahan, ruler of the Mughal Empire
Shows influences of many cultures
Afghanistan
Turkey
Iran
Indigenous India

34. Taj Mahal. Agra, India, 1632–1654.
Built by Shah Jahan, ruler of Mughal Empire in India to honor his wife.

35. Taj Mahal mosque.
The wealthy and powerful among islamic societies were sometimes buried in mausoleums adjoining
mosques.

36. Reliquaries
Small shrines housing pieces of clothing or
body parts of the dead
Popular during the Medieval period
Sculptural representation of revered body part
Reliquaries from Africa
Used in rituals to honor ancestors
Extremely influential in development of 20th
century Western art styles

37. A reliquary is a small shrine which contains the remains of a holy person.
Reliquary Arm. ca. 1230. Mosan.
Silver over oak; hand: bronze-
gilt; appliqué plaques: silver-gilt,
niello and cabochon stones;
25 1/2 x 6 1/2 x 4 in.
The Cloisters Collection

38. Modern Commemorative Art
Modern cemeteries
Severed link between religion and burial
Italian cemeteries organized in grids
Père Lachaise influenced by Romanticism
Forest Lawn, in Glendale, CA
Benevolent, non-denominational cemetery
Tombstones forbidden
Theme of “Great Art of Western Civilization”

39. Jim Morrison’s gravestone, Père Lachaise cemetery
Stone placed by his father 10 years later with Greek inscription
“true to his own spirit”

40. Michael Jackson's grave at Forest Lawn cemetery

41. Contemporary Memorial Art
Day of the Dead, Mexico
Mixture of Christian and Aztec beliefs
Parades and celebrations
Depicted in Diego Rivera’s series of murals, La Dia de los
Meurtos
 1923
 Shows urban observance of feast day
Rituals commemorate dead and serve social needs

42. DIEGO RIVERA.
Día de Los Muertos. Fresco.
Detail showing the city fiesta.
South wall, Court of the Fiestas,
Ministry of Education, Mexico
City, 1923.
Celebrated on November 2nd
similar to All Soul’s Day.

43. AIDS Memorial Quilt. Displayed on
the Mall in Washington, D.C.,
October 11, 1996.
Organized by the Names Project,
San Francisco
It changes every time it is
displayed.

44. The Tribute in Light is an art
installation of 88 searchlights
placed next to the site of the
World Trade Center to create
two vertical columns of light in
remembrance of the September
11 attacks.
It initially ran as a temporary
installation from March 11 to
April 14, 2002, and was
launched again in 2003 to mark
the second anniversary of the
attack.
It has been repeated every year
on September 11. The tribute
continued in 2008, but has not
been funded for future years.

48. Courtyard of the Great Mosque
Isfahan, Iran
11th to 17th centuries

49. Dome of the Shah Mosque
Isfahan, Iran
1611-1638

50. Mihrab from the Madrasa Imami
Isfahan, Iran
ca. 1354
glazed mosaic tilework
11 ft. 3 in. x 7 ft. 6 in.