Early christian art

A term to describe art, it was used to make the distinction of Christian Art from Byzantine Art. The focus was on the message rather than the creative abilities of the artists, which has led many critics to regard the expression as inferior to the Classicism of its predecessors. Early Christian Art had its own iconography. Its sculptors were were known for their elaborately carved sargophagi and ivories, and the two-dimensional artists did paintings in catacombs, mosaics and manuscript illuminations. Source: Kimberley Reynolds and Richard Seddon, "Illustrated Dictionary of Art Terms"