ABSTRACT
The second commandment given to Moses forbade the making of images of any living thing, without specifying that this was meant only to apply to images in religious worship. In the Muslim world this prohibition was to be given its full force, and to make of Muslim art a rich exploration of pattern and design with the minimum of representation. Early Christian writers were cautious, but not always bound by the strictest interpretation of the commandment, which was taken to forbid idolatry rather than secular image-making. Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria disapproved of images altogether; others drew the line at images of Christ. Some of the early Christian rules may seem to exclude painters and sculptors from Church membership; but it may well be that these refer only to the makers of pagan pictures and images.
