Chap. I. EARLY ROMAN MOSAICS. 13 features were quite in the antique style. The broad masses of light and shade the luminous and rosy flesh tones, where they are not marred by restoration, produce a good harmony, nor were the forms inclosed as yet in those dark outlines which marked the later progress of the decline. The scene of the Saviour’s glorification was not laid in heaven. The blue sky in which white clouds were de picted was adorned with the symbols of the cross and the four evangelists. A tapestry hung behind the Saviour; and buildings formed the background. The distribution of the space and the general array of the figures was not in ferior to nor essentially different from those of the pagan period. It must be repeated, the state of this mosaic is not such as to permit a fair and impartial judgment. 1 The mosaics of the arch of triumph and great aisle in Santa Maria Maggiore at Rome, executed in the middle of the fifth century, are more satisfactory, more interesting monuments of their time. They may be accepted as a convincing proof of the difficulty under which the mosaists laboured in the attempt to render scriptural subjects of which the typical compositions had not as yet been invented. So long indeed as the idea of a heavenly messenger had no other representative than the old Roman Victory so long as the saints of the bible were only conceived as prototypes of the deities of the pagans; and the Israelites of the old testament were confounded with the legionaries of the Caesars, so long was it impossible to give Christian art its fit character. 2 1 This mosaic has been repaired at different periods and some parts entirely removed. The head and figure which preserve their cha racter most completely are those of S. Pudenziana. That saint and S. Praxedis are represented hold ing crowns in their hands. The head of the Saviour is by no means exempt from restoring. The whole group to the right of the Saviour including the lower part of that figure is new. Though restored however this mosaic has the character, the costumes and the style of that of Santa Co stanza. 2 The arch of triumph in Santa Maria Maggiore is divided into three courses of mosaics in which scriptural subjects were repre sented without as yet any very distinct comprehension of time, place or fitness. In the upper ' course to the left, the Virgin j Mary, represented in Roman attire