Volltext Seite (XML)
a fine cast of draperies the Roman antique. Both the figures are executed on the wall inside the portal of the church. The first, a female enveloped even to the head in purple drapery and wearing a stole with the cross upon it, has been much restored and is more modern in appearance than the second which is likewise a female in Roman purple and pointing with her right hand to a hook open in her left. 1 Amongs,t the remains of the same century at Rome are the mosaic decorations of the chapel annexed to the Bap tistery in S. Giovanni Laterano, the cupola of which is adorned with borders of tendrils on a blue ground with the lamb and four doves in the centre. If the mosaics of the arch of triumph in the basilica of S. Paolo fuori le Mura at Rome can be considered as the best example of the kind in the capital of the Popes during the papacy of the great Leo, they betray a speedier decline than that which is traceable in the painting of the same period. Classical still at Santa Maria Maggiore as regards distribution and type, mosaics ceased to possess those qualities in the latter end of the fifth century. The object of the artist seems to have been, to represent, under the superintendence of the clergy, merely the glorification of the Saviour. A colossal size was given to the Re deemer, that a fit idea of His grandeur and majesty might be imparted to the faithful; and the subordinate angels, apostles and prophets were placed in the order of the heavenly hierarchy in uniform rows above and without re ference to each other. Tint bust of the Saviour in S. Paolo is enclosed in a nimbus of vast diameter and rainbow These mosaics have also been damaged by time and by resto rers. Some 'have been patched together. Others are overpainted. In these the religious idea found no place. The Roman mosaist represented in animated and strik ing movement the battles of the Israelites as he would have re presented those of the legions of his country, and pretty much as the sculptor of Trajan’s column had depicted the victories of the Emperor over the Daci. 1 An inscription on the wall between these two figures would place their execution in the time of Pope Celestin A. D. 427. 432.