Chap. I. EARLY MOSAICS AT RAVENNA. 31 saists of the fifth and sixth century at Eavenna might be watched, and it was possible to mark the decline from classic form, bold movement and splendid drapery to con ventionalism and immobility. The vaults of two arches which spanned the waggon roof of the Chapel were adorned with medallion busts of the Saviour in the centre and three similar busts of apostles at each side. Both heads of the Saviour (one near the door is now restored vertically to the extent of half of the figure) were of the same type and form as that of the apsis of S. Vitale. Of the busts representing male and female saints on blue ground on the archivolts and sides of the two windows the greater part are now repaired and repainted. 1 The symbols of the Evangelists in the ceiling near the door have so far shared the same fate that one of them, that of S. John with a human head, is entirely new and coloured, whilst the angels in the diagonals who support the central medallion con taining the monogram of Christ have all more or less under gone restoration also. The miserable state to which the mosaics of S. Apol- linare in classe near Ravenna have been reduced seems calculated to puzzle and deceive the spectator. 2 Yet in the midst of the ruins the Byzantine art peculiar to the first monument of the exarchate may still be traced. In some heads and figures the reminiscence of the old style is preserved, and a certain breadth of treatment may be conceded, whilst in one composition at least, that of Abel offering the firstling lamb before Melcliizedek, the conception recals a similar scene in S. Vitale. S. Apollinaris in Classe was built by the treasurer Julian in 534 and consecrated by Maximian archbishop of Eavenna in 549. The basilica was dedicated to S. Apollinaris and the figure of that saint occupied a splendid place in the 1 These saints, are, in one win dow SS. Sebastian, Fabian, Da mian , Cassian , Chrysogonus and Chrysanthus, in the other SS. Eufemia, Eugenia, Cecilia, Duria, Perpetua and Felicity. In the key of the arch of each window is the monogram of Christ. 2 A close inspection of the various figures and episodes which fill the apsis, the tribune and the arch of the tribune reveals not merely restoration on a large scale but repairs executed with mate rials unknown to the mosaist. A large part of the left side of the apsis is repainted on stucco; and the same may be said of most of the figures and inscriptions in the tribune and arch.