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34 EARLY CHRISTIAN ART. Chap. I. The great nave of S. Apollinare in classe either was never adorned with mosaics, or these have long since disappeared to make room for a series of portraits of dignitaries of the church of Ravenna. In the church of S. Apollinare Nuovo, on the con trary, the mosaics of the nave are preserved whilst those of the apsis and triumphal arch have disappeared. This basilica, originally built in the time of Theodoric and consecrated anew by the orthodox clergy of the exarch ate, appears to have received its final adornments in the reign of Justinian and under the auspices of Agnellus archbishop of Ravenna. Mosaic portraits of both those dignitaries were placed on the wall above the portal, and though one of these has disappeared, that of Justinian still remains and is now covered by the organ. It would be difficult to note any very marked difference between the mosaics that cover the three courses of the nave and those of other basilicas of Ravenna in the sixth century. The mosaists were still remarkable for judicious distri bution of space, yet in reference to each other the figures had hardly a bond of union; — being placed in rows without relation to their neighbours or to the general composition. But S. Apollinare Nuovo was remarkable in one sense, inasmuch as, in the numerous episodes of the life of the Saviour which filled the upper spaces of the nave a nearer approach was made to those scenes of the Redeemer’s life which are known as scenes of His Passion. As yet however the final and melancholy epi sode of the crucifixion had not been touched, and the scruples which restrained the clergy from representing that subject and others immediately connected with it were not removed till a later period. is half ruined and half restored, and part of S. Mathew and S. Luke are new. All these repairs are of various periods, the latest that of Battista Ricci, completed, as is vouched by an inscription behind the organ, on the 10 th of May 1816. Nor is it strange that repairs should be constantly ne cessary in a church the floors of which are green with damp and the crypt of which is constantly full of water.
