The Art of Ravenna in Late Antiquity Author(s): Stuart Cristo Source: The Classical Journal, Vol. 70, No.

3 (Feb. - Mar., 1975), pp. 17-29 Published by: The Classical Association of the Middle West and South Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3296444 . Accessed: 04/09/2013 17:10
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THE ART OF RAVENNA IN LATE ANTIQUITY The invasionof Alaric and the sack of Rome in A.D. 410 was to the ancientworld a calamityof cosmic significance, fulfilmentof the forethat the and literature of late art give bodings antiquitytheir somber City of God, writtenshortlyafter the fall of the quality. St. Augustine's city, was designedto reassurethe moraleof Mediterranean Christianity, shaken by this visitation of the wrath of God. Honorius Augustus, worthlessson and successorof the greatTheodosius,took his frightened person and the shatteredremnantsof imperialdignity into refuge at Ravenna,behindthe bulwarkof its marshesand withinreach of escape throughits seaportof Classis. The role of Rome as politicalcenter of the WesternEmpire was definitelyclosed by the catastropheof 410, howevermuch its prestigeas focus of Latin Christendom was thereby increased. eventually The recedingwave of Visigothic invasion, as the raiderspassed on into southernGaul and Spain to found there their surprisingly civilized state, left behind it definiteconfirmationof the shift of political and culturalgravityto the north. This began in the fourthcenturywith the location of the de facto Westerncapitalat Milan and its transference in the fifth to Ravenna. Anotheraspectof it was the widespread influence of the MilaneseChurchand liturgyand still anotherthe Gallic renaissanceof Latinliterature marked by suchnamesas Ausoniusand Sidonius Apollinaris. The troublesof Italy during the rest of the fifth century enhancedratherthan diminished of Ravenna,and it was the importance the fall of that city to Theodoricin 493 which closed the career of Odoacerand markedthe real end of the WesternEmpire. Capitalof the Ostrogothic Kingdom,Ravennaremainedthe residence of the exarchwho represented imperialpower in Italy after the Byzantine reconquest, and lost its importance commercially only by the gradual silting-upof its harborof Classis,and politicallyonly with the donation of the Adriaticmarchesto the Holy See by Pepin in the middle of the eighth century. Ravennain the fifth centurywas thus at once an emporium of Orientaltrade like Marseillesin Gaul and, in its role of capital city, the dispenserof artistic fashion. By way of its eastern trade and throughthe Syrianclergy, who formed so remarkably large an elementin its ecclesiasticalpolity,1came the Greco-Asiaticnotions
1Agnellus in his history of the bishops of Ravenna tells us that up to and including Peter I (396-425), they were all of Syrian origin. Cf. Agnellus, Liber Pontificalis, ed. J. P. Migne, Patrologiae cursus completus, series latina, CVI, p. 513. The well-known passage in a letter of Sidonius Apollinaris concerning Ravenna (faeneranturclerici, Syri psallunt: "Clericspractice usury and Syrians sing the psalms") is not to be taken too seriously in view of the banter of which the letter is composed. Cf. Sidonius Apollinaris, Epistulae, ed. W. B. Anderson,

17

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whichwere so effectivein regenerating the Latin style of northernItaly and Gaul.2 The brevityof its careeras an imperialcity and commercial centerand the unusualpreservation whichit acquired of the monuments duringits leadingrole on the stageof historymakeit a veritablemuseum of the art of late antiquity,an early medievalPompeii. Its series of mosaicsmay open with the cupola of the baptistery(S. Giovanniin Fonte), decoratedby the bishopNeon in the middleof the fifth century,and displaying the Baptismof Jesus in the centraltondo, aroundwhich march the twelve Apostles in procession,led by Peter and Paul. In the thirdand lowest zone, the Asiatic schemeof an architecturalfriezeis adopted,as at St. Georgeof Salonica,but with symbolic intent: the four gospels are picturedas four books, each inscribedwith four episcopalthronesas the significant motifs of the frieze. Altar and cathedraconvey the conceptof the inspiredgovernment of the Church, since the bishop'schair as the seat of the Holy Spiritis no strangerto early Christian imagery,and only a variantof the more esotericnotion of the Throneof God embodiedin the well-known type of the Etimasia.' The firstappearance of this profoundly significant type is upon the arch of S. Maria Maggioreat Rome, where a cross is set upon the throne, which is surrounded by the figures of Peter and Paul and the four Evangelistic symbols; in a lunettemosaic of S. Priscoin CapuaVetere, also of the fifth century,the throneis flankedby the Dove of the Holy Spirit. In both these last two examplesthe book of seven seals lies on the throne, thus indicating,togetherwith the beasts, the apocalyptic set in heaven"of the fourthchapsourceof the symbol: it is the "throne ter of Revelation.' Restorationhas substituteda cross for the pedum (the shepherd's crook) held by the Baptistin the Baptismof Ravennamosaic, and is probablyalso responsiblefor the beardedJesus; in the original state the scene was a developed form of the baptisms of the Italo-Gallic sarcophagiand ivories, adding the oriental features of the river-god. to this type in the detailsof the exomisor sleeveThe mosaicconformed less tunicwornby John, and the pedumhe carried.5We can restorethe by an apparentreplicaof this tondo in its original originalappearance state which decoratesthe centerof the Arian Baptistery's cupola of the time of Theodoric,whereinthe Baptist'sexomis is renderedas made of skins, the Savior is beardless,and John carries the pedum. Here the of altarand cathedrais omitted,the sense of it besymbolicalternation
Sidonius: Poems and Letters (Cambridge, Mass., 1936), p. 380. Cf. also L. Br6hier, "Les colonies d'orientaux en Occident," Byzantinische Zeitschrift 12 (1903), 9 ff. 2W. Volbach and M. Hirmer, Early ChristianArt (New York, 1961), p. 27. 3S. Kostof, Orthodox Baptistry of Ravenna (New Haven and London, 1965), p. 33. 4Ibid.,pp. 34-35. 50. Demus, Byzantine Mosaic Decoration (London, 1941), pp. 69-70. Cf. Kostof, p. 36.

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in the thronesurmounted ing concentrated by a cross (as in S. Maria toward which the two files of six Apostles direct their steps Maggiore) and offer their wreaths. The acanthuscandelabrawhich separatethe figuresin S. Giovanniin Fonte are here replacedby palm trees, bringing the whole compositioninto similaritywith the same scene on the Pola casket, and indicatingagain the connectionof Ravennateart with the school." Italo-Gallic Such compositions, especially the mystic association of altar and cathedrain the lower zone of the Orthodoxcupola, reflecta period of fairlyfree symbolismduringa time when Christian dogmawas still very much in debate, and before its tenets had reacheda fixed and unalterable embodiment in art. The fluid state of theologicalthinkingexplains the difficultyone encountersin attemptingan explanationof the arch of S. MariaMaggiore,and the curiousmodifications whichwere wrought in the Septuagint traditionby the mosaicsof its nave.7 It is to such untrammeled inventionthat we owe the loveliest of the Ravennamosaics which decoratethe little cruciformstructureknown as the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia (c. 450), an accessory originallyof the basilica of S. Croce whose remains are seen beside it, and probablymeant as a burialchamberfor membersof the imperialfamily. The vaults of the east and west armsof the cross, with theirpatternof rosettesand stars, are perhapsthe firstmosaicsof the Westto seek the effectof a tapestried wall." The other tunnel vaults retain the currentfashion of acanthus scrolls, while the pendentivevault in the center suggestsheaven with a blue field dotted with stars and containingthe four Evangelist-symbols a centralcross. The lunettesof the centralvault have each surrounding a pair of apostles flankingthe four windows, below which is the old Hellenisticmotif of a pair of doves beside a vase or drinkingfrom it, the whole compositioncrownedby a conch of Latin form, terminating of such conches in the eagle's head which is a frequentembellishment on the Gallic columnarsarcophagi.'The lunetteterminating the eastern arm containingthe martyrdom of St. Lawrenceis identifiedonly by the flaminggridironset below the window,for no specificrenderingof the episode is attempted."'A bookcase in which we see the four gospels
6Demus, p. 72. Cf. D. T. Rice, The Art of Byzantium (New York, 1959), p 28. 8Ibid.,p. 39. "The remaining apostles decorate the lateral vaults, above lunettes showing stags approachinga fountain. Cf. Kostof, p. 40. 1'The most scholarly treatmentsof this mosaic are by W Seston, "Le Jugement Dernier au Mausol6e de Galla Placidia 'a Ravenne," Cahiers Arche'ologiquesI (1945), 37 ff; and P. Courcelle, "Le Gril de Saint-Laurentau Mausolhe de Galla Placidia," Cahiers ArchdologiquesIII (1948), 28 ff. The first article endeavors to prove that "Saint Lawrence" is Jesus in his Second Coming, the grille being the "altar of Holocaust" of Exodus XXVI on which on the Last Day the unregenerate will be consumed. This thesis, partly based on an assumption of a fourth century date for the silver casket of S. Nazaro in Milan (which is much more likely of the sixteenth century; cf. Demus, p. 73, and Kostof, p. 41.) is

7Kostof, p. 38.

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duly inscribedpresentsthe source of the martyr'sinspiration,and the saint himself marchestriumphantly toward his martyrdom, bearing a cross and holdingthe open book of Scripture in his hand. To enliven his motion,his palliumis floatingout in long lateralsashes which proof the Hellenisticflying fold-a feaduce a symmetrical mistranslation ture characteristic of Ravennateart in the fifth century. It is especially markedin the figuresof prophetsand apostleswho stand in the sixteen niches of the OrthodoxBaptisteryas part of the peculiardecorationin stucco relief which decoratesthe window-zoneof this building."1 Opover the entrancedoor, of a martyrdom, posite this originalrendering is the famous Good Shepherd,seated in the remnantsof a Latin landrobes, nimbed,and holding scape amidhis flock but dressedin patrician aloft a cross.One needonly comparethisfigurewiththe Good Shepherds of the catacombsor the well-knownstatuettesof the same theme, to measure the Christianshift from Hellenistic naturalism,wherein the of the physical,to an arbitrary rearrangement allegorynevertranscends naturein the interestof transcendental truth.12 The compositionof the centralvault finds somewhatof a parallelin the ceiling of the vestibuleof the chapel in the archiepiscopal palace at the Here the sixth of in executed the Ravenna, century. early years the monoof form the the cross is taken of central by peculiar place gram *, which was a Greek importmet with on the RavennatesarcoIt is inclosedwithina medallionsurrounded by the four Beasts, phagi."3 and upheldby four angelswhose figuresrise from the cornersand reproduce the Victories that supportedthe portraitsof the deceased in the undertombof Palmyra--even to the globes on which they stood previousto restoration.The archesbearingthe vault have their soffits decoratedalso with mosaic: on two sides the apex of the arch contains a medallionportraitof a beardlessJesus with long hair falling on his shoulders--the Asia Minor portraitreproducedin the frontispieceof Art here assumesthe formthat was lateradoptMorey'sEarlyChristian illumination."' On eitherside of earlyCarolingian ed by the miniaturists
refuted by Courcelle who brings new textual evidence in support of the grille as the instrumentof Lawrence'smartyrdom and the traditional interpretationof the mosaic. "A. Colasanti,L'Art byzantin en Italie I (Paris, 1926), pls. II and V; L. W. Jones and C. R. Morey, The Miniaturesof the Manuscriptsof Terence II (Princeton, 1932), p. 116. The most satisfactory publication and reproduction of the mosaics of Ravenna are to be found in the text and plates of C. Ricci, Monumenti: Tavole storiche dei mosaici di Ravenna (Rome, 1930). A somewhat more convenient collection of plates is that in G. Galassi, Roma o Bisanzio (Rome, 1930). 12Forthe type of the Good Shepherd, cf. R. Dussaud, Revue archdologique70 (1903), 378. 13Rice,p. 39. '4C. R. Morey, Early Christian Art, 2nd ed. (Princeton, 1935), p. 159. For Carolingian examples, cf. A. Boinet, La miniature carolingienne (Paris, 1913), pls. IV, XVI.

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of this medallionare groupedthe similarlyframedbusts of six apostles, the arrangement being quite identicalto that of the medallionfrieze on the Brescia casket. The Jesus-medallion is replacedon the other two soffitsby the same monogramwhich decoratesthe center of the vault, and this is flankedby a series of busts of male martyrdom on one side, and female saints on the other, some of the latter closely resembling in featuresand dressthe renderings of the Virginandof Pharaoh's daughter in the mosaics of S. Maria Maggiore. The originalityof Ravennate iconographyof the period is manifestin the mosaic decoratinga wall of the smallrearroom; only the upperhalf is left, showingJesusdressed imperiallyin a purple chlamys and bearinga cross over his shoulder, while he holds in his left hand an open book inscribedwith the Latin wordsof John XIV:6: "I am the Way, the Truth,and the Life."" The earliestexistingcycle of the life of Jesusin Christian art in sculpture is met upon the ciboriumcolumnsof St. Mark's." In painting,our firstexistingseriesthatcan claimcompleteness is the sequenceof mosaics above the nave windows of S. Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, built in 504 to St. Martin.7" duringTheodoric's reign (493-526) and dedicated The bishop Agneilus (553-566) transferred the church from Arian to Orthodoxuse, but it receivedits dedicationto St. Apollinarisonly in 856, when Muslimraids inducedthe transferof the relics of Ravenna's apostle from the church in the port of Classis.8 There are thirteen panels on each side. On the left side Jesus is beardlessand wears a crossed nimbus; he is always, like an emperor,accompaniedby an in the personof a disciple. His eyes are blue, the hair brown; attendant the series the nimbusis gray with a gold cross, in each arm throughout of which a gem is set. Both cross and nimbusare outlinedin red. His costumeis alwaysa violet tunicandpurplepallium; the tunichas golden stripes (clavi), and the palliumis decoratedwith "letters."The sandals are black. The attendant disciplehas a darkblue graytunicwith a dark
p. 42. 15Kostof,

"eMorey, p. 105. rTrhe mosaics of S. Apollinare Nuovo are conveniently illustrated in halftone reproductions in C. Ricci, Ravenna (Bergamo, 1913), figs. 54-82; Galassi, pls. XXII-LXI; and large plates in fasc. IV of Ricci's corpus of the Ravennate mosaics, Monumenti: Tavole storiche dei mosaici di Ravenna. The dependence of the selection of episodes from the life of Jesus on the Ravennate liturgy, and the relation of both to Syria, were suggested by A. Baumstark, "I mosaici di Sant' Apollinare Nuovo e l'antico anno liturgico ravennate," Rassegna Gregoriana 9 (1910), 32 ff. Concerning the dedication of S. Apollinare Nuovo to St. Martin, cf. Cassiodorius, Variae, ed. T. Mommsen, Monumenta Germaniae Historica Auctores Antiquissimi XI, Var. XXXIV, 242-243. 18O.Dalton, Byzantine Art and Archaeology (Oxford, 1911), pp. 69-70; Demus, p. 74. Concerning the transference of the church of S. Apollinare Nuovo from Arian to Orthodox use, cf. Agnellus, Liber Pontificalis in Migne, CVI, p. 559. Concerning its dedication to St. Apollinaris in 856, cf. "Life of Benedict III," Liber Pontificalis, ed. L. Duchesne (Paris, 1886), II, 578, note 3, for the importance and significance of papal participation in the event.

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clavus, and a white pallium, and wears dark sandals.'9 In the second series on the opposite wall, illustratingthe voluminous lessons of Maundy Thursday,Good Friday, and Easter, the cross-nimbedJesus is bearded,with blond hair, and the compositionsare fuller. Between the scenes are decorativepanels containingconch shells of in a bird'shead like the conch yellow edged with white and terminating shells on Gallic columnarsarcophagiand the conches of the mosaics of Galla Placidia'sMausoleum. From the bird'sbeak hang two ropes of pearls supporting a corona. Above the shell is a small white cross flankedby white doves. Between the windows stand, on green foreshortened thirty-two figures pedestalsand againsta golden background, in blue whitetunicswithpurpleclavi andwhitepallia. Overthe windows is the familiarHellenisticmotif of birds flankinga vase, like those of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia.20 The above reviewof the iconography of the Life of Jesusin S. Apolof Ravennateart of the linareNuovo has made clear the dual character end of the fifth and the beginningof the sixth century,a dualismwell symbolizedby the use of both the bearded (Syrian) type of Jesus and the beardless heardwithlong hairbunchedon the napeof the neck or the shoulders,which had been introducedfrom Asia Minor into Italy to supplantthe short haired head of the catacombsin the course of the Latin still is the retentionof the two fishes of the fourth century.2" in the Last Supper,and the gabledaediculain the Raising Multiplication of Lazarus; to the currenticonographyof the Italo-Gallicschool we Thomas on Jesus'sleft, and may ascribethe placingof the incredulous the cock on a column of Peter's Denial, as well as the renderingof Jesus before Pilate in a composition found elsewhere only on the But Asiatic are the Healingof the Paralyticof columnarsarcophagi.22 Capernaum;the wellheadof the RabulaGospelsthat appearsin Jesus' meetingwith the Womanof Samaria;the Two Marysat the Sepulchre; and aboveall the identityof the Last Supperwiththat of the Ressanensis. The easterninfluenceis equallyevidentin style; the faces, round-eyed view and staring,having nearly forsakenthe Hellenisticthree-quarters to assume frontality; the antique allegory which still survives in the of Placidia'stomb is replacedby a direct and primitive Good Shepherd makes that Jesus distinctlylargerthan the other figures; the symbolism the earlier of settingshas given way to Neo-Attic neutrality.23 landscape of the Latin art of Italy in these mosaics,they Many as are the survivals to serve as substitute reflectthe art of the ChristianOrientsufficiently

19Demus,p. 75; Kostof, p. 44. Cf. A. Grabar, Byzantine Painting (New York, 1953), p. 86. 20Demus,pp. 75-76; Grabar,p. 87; Kostof, pp. 44-45. 21Rice,p. 53. 22Grabar, p. 89. Cf. Dalton, pp. 72-73; Demus, p. 77. 23Demus,pp. 77-78; Grabar,p. 90. Cf. Kostof, p. 46.

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in the fifth and for the lost mosaicsand frescoesthat once adorned, sixthcenturies, of the East. the churches witha proThelowestzoneof thesouthwallof thenaveis decorated cessionof twenty-six male saints,led by St. Martinfromthe city of Ravenna to Jesusenthroned between two pairsof angelsat the eastern has considerably transend of the frieze. In this mosaicrestoration formed the angels, thoseat Jesus' a torch left, andsubstituted especially bookheldin hishand.24 Hisbearded (?) foranoriginal represents figure the definitive the of Asiatic of the Savior,hereintegration conception afterthe prevailing in Italy. On the otherside of the nave rendering femalesaintsadvancefrom Ravenna's twenty-two port of Classisin a procession headed enthroned theVirgin, by theMagitoward frontally withan equally hieratic Childuponherlap,flanked angels by attendant as is her Son on the opposite wall. The Magiare original, but much and the angelsto Mary'srighthave been retouched.The restored, frontal of Mary is a feature of Asiaticepiphanies, butit is noteposture an worthythat despiteher regalaspect,she is not as yet sufficiently isolated to do without the Adoration of the Magi objectof veneration as the motivation of herpresence.25 Thefactthatthe GallicSt. Martin leadsthemaleprocession, andthe dedication of church the to be to that added the data him,may original showthe close connection of Gauland northern the fifth in and Italy sixthcenturies. The restof the saintsare mostlywestern and martyrs, with Ravenna.All save St. Martin only five are directlyconnected and St. Lawrence, who occupiesthe (whosefigureis a restoration) fourth place,arein white.26 The representation of Ravenna fromwhichthe procession startsrevealsthe dateof the frieze. The facade of Theodoric's palaceadjoining the city gate occupies the foreground; behindit we see five buildings of S. Apollinare the church itself,and amongwhichcan be recognized the ArianBaptistery The tympanum of the ; the othersare uncertain. a figure of Jesustrampling contains the Beastsas in the stucco gateway reliefof the Orthodox and in a frequent Baptistery type on the terracottalampsof "African" and there on the Here columns of the type.27 of the we can still or an make out a hand remnants arm, portico palace of thefigures of Theodoric the intercolumniaandhis court,oncefilling tionsbutlaterremoved andreplaced curtains.Thischange by existing is explained of Ravenna compiled by Agnellus by the LiberPontificalis in theninth century:

24Demus,p. 79. 25G.Bovini, Ravenna Mosaics, transl. G. Scaglia (Greenwich, Conn., 1956), pp. 104-105. 26Ibid.,105. 27Ibid.,106; Demus, p. 79; Kostof, pp. 47-48.

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Igitur reconciliavitbeatissimus Agnellus pontifex intra hanc urbem ecclesiamsancti Martiniconfessoris,quam Theodoricus rex fundavit,quae vocaturCaelumaureum,tribunalet utrasque incedentiumtesparietesde imaginibusmartirumvirginumque selis decoravit.28 From this it transpires that the odd relationof the saints to the city is not original,and that while Ravennaand Classis (togetherwith Jesus, the Virgin, and their attendantangels) formed part of the original decorationunderTheodoric,the saints (and Magi) were put in by the RavennatebishopAgnellusin the middleof the sixth century.29 The date is important. One can supposefrom the mannerin which in the firsthalf of the fifth was decorated the nave of S. MariaMaggiore century,and from the paneledLife of Jesus of the end of the century which still remainsof Theodoric'smosaics here, that the lowest zone was dividedinto panels. This is naturallate antiquetreatment originally since of a long oblong areawhile Hellenistictaste was still predominant, it providedthe meansof makingthe separatescenes into axial compositions.30Here howeverthe space is filled by the long files of undifferthe eye forward entiatedfigurescarrying by theirslightlyswayingstance, but retardingit as well by the staring frontalityof their gaze. The principleof compositionis new to the West and is oriental,its unity achievedby the repetitionof identical accents at regularintervals as of the latermosaicsof Antioch. Thus has the East in the carpet-patterns in iconography in the LatinOccidentnot only its preferences established mode of compositionas well.3' and detailsof style, but its fundamental A predecessorof the bishop Agnellus who provided S. Apollinare Nuovo with its two beautifulfriezes was Ecclesius, who governedthe RavennateChurch a generationearlier. Ecclesius, returningc. 525 from an embassyto Constantinople, broughtinto Italy the Asiatic rival of the Latin basilica, the church of central plan, stemmingfrom the famous Domus Aurea, the octagonaltemple erectedby Constantineat The octagonof S. Vitale which he commencedwas finished Antioch.32 in 547, and its decorations may therefore by his successorMaximianus of the after in least at dated be Byzantinereconquest Ravennain part the founderof the churchappears the In however, apsidalmosaic, 539.33 with the patron St. Vitalis, and offers to Jesus a model of the new church, while St. Vitalis approacheson the other side to receive the crownextendedby the Savior. Jesus is depictedaccordingto the Latin
28Agnellus, p. 571. 29Ibid., p. 571. Cf. Bovini, p. 107. pp. 107-108. SoBovini, p. 108; Demus, p. 81. 31Bovini, 32Rice,p. 60. 33Ibid.,p. 61. A convenient set of reproductions of the mosaics of S. Vitale may be found in S. Muratori, I Mosaici ravennati della Chiesa di S. Vitale (Bergamo, 1945).

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formulaas beardlessand with shorthair, and sits upon the Latin globe. This rests on a rocky ground-strip, from which flow, beneaththe globethrone of Jesus, the Four Rivers of Paradise. In the spandrelsabove are the Latin symbolsof the cities of Jerusalemand Bethlehem,devoid howeverof theirlambs. In the vault of the choir four angelson globes supporta centralgarlandencirclingthe Lamb, repeatingthe scheme of the chapelof the archbishop's palace, but the field about them is filled with rich acanthusscrolls after a mannerthat had been customaryin Italy since the fourth century.34The motif is here developed in an Asiatic sense by animatingthe rinceauxwith the varied menagerieof beasts and birds that populatethe vine-rinceauxof the Antioch pavements. The apostles whose busts in medallionsflanked the head of
Jesus on the soffits of the arches in the archbishop's chapel, reappear

(but with the Saviorbearded) on the soffit of the entrancearch of the choir, togetherwith the busts of SS. Gervasiusand Protasius,the sons of St. Vitalis. These two were the saints especiallyhonoredat Milan,35 whichis evidenceagainof the influenceof the MilaneseChurchthroughout northItaly. The gallery which surmountsthe encirclingaisle of the octagon is continuedinto the choir, openingupon it as does the aisle below it, by three archessupportedon columns. Over the lower of these arcadesis a lunette on each side, filled with the mosaic scenes embodyingOld Testamentanti-typesof the Eucharistand the Crucifixion.On the left as one enters,Abrahamand Sarahprepareto serve with food the three angels who sit at a table under the oak of Mamre, to which scene is added,with no attemptat division,Abraham'sSacrificeof Isaac.3 On the opposite wall Abel offers a lamb and Melchizedeka wafer to the Hand of God which hovers from a blue sky stripedwith clouds above a drapedaltar. On this betweentwo eucharistic leaves standsthe chalice which here as in the mosaic of S. MariaMaggioresymbolically justifies the strange association of Abel with the priest-kingMelchizedekas of the Lord'sSupper. A colonnaded basilicaretypifyingthe sacrament treatswithgood foreshortening into the background behindMelchizedek; a tree behind Abel indicatesa landscape. Above the lunette on either wall two flying angelssupporta disc inclosinga cross from whose arms hang the Alpha and Omega. Toward the entrancebeyond the lunette a prophetstands on each wall; on one side Isaiah, on the other Jeremiah-the one the prophetof the Incarnation, the other of the Passion. Toward the apse the correspondingspace is filled with episodes of Moses' life: on one side he removeshis shoe before the burningbush and tends the flock of Jethro; on the otherhe receivesthe tables of the Law while the people of Israel await his returnbelow at the foot of
p. 82. S"Demus, pp. 82-83; Dalton,p. 76. 3SIbid., 36Bovini, p. 109.

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Sinai-scenes adaptedfrom types familiarto us as traditionalillustrationsof the Septuagint.37 On the walls between the gallery openings and the entrance and in whollyunfamiliar apsidalends of the choirwe see the four Evangelists guise. They sit at their lecterns,with scriniabeside them, in the same rocky landscapein which the Good Shepherdof the Tomb of Galla Placidiais placed, while on the cliffs above them stand their symbols, the lion and the ox being here in naturalform withoutthe additionof wings. They are neitherthe standingevangelistsof Egyptianusage, nor the seatedprofilesof Asia Minor,nor the conflationof these types that of Syria.38This odd rendering were characteristic might be ascribedto mere inventionwere it not that there is evidenceof a Latin traditionof depictingthe evangeliststhus in a landscapesetting, not indeed to be found elsewherein existingexamplesof late antiquepainting,but surviving in Carolingian imitations.39 A directimitationof the RavennaEvangelistsseems to be presentin of c. A.D. 782, whose of the GodescaleEvangeliary the author-pictures colophon states the book was completedat the time of Charlemagne's journeyto Italy.40Here again we find the otherwiseunique motif of wingless beasts occupying a ledge in a rocky landscape behind the seatedevangelist. The originalconceptionhoweveris ratherto be found which though of later date than the in those Carolingian manuscripts models of more remote antiquity Latin use Godescale of Gospel-Book than the mosaics of the sixth century,and thus reflectwhat may have of Latin Gospels in the Vulgateedition illustration been the archetypal which both they and the Ravennate from or of Jerome its early copies, mosaicists drew." Such reflectioncan undoubtedlybe found in the of gospel-booksof the school of Reims, such as the evangelist-portraits at Vienna, and of Xanton, Blois, and of Schatzkammer Evangeliaries is the conspicuousfeasame where the background landscape Epernay, be addedto the in S. Vitale may therefore The peculiarrendering ture.42 choir. Latin elementsin the decorationof its
87Bovini,p. 110. The survival of the Septuagint type of Moses receiving the Law in Greek miniatures of later date is illustrated in Figs. 23, 40, 43, 51 of Morey's article "Notes on East Christian Miniatures," Art Bulletin 11 (1929), 34 ff. Early ChristianArt, p. 121. 88Morey, pp. S9Bovini, 110-111. 4Boinet, pl. III. 41Ibid., p. 19. 42Ibid.,pls. LVIII-LX, LXVIII, LXX, LXXII. In the same connection may be cited the extract from a letter of Archbishop Maximianus of Ravenna concerning two Bibles he caused to be copied, which is quoted by Agnellus: "emendavi. cautissime cum his quae Augustinus, et secundum Evangelia quae beatus Hieronymous Roman misit. .. ." Cf. Agnellus, p. 610. These "Latin" landscapes may however be well regarded as intrusions into western art of Greek and especially Alexandrian practice, as adaptationsof such backgroundsas those of the frescoes

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In pointof iconography, so far then,it maybe saidthatthe mosaics described no more than a later of the Latin whose exemplify phase style bothin the retention evolution we havebeenfollowing, of Italian-types such as the short-haired youthfulJesus on the globe in the apsidal andinventive evinced mosaic,thecharacteristic fluctuating iconography in the eucharistic in the lunettes of the choir,and the typesemployed of theEvangelists.43 But theorientalizing of the style peculiar rendering hasunmistakably In spiteof theinterrelation advanced. of thefigures of the apsidal are and to frontal the utmost decomposition, they separate withtheirexpanded outward gree,andtheheadshaveturned eyesfixed on the spectator in thecharacteristic oriental starewhichso spiritualizes the scenesof Jesus' in S. Apollinare career Nuovo. Thebitsof naturalism surviving in the backgrounds of the lunettes and the landscapes in whichthe Evangelists the whollysymbolic selection sit, cannotobscure andcombination of actions andfigures, evena hintof actualexcluding ity." The transcendental of thisartis mostmanifest whenwe see purpose the rendering how it can denaturalize of a real event,as in the two of Justinian famous andTheodora withtheirsuitesandecclesigroups in mosaicpanelswhichin the apsereplace asticalescorts, executed the marble dadoelsewhere the choir. Abstraction is employed throughout evident atoncein thegoldbackground which hereas in the apse replaces thecloudy blueskyof thelateral wallmosaics.Theimperial and panels, the above date after the them, composition probably apsidal Byzantine of Ravenna in 539, andsincethe bishopMaximianus, who reconquest tookoverthesee onlyin 546, thedatemaybe moved forward to at least the yearof the dedication of S. Vitale,in 547.45 In fact the donations whichthe mosaicsrecord-Justinian bearinga paten or a bowl for eucharistic and Theodora a of purposes, chalice-implythe completion the church's decoration and its outfitting for service.The Augustus is whosepatrician rankis marked the by threecourtiers accompanied by on their tablion mantles andtheembroidered on theshoulder of symbols theirtunics,and by his bodyguard of spatharii; Hellenistic tradition survives in the nimbus whichsurrounds the imperial head."4 withherladiesandtwoofficials of the courtprepare to enterthe vestibuleof the church fromthe atrium, indicated a to present fountain, by chalicewhichshe holdsin her hands. Of the sevenladies the jeweled isolation and in her suite,two are somewhat distinguished by a partial
of S. Maria di Castelseprio. Cf. M. Schapiro, "Latin Landscapes of Late Antiquity," Art Bulletin 34 (1952), 162; Morey, "Evangeliariesof Schatzkammer," Art Bulletin 34 (1952), 198 ff., and Morey's Early Christian Art, p. 194. "Bovini, p. 112. "Ibid., pp. 112-113. 45Agnellus, p. 612. Cf. Dalton, p. 80; Rice, p. 71. "Bovini, 114; Rice, p. 73.

In the corresponding group on the other side of the apse, Theodora

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moreeleganceof dress,and the olderof thesehas drawnher mantleover her head. The costumeof the two, rich as it is, is far surpassedby the splendorof the Augusta,who wears a diademhung with pearls and a heavy pearl necklace,and is costumedin a purplemantle embroidered on its edge with the Adorationof the Magi.47The portraiture of the two on the other ladies next to the Augusta,and of the bishop Maximianus recordin view of the otherwiseunrealconception panel,is a remarkable that the figuresseem of the groups. Spatialrelationis so far eliminated of an interior,faintlyvisible to standon each other'sfeet; the suggestion in Theodora'sgroup, is lost in that of Justinian. The movementis a slightswayingof the figurewhichin no way affectsthe staringfrontality of theirfaces focusedon the eyes of the spectatoras on a camera. The scale of the figuresshows still some trace of the proportionsobserved in the miniatures,but they almost fill the space and have acquireda dignity of pose that would make them more Hellenic were it accompaniedby any mass behindtheirflat silhouettes. The Byzantinestyle is but not realizedby these strangely announced figures;a Byzanarresting tine artist would not crowd his space with so casual an assemblage, would throwthe weightof each figureon one leg, and would modifythe staringeyes by some suggestionof obliquityof gaze." The centuries betweenthe sixth andthe ninthwere to be surethe most to a steadilydisintegratof phase Latinstyle. Italy succumbed repetitive until her art was that lasted manner of the Ravennate imitation ing revitalized by transalpineand Byzantine infusions in the eleventh by the century." During this period too her ornamentwas barbarized on we have noticed taste whose Teutonic of same infiltration beginnings of Ravenna. The mosaicswith which PaschalI and the late sarcophagi GregoryIV adornedthe tribunesof the churchesof Rome in the early years of the ninth centurywere often but flattenedand stylizedcopies Outsideof Italy mosaics and of the apse of SS. Cosmasand Damian.50 from c. 600 to the ninth century,and the frescoes almost disappeared Merovingianmanuscriptssubstitutedfor illustrationa barbaricinitial of birds and fishes.5' If the povertyof Merovingconstructed ornament shows the disastrouseffect of the collision of barbarian ian illumination with Latin culture,the art of the British Isles that reachedits climax during this dark period on the continent displays a sophisticationof involutionsof its ornament barbarian designthat carriesthe bewildering work to metal and in manuscripts unique beauty. The human figure
47Bovini, pp. 114-115. p. 116; Rice, p. 74. 48Bovini, 49The effect of both of these transfusions may be seen in the frescoes of S. Angelo in Formis in south Italy of the eleventh century. Cf. F. X. Kraus, Die Wandgemiildevon S. Angelo in Formis (Berlin, 1893), pls. XVI-XXIV, pp. 29-31. of the apse of SS. Cosmas and Damian are found in Volbach and SoColor-plates Hirmer, pls. 102-107. 51E. H. Zimmermann, Vorkarolingische Miniaturen (Berlin, 1916-1918), pp. 11-13.

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which Christianity was reducedby Celtic imposedupon its iconography to the abstract of its style requirements complicatedpattern.52 On the continentthe human figure returnsin timid copies of late At this point of the late eighthcentury.53 antiquemodelsin manuscripts begins the first of the Carolingianschools, which producedthe manuand scripts of the so-called "Ada" group, decoratedfor Charlemagne the membersof his court with more magnificence than taste and drawing mainlyupon Ravennatestyle for its types.54The school of Tours in the ninth centuryseeks Latin models of the fifth century,and Carolinin its appropriation gian "renaissance" style is progressively retrospective of the antiqueuntil the most originalof its schools,that of Reims, harks back to Latincopies and adaptations of the Alexandrian Here manner.55 first appearsthe realisticbent of Latin medievalart that was to carry it ultimatelyfar from any antiquestyle at all, but the forms in which this realismwas firstcast, in such miniatures of the Reims school as those of the UtrechtPsalter,56 were none the less part of the Alexandrian vocabulary, revealing their origin in architecturallandscapes, mountainous and a lively uninhibitedhandlingof the figures. Out of backgrounds, these, by a vigorous creativeprocess that left its antique, particularly of the West ultimately Ravennate,sources far behind, the Christianity evolvedits self-expression in Romanesque and Gothic,while the eastern Church, more conservativeof ancient forms, was developingfrom a revisionof Neo-Attic style the stately beauty of Byzantineart. STUART CRISTO Fordham University

52F.Henry, Irish Art in the Early Christian Period (London, 1940), p. 32. 53E.g.,the Evangelists of the Gundohinus Gospels, executed at Fleury in the latter part of the eighth century. Cf. Zimmermann,pls. 81-84. 55Ibid., pp. 57-61. 56D. T. Tselos and G. R. Benson, "New Light on the Origin of the Utrecht Psalter,"Art Bulletin 13 (1931), 53 ff.

54Boinet, pls. XXXIV-XXXIX.

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