Искусства и ремесла Средневековья

316 Arts and Crafts in the Middle Ages

of the proportions of а cot bedstead, and lшs а raging fire beneath it, а gruesome suggestion of the martyr­ dom. Nо finer examples of tl1e art of the colouгist in шosaic can Ье seen than iп the pгocession of Viгgins at San Apollinaire Nuovo in Raveпna. Cool, гestrained, and satisfying, tl1e compositioп has all the eleшents of chromatic peгfection. In the golden backgгoш1d oc­ casioпal dots of ligЬt ancl da1·k browп seгve t,o deepen t,he tone iпto а sligl1tly bгonze colour. Tl1e effect is espe­ cially scintillating and 1·iсЬ, тоге like hammeгed gold than а flat sheet. Tl1e coloшs in the tгees are dark апd light gгeen, while the Viгgins, in bro,vn гоЬеs, ,vith wl1ite dгaperies оvег them, аге гelieved with little touches of gold. The ,vhole tone being thнs green and rнsset, ,vith purplish lines about the halos, is an unнsual coloнr-scheшe, and can l1aгdly сапу such conviction in а description as when it is seen. In tЬе East, the Clшrcl1 of Sta. Sophia at Coпstan­ tinople exhiЬited the most шagnificent specimeпs of this work; the building ,vas constгпcted under Constantine, Ьу the architects Anthemius and Isidoгe, and the entiгe interior, walls and dome included, was coveгed Ьу mosaic pictures. Among important works of the seventh centuгy is the apse of St. Agnese, in Rome. Hoпorius decoгated the ehurch, about 630, and it is one of the most effectiye mosaics in Rome. At St. John Late1·an, also, Роре John IV. caused а spleпdid ,vork to Ье carried out,