Identifier: monumentsofearly00lowr (find matches)
Title: Monuments of the early church
Year: 1901 (1900s)
Authors: Lowrie, Walter, 1868-1959
Subjects: Christian antiquities Christian art and symbolism Church architecture Church history -- Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600
Publisher: New York, The Macmillan Company London, MacMillan & Co.
Contributing Library: New York Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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porphyry sarcophagusof Constantia (now in the Vatican Museum) has a decora-tion of this character, though of much less lively and gracefuldesign; and the same theme is repeated in a very charmingmanner in the mosaics which adorned the ceiling of hermausoleum (Fig. 125). Of all Christian sarcophagi the most SCULPTUBE—Sarcoiyhagi 255 thoroughly Classical, both in execution and design, are twoof the third century in the Lateran Museum, which are num-bered respectively 1G3 and 181 in that collection. The firstis divided laterally into three sections. In the middle standsa defunct matron between SS. Peter and Paul; at both endsis represented the Good Shepherd carrying a lamb on hisshoulders. In the second there is no division into compart-ments ; at the ends are seated a man and a woman, eachaccompanied by two other persons of the same sex repre-senting the company of the saints in paradise, and both ofthem are looking toward the Good Shepherd, who occupiesthe middle of the composition.
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Fig. 94. — Sarcophagus in the Lateran Museum. Fourth centurj\ Two fishermen, threescenes from the story of Jonah, Noah in the ark, the raising of Lazarus, the water fromthe rock, Moses assailed bj the Hebrews, the Good Shepherd. It was very rarely that the artists were content to adorn asarcophagus with a single theme. The crossing of the Red Sealent itself most readily to this purpose; and many of thedetails of the representation recall the scenes of combat whichappear upon pagan tombs. It is most commonly upon the lidsthat we find the representation of a single subject; and owingto this, the composition of the lid is often more graceful thanthat of the sarcophagus itself. In the Roman type the lid wasnearly flat, or with a low gable at the end, and it left a narrowfield in front for sculpture. A number of lids containing oneor two subjects are illustrated in Figs. 86-89. The fewer sub-jects the artist attempted to include in his design, the nearerit was likely to approach the grac

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