Identifier: historyofmedival00rebe (find matches)
Title: History of mediæval art
Year: 1893 (1890s)
Authors: Reber, Franz von, 1834-1919 Clarke, Joseph Thacher, d. 1920
Subjects: Art, Medieval
Publisher: New York : Harper & Bros.
Contributing Library: Boston Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Public Library

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the empire in A. D. 395 ; but when the city was made theresidence of the Exarch of the East it became even more Byzantinethan Byzantium itself. Only a few years after the completion ofthe classic mosaics in the apse of the Roman Basilica of St. Cosmoand St. Damian, there appeared in Ravenna a number of Byzantineworks by which a new era of Christian art may be said to have beeninaugurated. Among these are the lower series of mosaics in thenave of S. Apollinare nuovo, and a. fragment of a portrait of Jus-tinian in the chapel of All Saints in the same church (Fig. 50),—the MOSAICS OF RAVENNA. 37 mosaics in the private chapel of the Archiepiscopal Palace,—and,notably, those in the choir of S. Vitale, which building has been al-ready described as one of the earliest churches of extended con-centric plan. The forensic dress, still universal in Roman repre-sentations, is here exchanged for courtly and liturgic garments, theforms and attitudes being cramped and stiffened to a mere parade,
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Fig. 50.—Mosaic Portrait of the Emperor Justinian in the Chapel of All Saints ofS. Apollinare nuovo in Ravenna. which takes the place of all freedom of action, truth to nature, and,consequently, of all ideal beauty. The proportions of the humanbody are neglected and incorrect, and even those parts, like theface, hands, and feet, which are not hidden by the pretentious gar-ments and accessories, have lost not only their natural but theirtraditionally correct forms; the extremities are more and more re-duced in size, and a certain senile expression appears in faces both 88 EARLY CHRISTIAN AND BYZANTINE PAINTING. old and young. A dead and cold asceticism has taken the placeof observation and delight in healthy nature. This change of style is most noticeable in the treatment ofunusual subjects. In the accustomed religious representations acertain imitation of the early Christian and Roman types was un-avoidable, as is evident in the group in one of the conches of S.Vitale, where Christ

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