No More Learning

There are still three buildings in Rome which date from this early
period; the Lateran Baptistery, the basilica of Santa Agnese, and the
attached tomb-church of Santa Costanza. Santa Agnese is a most beautiful
type of church having arcaded galleries within, around the two sides and
the end opposite the apse. It is sunk into the ground to the level of
the catacombs in which the saint was buried, and these are entered from
a door in the side wall, the descent into the church being by a long flight
>
CH. XXI.
3942


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612
Mosaics
of steps. The church is nine bays long, and the columns are of marble.
The
apse is lined with marble and porphyry, and in the midst is the
bishop's throne. Above, in the conch, is a fine mosaic, but not so ancient.
Close by, but at the higher level of the natural ground, stands Santa
Costanza, built about 354. It is circular, with an inner ring of columns
which supported a dome. The diameter is about 76 feet, and the
columns are only about 18 feet high. They are mostly of grey granite.
The walls were sheeted with marble and the annular aisle has its vaults
covered with mosaic, chiefly of pattern-work, but in some places there
are vintage scenes with amorini gathering the grapes and making wine.
The most splendid feature of the early churches was the mosaic
work which from the Constantinian age adorned their vaults and
especially the conches of their apses. Such mosaics were generally formed
of small cubes of glass variously coloured and gilded. At the same time
mosaics of marble of the more ordinary Roman kind were used for floors.
The glass mosaics and even gilt tesserae had been employed under
the Roman Empire. Glass is found so far West as Cirencester where
small parts of a floor are of that material. Gold mosaic has been found
on the vaults of the Baths of Caracalla, and of the Palatine Palace; also
in North Africa. Quite recently a mosaic having gilt cubes has been
found at Pompeii. It is next to certain that, like the vessels of gilded
glass, this kind of mosaic came from the factories of Egypt. There is
in the British Museum a small glass plaque, decorated with a flowering
plant of several colours fused into its substance. This was found in
London, while similar pieces, now at South Kensington, have lately
been discovered at Behnésa in Egypt. The earliest existing Christian
mosaics are those of the vaults of the round church of Santa Costanza
in Rome. Besides the mosaics mentioned above there are two small,
much injured, conches which display figure subjects. In one of them
God the Father gives the ancient Law to Moses, and in the other
St Peter receives the new Law from the hand of Christ. The whole of
the central dome was once covered with mosaic, but of this only a slight
drawing is now preserved.
The next mosaic in point of date, but more interesting and beautiful
a work of art, fills the apse of the basilica of Santa Pudentiana.
This church, not far from the better known Santa Maria Maggiore, is
deeply sunk in the ground, itself a mark of a primitive foundation.
The apse mosaic forms part of a work undertaken about 390. On it
Christ sits enthroned in the midst of a semicircle of apostles, while
behind St Peter and St Paul stand two female figures robed in white
and holding crowns; these are interpreted as the Churches of the
Circumcision and of the Gentiles. Behind Christ on a mountain stands
a vast jewelled cross, and on the sky are the four symbolic beasts. This
noble work still retains much of classical grace, the fixity characteristic
of Byzantine art is entirely absent. The colour, also, is fair and
as


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Art in Britain
613
extremely beautiful, gold being used to illuminate the high lights of
the draperies and other parts, but not in broad fields as in the later
mosaics.
It is desirable to include here some account of Early Christian art in
Britain. The discovery, about twelve years ago, of the perfect plan of a
small early basilican church at Silchester makes more certain than any-
thing else had done the existence of recognised Christian communities
in British cities. The Silchester church occupied an important position
near the civil basilica, but in itself was quite small. It had a nave
about ten feet wide and aisles five feet; the length, including the apse,
which was at the west end, was about thirty feet. The aisles had a
small additional projection at the end next the apse, which made the whole
plan cruciform. At the east end was a narthex, and in front of that a
court with a fountain in the centre. The position of the altar in the
apse was marked by a square of pattern-work in the mosaic floor. This
pattern, of the chess-board type, is in quarters, what heralds call
quarterly. A very accurate model of this important relic is now in the
Reading Museum.
It is well known that the XP monogram appeared on a mosaic floor
found about a century ago at Frampton, and figured by Lysons. The
monogram occurred in the centre of a band of ornament which separated
а
an apse from a square compartment. Lysons thought that the general
style of the ornaments of the apse seemed“ inferior to that of the square
part," and spoke of the monogram as “inserted. ” The last writer on
Christian antiquities in Britain, in Cabrol's great Dictionary, says that
the monogram must have been “ inserted” at some time not earlier than
the middle of the fourth century. Lysons tried to suggest, being
interested in the Roman art point of view, that the pavement was pre-
Constantinian, but he himself remarked that the pattern on a neighbouring
area occurred also on the vault mosaics of Santa Costanza at Rome, a
work of the second half of the fourth century. This is, probably, the
date of the whole of the Frampton mosaics, and a consideration of the
sequence of the turns of the scroll ornament in the middle of which the
monogram was found shews that the scroll-work and the symbol certainly
formed part of one design. The only other subject figured on the floor
of the apse, excepting patterns, was a single vase or chalice in the
middle. At the Roman villa at Chedworth again the XP monogram
has been found cut in the foundation stones of some steps. In the
museum on the site there is also a small plain stone cross.
Mr Romilly Allen suggested that “two other Roman pavements
found in this country may possibly be Christian ";—that at Harpole
which has a circle in the middle divided into eight parts by radial lines
so as to resemble one form of the monogram of Christ, and that at
Horkstow which has 66 some small red crosses in the decoration. ” The
latter not only has the crosses, but at the centre is Orpheus playing
CH. XXI.


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614
Art in Britain
9
the lyre, a subject frequently found in Early Christian art. The writer
in Cabrol's Dictionary has independently come to the conclusion that
this mosaic is Christian. “ It has passed unrecognised,” he says, “ but
we have no doubt of its Christian origin. ” Now, if this mosaic with
the catacomb subject of Orpheus and the beasts is Christian, is it
not probable that the several other British mosaics which display the
same subject are also works of Christian art ? All these mosaics
probably date from about 350, when the Church must have been a
recognised institution in every city, and it is difficult to think that the
subject, once Christianised, should have been employed in another sense.
An Orpheus pavement was found at Littlecote Park, Ramsbury, at the
centre of a triapsidal apartment resembling the Roman Christian burial
chapels. Yet another pavement, at Stourton, had a quartered design
practically identical with that of the altar space of the Silchester
basilica? The subject of Orpheus is known to have occurred four
times in the catacombs, but none of these appear to have been later
than the third century, and it has indeed been suggested that the
subject was taken over in profane art, especially in Gaul and Britain,
but this is unproven, and in any case we get the Christian influence.
Several British pavements are known in which ornamental cross-forms
appear. It has been said that these cannot be Christian, as the cross
symbol did not come into general use at so early a time. But the
instances which have now been found contradicting this view reopen
the question. With those Roman objects having crosses which have
been found in England may be mentioned the chain-bracelet with an
attached cross. A comparison with fig. 1606 in Cabrol's Dictionary
makes it almost certain that it is Christian. Perhaps the most
important Christian documents found in Britain are ingots of pewter
found in the Thames at Battersea which are stamped several times over
with the XP monogram surrounded by the words, Spes in Deo. These
look like official marks.
When a full history of Early Christian art in Britain is written it
will be seen that it shared in the great movement of the time, although
of course it was second to Gaul and third to Italy.
But the many
1 In a panel occurred the design of two beasts drinking from a vase, a motive
which also appears on the enamelled plate found in London. A similar group. of
two peacocks drinking formed part of the Orpheus pavement at Withington,


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615
BIBLIOGRAPHIES.
ABBREVIATIONS.
The following abbreviations are used :
AARAB. Annales de l'Académie royale d'archéologie de Belgique. Antwerp.
AB. Analecta Bollandiana. Brussels.
ABe. Archives belges. Liège.
AHR. American Historical Review. New York and London.
AKKR. Archiv für katholisches Kirchenrecht. Mainz.
AM. Annales du Midi. Toulouse.
AMur. Archivio Muratoriano. Rome.
ASAK. Anzeiger für schweizerische Alterthumskunde. Zurich.
AS Boll. Acta Sanctorum Bollandiana. Brussels. 1643–1894. 60 vols.
ASHF. Annuaire-Bulletin de la Société de l'histoire de France. Paris.
ASI. Archivio storico italiano. Florence.
ASL. Archivio storico Lombardo. Milan.
ASRSP. Archivio della Società romana di storia patria. Rome.
BCRH. Bulletins de la Commission royale d'histoire. Brussels.
BEC. Bibliothèque de l'École des Chartres.
BHisp. Bulletin hispanique. Bordeaux.
BRAH. Boletin de la R. Academia de la historia. Madrid.
BZ. Byzantinische Zeitschrift. Leipsic.
CQR. Church Quarterly Review. London.
CR. Classical Review. London.
CRSA. Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-
lettres. Paris.
CSEL. Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum. Vienna. 1866, in prog.
CSHB.
Corpus scriptorum historiae Byzantinae. Bonn. 1828–97.
DCB. Dictionary of Christian Biography. Smith, W. and Wace, H. London.
1877-87. 4 vols.
DZKR. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Kirchenrecht. Leipsic.
EHR. English Historical Review. London.
HJ.
Historisches Jahrbuch. Munich.
Hm. Hermes. Berlin.
HVIS. Historische Vierteljahrsschrift. Leipsic.
HZ. Historische Zeitschrift (von Sybel). Munich.
JA. Journal Asiatique. Paris.
JB. Jahresberichte der Geschichtswissenschaft im Auftrage der historischen
Gesellschaft zu Berlin, 1878 ff. Berlin.
JSG. Jahrbuch für schweizerische Geschichte. Zurich.
JTS. Journal of Theological Studies. London.
MA. Le moyen âge. Paris.
MGH. Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Berlin. Pertz, G. H. 1902, in
progress.
MIOGF.
Mittheilungen des Instituts für österreichische Geschichtsforschung.
Innsbruck.


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616
Abbreviations
MPG. Migne, J. P. Patrologiae cursus completus. Series graeca. Paris.
1857.
MPL. Migue, J. P. Patrologiae cursus completus. Series latina.
NAGDG. Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde.
Hanover.
QFIA. Quellen und Forschungen aus italianischen Archiven und Bibliotheken.
Rome.
RA. Revue archéologique. Paris.
RBAB. Revue des bibliothèques et des archives de la Belgique. Brussels.
RBén. Revue bénédictine. Maredsous.
RCel. Revue celtique. Paris.
RCHL. Revue critique d'histoire et de littérature. Paris.
RE? . Real-Encyklopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirche. Herzog
and Hauck. Leipsic.
RH. Revue historique. Paris.
RHD. Revue d'histoire diplomatique. Paris.
RHE. Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique. Louvain.
RN. Revue de numismatique. Paris.
ROC. Revue de l'Orient chrétien. Paris.
RQCA. Römische Quartalschrift für christliche Altertumskunde und Kirchen-
geschichte. Rome.
RQH. Revue des questions historiques. Paris.
RSH. Revue de synthèse historique. Paris.
RSI. Rivista storica italiana. Turin.
RSS. Rivista di scienze storiche. Pavia.
SPAW. Sitzungsberichte der k. preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Berlin.
TQS. Theologische Quartalschrift. Tübingen.
TRHS. Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. London.
TSK. Theologische Studien und Kritiken. Gotha.
VV. Vizantiiskii Vremenik. St Petersburg.
ZCK. Zeitschrift für christliche Kunst. Düsseldorf.
ZKG. Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte. Gotha.
ZKT. Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie. Gotha.
ZWT Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Theologie. Frankfurt-a. -M.
In the case of many other works given in the General Bibliography abbreviations
as stated there are used.


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617
GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR VOLUME I.
AL
I. DICTIONARIES, BIBLIOGRAPHIES AND GE
WORKS OF REFERENCE.
>
Bardenhewer, D. Patrologie. Freiburg-i. -B. 1894. Translated by Shahan, T. J.
Freiburg-i. -B. and St Louis, Minnesota. 1908.
Biographie universelle, ancienne et moderne. (Michaud. ) Paris. 1854–65. 45 vols.
[Greatly improved edn. of earlier work, 1811-28, and supplement, 1832–62. )
(B. univ. )
Cabrol, F. Dictionnaire de l'archéologie chrétienne et de la Liturgie. Paris. 1901.
2nd edn. , 1907, in progress.
Ceillier, R. Histoire générale des auteurs sacrés et ecclésiastiques. 2nd edn.
14 vols. in 15. Paris. 1858-69.
Chevalier, C. U. J. Répertoire des sources historiques du moyen âge. Bio-
bibliographie. Paris. 1883-8. Topo-bibliographie. Montbéliard. 1894-1903.
Rev. edn. of Bio-bibliographie, 1905-7.
Du Cange, C. du Fresne. Glossarium mediae et infimae Latinitatis. Edns. of
Henschel, 7 vols. , Paris, 1840–50, and Favre, 10 vols. , Niort, 1883-7.
Encyclopædia Britannica. 9th edn. London. 1885-9. Additional vols. (10th
edn. ) 1902–3. 11th edn. Cambridge. 1911. (Enc. Br. )
Ersch, J. S. and Gruber, J. G. Allgemeine Encyklopädie der Wissenschaften
und Künste. Berlin. 1818-50. (Ersch-Gruber. )
(Ersch-Gruber. ) (Incomplete. )
(
Fabricius, J. A. Bibliotheca Graeca sive Notitia Scriptorum Veterum Graecorum.
4th edn. Ed. Harles, G. C. 12 vols. Hamburg. 1790–1809. Index. Leipsic.
1837.
Grässe, J. G. T. Lehrbuch einer allgemeinen Litterärgeschichte aller bekannten
Völker der Welt von der ältesten bis auf die neueste Zeit. Leipsic. 1837–59.
(Vols. 1, 11. Ancient and Medieval Peoples.