Appendix I

“Among pictures of what I may call the contemplative order—I mean those dealing with the ‘Discourses of Our Lord’—where we see Christ seated in state among His disciples or confessors, the finest example is a mosaic of the fourth century in the church of Sta Pudenciana at Rome. In this, the inspiration, the arrangement of the figures, their solemn air, the atmosphere of dignity which pervades the whole scene, all remind us of classical antiquity. At the first glance we might take it for a gathering of senators and philosophers discussing some abstruse question of politics or morals. And yet the two holy women offering a crown of victory to our Lord strike a note of purely Christian feeling.”

Notes on Art from “The Holy Gospels with Illustrations from the Old Masters.”