Late Roman Theodosian Style

Mosaics and marquetry

	1. Mosics from the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna, aa. 430. A general view of the interior mosaics. This small low building is quite dark inside, with the only light coming through small thin marble-panel windows which can be seen at the end over the sarcophagus. This image is also useful because it gives some sense of the bright use of color [most of the more detailed views below have little natural color because of photographic film deterioration. As time and opportunity permit, I would like to replace the images below].
	2. Mosaics from the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna, ca. 430 A.D. There is a library at the right that holds codices, the new form of book in late Rome. The decorative material has symbolic significance, wuch as the grape vine on the blue ground that suggests the possiblity of eternal life becase of Christ's sacrifice. The white lily symbolizes purity (not yet Mary) and the red rose, Christ's passion, which together stand for salvation.
	3. Mosaic from Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna. The hart panting after the waterbrook, ca. 430. A.D. Based on a biblical text, the hart symbolizes Christian souls seeking the fountain of life, the Christian god. The acanthus tendrils, like the blue sky, symbolize the resulting immortality.
	4. Christ the Good Shepherd medallion, ca. 430 A.D., in the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna. Here the Roman vigorous Christ rather than the Greek philosopher-king image. The Theodosian style tended to mix naturalism and hieratic stylization. The symbolic cleavages in the rock have a long history ahead of them in Orthodox Christian art.
	5. Greek key design mosaic, ca. 430 A.D., from the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna. I meant this shot to illustrate the use of tesserae, but aging film ruined the intense color or the original. Theodosian mosaics are noteworthy for tesserae with a glassy surface and intense color. The aim was to create an uneven surface that shimmered in the artifical light needed to see them. The illusionistic treatment of the Greek key is as rather old fashioned in taste.
	6. Youth and donkey mosaic, mid 5th century (Contantinople: Great Palace pavement). A mosaic of exceptional quality and subject. The Theodosian style is a beautiful, courtly style, which lasted only from end of the fourth century to the early fifth century in the west, but significantly longer in the Eastern Roman Empire, especially at Constantincople, as this examples shows. The opus vermiculatum placement of tesserae in circular swirls emphasizes the linear outlines of the youth. This is clearly a classical reaction to the growing hieratic aesthetic, but nevertheless its intensity and stylizations (posture, donkey's ears, and boy's hair) are new.
	7. Hagia Sophia vestibule fragment, Constantinople (Istanbul). Mosaic detail of Christ from the 6th century. In very general terms the emperor Justinian destroyed what vitality remained of Mediterranean political culture in a futile attempt to restore Rome in political and ideological terms. For example, he built the enormous church in Constantinople we now call Hagia Sophia, and had it decorated with rich mosaics such as this. However, the only mosaics to have survived the disorders and general impoverishment later in the sixth century are some fragments in the vestibule, including this representation of Christ.