Roman provincial art: Rome urbs
(3th - 7th century)

Ivories

	1. Ivory carving of a boy with a rabbit, which was probably originally a knife handle, 3-4th c. A.D. (Rome: Museo Vaticano). Small scale art such as this remained plebeian and more naturalistic than large scale sculpture. The oversized head is typical of Italo-plebeian tastes.
	2. Ivory doll missing arms and legs, late 3rd c. A.D. (Rome: Museo Vaticano). Until the fifth century, ivory carving remained a minor art that usefully illustrates daily life.
	3. Ivory standing putto, 3 - 4th c. A.D. (Rome: Museo Vaticano).
	4. Miniature ivory carving of a ship and its crew (parts missing), which was probably a toy, early 4th c. A.D. (Rome: Museo Vaticano).
	5. Ivory diptych leaf from diptych of the Consul Basilius, Rome, 480 A.D. (Florence: Nat. Mus.). 13.5" tall. The other half of this diptych is in the Castel. Sforz., Milan. To the right, a personification of Rome wears a tunic and colobium. Basilius holds the mappa and sceptre of office. Below are four quadriga on the race course. Stylistically akin to the Boethius diptych of 487 A.D
	6. Ivory diptych of Consul Boethius, Rome, 487 A.D. Example of the abstract-geometricizing tendency as the Theodosian style became provincialized. This late Italian provincial style recalls the Italo-Roman figure style, but also the hieratic traits of frontality, large eyes, and a concern for symbolic inner meaning rather than try to convey the message through a naturalistic treatment of form. As Roman contradictions deepen, outer form is reduced to a play of line or a relation of colored regions, and the emergent feudal aesthetic conveyed meaning through relations rather than through surface form.
	7. Ivory diptych of the Consuls Rufius Gennadius and Probus, Rome, 530 A.D. Although the consular diptych form and its style are traditional, in place of the emperor medallions at top are the Ostrogothic rulers, Amalasuntha and Athalaric. The donative scene below rather narrative and plebeian, although Rufius is hieratic.

Painting

	1. Fresco of Maria Regina, Christ Child, and angel, Rome, beg. 6th c. (Sta. Maria Antiqua). While the angel is in the old naturalistic style, this first representation in art of Mary as regent anticipates the new stiff detached frontal style of the Byzantine Exarchate.
	2. Encaustic painting on canvas on wood of Maria Regina, Virgin of Clemency (Rome. Sta. Maria in Trastevere). 60" tall. 8th-century exact copy of a Roman work from the beg. 6th century. Angels in "stupendis" posture. The style is Romano-Hellenistic, i.e., worldly and emotional, but Mary is in the new style, for she is hieratic, has frozen symmetry, and rich clothing.
	3. Fresco from Catacomb of Commodilla of Maria Regina and Child and SS. Felix and Damian, 6th c. (Rome).

Metalwork

1. Polychrome cover of the Gospel Book of Queen Theodelinda, Rome (?), ca. 600 A.D. (Monza: Cathedral Treasure). 13.5" These Gospels were a jpgt of Bishop Gregory I of Rome to the Queen in 603 A.D. Theodilinda was a Frankish aristocratic woman sought as a wife by King Authari of the Lombards as part of his strategy to neutralize the Frankish threat. After his death she married his successor, Agilulf. Because she was a well-connected Frank, Gregory tried to use her to settle his troubled relations with the Lombard monarchy, and this jpgt was probably a bribe to gain her cooperation. The gold cover has inlaid stones, pearls, antique cameos, and cloisonné.

Mosaics

1. San Lorenzo fuori le mura, Rome. Arch mosaic showing Christ with Peter and Paul, the Deacons Stephano and Lorenzo, the Priest Hippolitus, and Bishop Pelagius of Rome on a gold ground, 559-579 A.D. The Saint Lorenzo church was reconstructed by Pelagius II and by Greek craftsmen brought in when the East Roman Emperors resumed authority over Rome. However, destruction during the Gothic Wars reduced the city to rubble and swamp, so that only a few Greeks actually lived here. This work reflects somewhat the classic revival taking place in the East Mediterranean, as seen in the naturalistic green grass and sense of plastic values. Nevertheless, Christ himself is hieratic and transcendant, flanked by his heavenly court. Pelagius hands over a model of the church as a sign of his good work as its restorer. He lacks a nimbus because, except for the emperor, living people were generally represented more in wordly terms such as church administrators than mediators of cosmic energy. The overcoming of this distinction in part marks the emergence of a feudal culture.