The Ravenna Baptistery.

middle and swung back on dislocated hiuges , disclosing a dirty basin , and by the side of the semi-circular marble pulpitlike stand for the priest , a dirty moneybox that would disgrace a pot-house . To penetrate into the building I had also to

make my way through a crowd of squalid beggars assembled at the door in hopes of some chance baptism alms . But all these degradations will now soon be cleared away , and in the meantime one quickly forgets their presence in delight at the

beauties they cannot disfigure . In each corner of the octagon , standing on the actual floor , and occupying the place of the original columns , which measured & lmetres in height , are dwarf colonettes of less than half their dimensions , from

which spring eight round arches—four opening in the niches I have mentionedand from the lines formed b y them , or rather from the returns below , the mosaic work commences . On the spandrils , upon oval backgrounds of gold enclosed b

y acanthus leaves springing from the capitals of the columns beneath them , and spreading out in lovely scrolls to the ri ght and left over and above the arches , are eight Prophets , grand , noble , majestic figures , draped in white . ' without auy ornament

, beyond two black lines on their tunics , descending from the shoulders to the knees , and a sign like the letter " I " on the corner of each of their tosras .

It does not require more than half a glance to convince any one possessing the least knowled ge that these are the work of an artist of the hi ghest merit , deeply imbued with the princi ples of classic art as they were , not as they are understood , d

a « thoroughly comprehending them , fie wonder is how in the fifth century , when scul pture had so much declined , there lived a man capable of drawing ngures , worth y , if not of the best , at least of the Augustan period . Found in a Pagan

building one would say they represented ftoman Senators of the sterner Republican ype , and further were portraits of celebrated persons . The most remarkable "Mwulualit y , not merely in face but in pne is preserved in eachand in each a

, con ? ex P ression life-like —nothing , » m be move so—and full of character , of 7 ? in tlle eas y > d'g nified posture "' stingiushed men ; their actions are

essentially different ; their draperies cast with that truthful , excellent variety of fold no study of art examples only could have taught , and the manipulation of light and shadow is perfect . There are touches of colouring on the lips , cheeks , and eyes the

most cunning pencil could scarce have placed more effectively . Some of these are figures of young men with shaven faces , others older , with thick black hair and beards , and aged men with flowing beards and scanty white hair . Each has a written

scroll , held either closed in one hand or open in both . One figure , with his right arm folded in his toga , bears a considerable resemblance to the Sophocles of the Late . ran . It would be difficult to say which is the more worthy of its

counterpart . Another of the prophets , a young man with both arms folded in his , toga across his breast and holding a rolled-up scroll in one hand , faces straight upon the spectator , and with his right foot immediately before his leftsteris out with so

, much life-likeness that one might almost imitate Michael Angelo , and tell any one present to stand out of the way . While the oval backgrounds bo these figures are

of gold , that of the remaining space is black , with , spreading over it , the rich scrolls of the acanthus , of two shades of olive green outlined and pencilled with gold , with the exception of those portions of the leaves which , from the central fibre

forming the oval , turn over upon its gold , and they are shaded in black . Above these , and at the height of about a foot from the summit of the arches , runs a slight cornice , carrying at each corner a pilaster corresponding to the columns

below . The cap of each is surmounted by a floriated bracket or corbel , with a cross in the centre , and from these the vault of the dome springs upwards , while laterally they carry arches on the sides of the octagon , repeating those beneath . Within

the span of each arch are three others , side by side , springing from the line of its diameter , the two outer touching the caps of the bilasters , their inner points and the arch in the middle , which is somewhat larger than the othersand forms the

win-, dow on each side , resting on other pilasters of stucco , forming altogether a range of 24 . This belt is entirely ornamented with stucco work . Upon the i > 2