Princeton Monographs in Art and Archaeology IV 
 
 LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF 
 ROME OF THE MEDIAEVAL 
 PERIOD 
 
 A publication of drawings contained 
 
 IN THE COLLECTION OF CASSIANO DAL POZZO, 
 NOW IN THE ROYAL LIBRARY, WINDSOR CASTLE 
 
 BY 
 
 C. R. MOREY 
 
 PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD 
 OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 1915 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY 
 PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 Published June, 1915 
 
 THE GETTY CENTER 
 LIBRARY 
 
To 
 
 Richard Norton 
 
PREFACE 
 
 I am under obligation to Professors Allan Marquand and Frank J. 
 Mather, Jr., of Princeton, for much assistance in the preparation of the 
 following pages. To Dr. Thomas Ashby, Director of the British School 
 in Rome, I feel particularly indebted for his unfailing kindness in furnish- 
 ing me with photographs and data which could only be obtained at Rome, 
 and for numerous useful suggestions bearing witness to his thorough 
 knowledge of the sources of Roman Archaeology. 
 
 I wish also here to thank the staff of the Royal Library at Windsor 
 for the assistance afforded me in the reproduction and description of the 
 drawings published in the present monograph. 
 
 Princeton, March, 191 5. C. R. Morey. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction i 
 
 I. The Fresco in the Apse of S. Lorenzo in Lucina 6 
 
 II. The Tribune Mosaics of Santa Maria Nuova 16 
 
 III. The Apsidal Mosaic of San Teodoro 25 
 
 IV. The Apsidal Mosaic of SS. Cosma e Damiano 35 
 
 V. The Frescoes in the Oratory of S. Pudenziana 40 
 
 VI. The Signature of Pietro Cavallini 49 
 
 VII. The Frescoes in the Tribune of S. Passera 55 
 
 VIII. The Frescoes in the Chapel of St. Nicholas in the 
 
 Lateran Palace 64 
 
PLATES 
 
 I. (Frontispiece) Drawing of the fresco formerly in the apse of 
 S. Lorenzo in Lucina. 
 
 II. Drawings of the mosaics formerly on the arch of S. Maria Nnova. 
 
 III. Drawing of the apsidal mosaic of S. Teocloro. 
 
 IV. Drawing of a fresco in the oratory of S. Pudenziana. 
 
 V. Drawing of the fresco formerly in the vault of the apse of the chapel 
 of St. Nicholas in the Lateran palace. 
 
 VI. Drawing of the fresco formerly on the lower wall of the apse of the 
 chapel of St. Nicholas in the Lateran palace, left half. 
 
 VII. Drawing of the fresco formerly on the lower wall of the apse of the 
 chapel of St. Nicholas in the Lateran palace, right half. 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1. Drawings of the arch mosaic and lower frieze of the ap- 
 
 SIDAL MOSAIC OF SS. COSMA E DAMIANO 3 
 
 2. Facade and Campanile of S. Lorenzo in Lucina 13 
 
 3. Interior of S. Francesca Rom ana (S. Maria Nuova) 16 
 
 4. Drawing of the Apsidal Mosaic of S. Maria Nuova 18 
 
 5. Apsidal Mosaic of S. Teodoro, present state 26 
 
 6. Apse and Arch of SS. Cosma e Damiano, present state. . . . 35 
 
 7. Drawing of the Apsidal Mosaic of SS. Cosma e Damiano. ... 37 
 
 8. Detail of the Apsidal Mosaic of SS. Cosma e Damiano 38 
 
 9. Drawing of a fresco in the oratory of S. Pudenziana 44 
 
 10. Drawing of the ceiling-fresco of the oratory of S. Puden- 
 ziana 45 
 
 11. Drawing by Antonio Eclissi of a mosaic by Pietro Cavallini 
 
 in S. Maria in Trastevere 5 1 
 
 12. Drawing of a mosaic by Pietro Cavallini in S. Maria in 
 Trastevere 5 2 
 
 13. Drawing of the upper fresco in the apse of S. Passera 56 
 
 14. Drawing of the lower fresco in the apse of S. Passera 57 
 
 15. Drawing of the frescoes on the left side of the arch of 
 
 S. Passera 5^ 
 
 16. Drawing of the frescoes on the right side of the arch of 
 
 S. Passera 59 
 
 17. Frescoes in the tribune of S. Passera, present state 60 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 In 1762 the young George the Third, two years after he ascended the 
 throne, justified the reputation which he had acquired as a connoisseur of 
 ancient art by purchasing, through the agency of James Adam, the great 
 collection of drawings and prints which had been one of the most precious 
 possessions of the library of Cardinal Albani. 1 The collection brought 
 about three thousand guineas, and its sale aroused the protests of Winckel- 
 mann, who was at that time the Cardinal's librarian. Sold it was, however, 
 and it has ever since formed part of the King's Library at Windsor Castle. 
 
 The major portion of this collection consisted of the drawings assem- 
 bled by the Commendatore Cassiano dal Pozzo, who died in 1657. Part 
 of his drawings came through various hands into the possession of A. W. 
 Franks, but most of them were sold with the Albani Collection to King- 
 George, and are preserved in the first sixteen volumes of this series. 
 Among these are two folio volumes bound in leather and labelled Mosaici 
 Antichi. 2 The name is misleading, for most of the drawings are copies, 
 not of mosaics, but of frescoes and objects of the minor arts, 3 of Christian 
 origin. A number of them, moreover, are copies of pagan monuments, 
 which were no doubt taken for Christian by the copyist or the person who 
 gave the drawings their present arrangement. They are mostly done in 
 pen and color or wash, with the addition of gold in the case of copies of 
 mosaics. Occasionally one finds a sketch in chalk or some other medium. 
 The subjects are varied, ranging from the mosaics of the churches of 
 
 1 Michaelis, "Ancient Marbles in Great Britain," pp. 84 and 718-719. 
 
 2 Vols. XI-XII. The average measurement of the leaves of the first volume is 
 5434 x 39/4 cm. ; of the second. 54^ x 39^ cm. In the present monograph these 
 volumes are referred to by the title Mosaici Antichi, Vols. I, IT. 
 
 3 One of the objects is an early Christian encolpium of Palestinian type, whose 
 reliefs of front and back are reproduced in Vol. II. fol. 28, nos. 9,069, 9,070. This lost 
 encolpium is discussed by E. B. Smith in Bye. Zcit. 1914. pp. 217-225. 
 
 I 
 
2 
 
 LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 Rome and Ravenna to the fondi d'oro (bottoms of glass goblets inclos- 
 ing a design in gold leaf) found in the catacombs, and including reliefs of 
 sarcophagi, plans of buildings, etc., and a few nondescript objects whose 
 character is hard to determine. 
 
 The date which is to be assigned to the drawings offers an interesting- 
 problem. One of them/ a copy of the inscription on the triumphal 
 arch of St. Paul's-outside-the- Walls, has upon it the note: Nell' arco che 
 separa la tribum dal resto della chiesa in S. paolo di mosoico 1592. The 
 "1592" might at first sight be taken for a date, but the other drawings on 
 the same page bear numbers running well up into the hundreds, and as the 
 "1592" is written in different ink from that used in the note, it is altogether 
 likelv that it, like the numbers found on the other drawings beside it, is a 
 catalogue indication added subsequently. I have found no other notes on 
 the drawings contained in the Mosaici Antichi which offer any help in the 
 matter of dating. 
 
 Some of the copies of mosaics and frescoes show that they must have 
 been done after the closing years of the sixteenth century. Thus the copy 
 of the tribune frescoes of the chapel of St. Nicholas in the Lateran (see 
 page 67) was certainly executed after the restoration of these frescoes, 
 which took place about 1570. Another indication is to be found in the 
 copy of the apsidal mosaic of SS. Cosma e Damiano. We know that 
 Gregory XIII altered this mosaic, putting in a figure of Gregory the Great 
 in place of the original effigy of Felix IV. Dal Pozzo's drawing retains 
 this figure of Gregory and hence must have been made after the acces- 
 sion of Gregory XIII in 1572. Alexander VII took out this figure and 
 replaced it with the present representation of Felix IV. His reign ended 
 in 1667, which gives us a terminus ad quem for the date of the drawing 
 that can be restricted (further by the date of Dal Pozzo's death, 1657. 
 The apse of S. Teodoro must have been copied before the Barberini 
 restoration of 1644 (see page 29 ff.). Lastly, the drawing of the arch of 
 SS. Cosma e Damiano (Fig. 1, compare Fig. 6) 5 shows us the arch 
 
 'Mosaici Antichi, Vol. II, fol. 30. no. 9077. Measures 8 x m}4 cm. Pen drawing. 
 
 "Mosaici Antichi. Vol. I. fol. 95, no. 9034- Dal Pozzo number 37. Measures 24 x 44V2 cm- 
 Pen, gold, and color. The strip at the bottom of the drawing represents the lower band 
 of the apsidal mosaic. There are slight differences from (the existing band; at present 
 the outer parts of the cities are cut off, and with them the crosses flanked by A and 
 O which terminate the inscription at either end. The present inscription also has 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 3 
 
 in its present curtailed state, after the sides were cut off during the alter- 
 ation of the church under Urban VIII (1 623-1 644). 
 
 These various indications derived from different drawings in the two 
 volumes of Mosaici Antic hi would be of little moment were it not for the 
 fact that the majority of these copies of frescoes and mosaics show a suffi- 
 cient similarity of style and of technique to be ascribed to one and the same 
 hand. This unity can certainly be asserted of the copies which are discussed 
 in the present volume. One needs but to compare the reproductions of the 
 
 Fig. 1. (Above) Drawing of the arch mosaic of SS. Cosma e Damiano. 
 
 (Below) Drawing of the lower frieze of the apsidal mosaic. 
 
 drawings herein contained to be convinced of this, and will be struck par- 
 ticularly by the uniformity shown in the drawing of the borders, and of 
 the drapery and faces of the figures, especially as regards the nostrils and 
 the mouth. To be more specific, all the drawings about to be discussed may 
 be assigned to the artist who drew the copy of the arch of SS. Cosma e 
 Damiano, done after 1623, and that of the apse of S. Teodoro, done 
 before 1644, years which correspond to the pontificate of Urban VIII. 
 From a statement by Mabillon (see page 32) it is to be inferred that the 
 
 "yETHERJA" instead of the "/ETERIA" of the drawing. These discrepancies indicate 
 that the copy was made during, and not after, the alterations of the tribune effected 
 under Urban VIII. 
 
4 LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 mosaic of S. Teodoro was copied by order of Cassiano dal Pozzo himself, 
 and it is quite possible that all the drawings showing the same hand were 
 commissioned by the Commendatore for his own collection. 
 
 Now we happen to know the name of an artist who was making- copies 
 of ancient mosaics and frescoes for the Roman amateurs of this period, 
 one Antonio Eclissi, who was in the employ of Cardinal Francesco Bar- 
 berini, nephew of Urban VIII, and has left two volumes of drawings of 
 Roman mosaics, frescoes and inscriptions, signed with his name and dated 
 respectively 1639 and 1640. 6 Many of these drawings are copies of 
 monuments which are also reproduced in the Dal Pozzo collection. One 
 of them, a copy of Cavallini's Madonna in S. Maria in Trastevere, is re- 
 produced from a bromide negative in Fig. 11. If we compare this copy 
 with that in the Dal Pozzo collection (Fig. 12), the identity of handling is 
 so apparent (see page 53) that we are forced to conclude that Eclissi was the 
 author of both drawings, and was employed by Cassiano dal Pozzo as well 
 as by the Barberini. The same style, as was said before, is found in the 
 other drawings discussed in this monograph, and they are therefore to be 
 attributed en bloc to Antonio Eclissi, together with the many other copies 
 in the Dal Pozzo collection which show the same technique. 
 
 The drawings selected for publication in the present monograph are 
 copies of mosaics and frescoes which once decorated the churches of 
 Rome but are now destroyed either in whole or in part, or are so much 
 changed by restoration or repainting as to bear little resemblance to their 
 original appearance. In the cases of the apse of S. Maria Nuova, the 
 Cavallini mosaic in S. Maria in Trastevere and the ceiling fresco of the 
 oratory of S. Pudenziana the copies are published for the sake of the in- 
 scriptions which they record. The drawing of the apse of S. Teodoro 
 presents a problem by itself, and is important by reason of the evidence it 
 affords on the date of the collection. 
 
 With the exception of the apse of S. Teodoro and that of SS. Cosma 
 e Damiano, all the frescoes and mosaics whose original aspect is restored 
 by this series of copies belong to the revival of art in Rome in the twelfth 
 and thirteenth centuries, a period known to the modern student of Italian 
 
 • Formerly in the Barberini co\\ec\\on(j^^^2^^20i^ , now in the Vatican Library. 
 See E. Miintz, Melanges d'archeologie et d'histoire, Ecole francaise de Rome, 1888, 
 
 pp. 105-108. 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 5 
 
 painting as the first phase of the classic "renaissance," which led on to the 
 style of Cavallini and played no small part in the formation of the art of 
 Giotto. 
 
 The group of drawings here discussed by no means exhausts the 
 number of copies of importance contained in the Mosaici Antichi, and I 
 hope soon to publish others in the collection which will be of interest to the 
 student of mediaeval Rome. 
 
I. THE FRESCO IN THE APSE OF S. LORENZO IN LUCINA 
 
 Readers of "The Ring and the Book" will remember that S. Lorenzo 
 in Lucina was the church where Pompilia was married. Now and then 
 its seclusion is penetrated by the casual literary pilgrim; not often, how- 
 ever, for there is little to attract the sightseer save the twelfth century 
 portico and campanile. The interior, modernized in the seventeenth cen- 
 tury, affords a somewhat disappointing mise en scene for Browning's 
 romance. 
 
 An out-of-the-way and quiet church, S. Lorenzo has had a rather 
 uneventful career as Roman churches go. It is very old, for Pope 
 Damasus was elected there in the year 366, 1 and some have tried to make 
 it older still bv building ingenious theories on its peculiar appellation "in 
 Lucina." Such phrases attached to the name of a Roman church are 
 usually derived from the name of the founder, as in the case of S. Lorenzo 
 in Damoso. De Waal 2 therefore contends that "the church was without 
 doubt founded in the house of a lady of that name (Lucina)," and that 
 this Lucina, if she was the contemporary of St. Lawrence, who suffered 
 martyrdom in 258, might well be the Christian matron of the same name 
 who buried the body of Pope Cornelius in praedio mo via Apjna, in a 
 cemetery which became the nucleus of the vast catacomb of Callixtus. 
 Old topographers saw in the name a reference to an ancient temple, and 
 the "Maraviglie di Roma," published in 1629, tells us that the church was 
 "originally the temple of Juno Lucina." Others 3 have preferred to assign 
 the foundation of the church to Sixtus III (432-440), citing a passage in 
 the life of this Pontiff as it appears in the Liber Pontificate: "Fecit autem 
 
 1 Duchesne, Lib. Pont. I, p. 364, note 2. 
 
 3 S v Lucina in Wetzer & Welte's Kirchenlexikon. 
 
 'Professor Frothingham, for example, in his "Monuments of Christian Rome (Ap- 
 pendix p 407). Professor Frothingham cites the apsidal fresco discussed in this chapter 
 in support of his opinion, but was mistaken in supposing that Sixtus and not Lucina 
 held the model of the church, and was thus represented as the founder. 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 7 
 
 basilicam sancto Laurcntio, quod Valcntinianus Augustus concessit:" 3 * In 
 this they are wrong, for Sixtus' church was certainly the Basilica Maior, 
 the extension which he added to the old Constantinian church of St. 
 Lawrence-outside-the-Walls. 4 
 
 As a matter of fact we know nothing of the origin of the church, and it 
 first appears in the history of the city as the theatre of the election of 
 Damasus as bishop of Rome. We hear of it again under the name 
 "Titulus Lucinae" in connection with a council held under Symmachus in 
 499. In the sixth century it was already a "station" church. 5 Benedict II 
 restored it toward the end of the seventh century,''' and it was restored 
 again, "together with the portico," by Hadrian I (772-795). 7 In his day 
 there was a cemetery beside the church, from which some interesting 
 epitaphs were brought to light during repairs to the foundations of the 
 Palazzo Fiano, to the left of the portico of S. Lorenzo. 8 It was at 
 S. Lorenzo that Hadrian's successor Leo III was blinded and had his 
 tongue torn out in a popular revolt when he had arrived at the church to 
 celebrate the Litania Maior, which at that time included a procession 
 starting from S. Lorenzo and proceeding to St. Peter's by way of the 
 Milvian bridge. 9 The ninth and tenth centuries have left no further 
 memories of the church, except that it was flooded twice by inundations 
 of the Tiber, in the reigns of Sergius II and Nicholas I. 10 In the eleventh 
 century, under Gregory VII (1073- 1085) the church shared in the general 
 devastation which overtook this part of the city at the hands of Robert 
 Guiscard and his Norman hordes, who, as recorded by a nearly contem- 
 porary chronicler 11 in the Liber Pontijicalis, "utterly destroyed and well- 
 
 3a Duchesne, op. cit. I, p. 234. 
 
 * Duchesne, op. cit. I, p. 235, note 12. 
 
 5 Armellini, Chiese di Roma,, 2nd ed. 1891, p. 291. 
 
 8 Duchesne, op. cit. I, p. 363 : Hie ecclesiam beati Petri apostoli sed et beati Laurenti 
 martyris qui appellatur Lucinae restauravit. 
 
 7 Duchesne, op. cit. I, p. 507 : Pariter et titulum beati Laurentii martyris qui appel- 
 latur Lucina, seu ecclesiam beati Martini sitam iuxta titulum sancti SilvestH, simulque 
 et basilica beati Agapiti martyris foris muros iuxta sanctum Laurentium posita, qu<& 
 proefate ecclesice a priscis temporibus marcuentes in minis mole evenerunt, quas 
 pracipuas antistes fervens in amore spiritus sancti in omnibus una cum porticibus earum 
 noviter nimio decore renovavit. 
 
 8 De Rossi, Bull. arch, crist. 1873, p. 22 ff . 
 'Duchesne, op cit. II, p. 35, note 17. 
 
 10 Duchesne, op cit. II, p. 153. 
 
 11 Peter of Pisa, Cardinal under Paschal II. Cf. Duchesne, Etude sur le Liber Ponti- 
 ficalis, p. 92 (Bibl. des ecoles franq. d'Athenes et de Rome, I re serie, T. L). 
 
8 
 
 LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 nigh reduced to nothing all that region in which are situated the churches 
 of S. Silvestro and S. Lorenzo in Lucina." 12 
 
 The Norman sack of Rome must have badly damaged the church, even 
 if the "utter destruction" of the mediaeval hyperbolist be taken with a grain 
 of salt, for there. is record of restorations on the part of the popes of the 
 twelfth century. Paschal II, according to an inscription of 1112 which is 
 mentioned by Pompeo Ugonio, restored the high altar and deposited the 
 relics of many martyrs in the church. There still exists in the portico an 
 inscription recording the dedication of the church in 11 30 by Anacletus II, 
 antipope in the time of Innocent II. Another inscription preserved in the 
 interior relates that Celestine III dedicated it anew "with the devotion of 
 the whole Roman people and the neighboring peoples, and with such 
 solemnity and glory as was never read of nor seen before." 1 ' -5 Ugonio, 
 quoting Biondo, says that the church was again restored in 1280 by Hugo 
 "Cardinale dTnghilterra" ; in 1427 by Giovanni da Rupescissa "under 
 Eugenius IV," and again in the middle of the fifteenth century, "in the 
 time of Biondo himself," by "Inico, Cardinale di Aragonia." The present 
 aspect of the interior dates from the seventeenth century, when it was re- 
 modelled in modern style. 14 It still retains the prestige of antiquity; a 
 Cardinal bears its title and ranks first in the Order of Priests of St. Peter's. 
 
 We may thank the restoration of the seicento for the destruction of the 
 decoration of the interior, of which we should be entirely ignorant were 
 it not for the happy preservation of the drawing which forms the subject 
 of this chapter (Plate I, frontispiece). 15 It represents a typical apsidal 
 composition, with a border composed of the usual garland of flowers, 
 banded by a ribbon and ending at the top in a red medallion inclosing a white 
 monogram : A diamond pattern in white on a red ground forms an 
 
 interior border. The composition proper is dominated by the Arc of 
 Heaven, in which appears the Hand of God holding a crown over the head 
 of Christ. The Saviour, dressed in green-white tunic and red pallium, and 
 wearing a white nimbus (crossed and dotted with red), holds a roll in His 
 
 "Duchesne, op. cit. II, p. 290: lmmo ipse cum suis totani rcgionem Mam in qua cec- 
 clesice sancti Silvestri et sancti Laurcntii in Lucina site sunt penitus destruxit et fere 
 ad nichilum redegit. 
 
 13 The text of this inscription is given by Armellini, op. cit. p. 291. 
 
 14 Armellini, op. cit. p. 292. 
 
 16 Mosaici Antichi, vol. I, fol. 13, no. 8940. Marked with the number 24 by an early 
 cataloguer, presumably Dal Pozzo. Measures 23^ x 38 cm. Pen and color wash. 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 9 
 
 left hand and raises His right hand in what was probably in the original a 
 gesture of benediction. He stands on a little green hillock in the midst of 
 a group of six saints, each of whom wears a white nimbus bordered with 
 red. To His right is St. Paul, in white tunic and purple pallium; on His 
 left St. Peter, who wears a red tunic and white pallium shaded with green. 
 Both Peter and Paul wear sandals instead of shoes, a regular distinction of 
 the Apostolic saints. Each carries a scroll in his left hand, while the right 
 arm is raised but enveloped in classic fashion by the pallium, — a point of 
 some importance, as will appear later. The next saint to the Saviour's right 
 is St. Lawrence. He wears a yellow-white pallium wrapped around his 
 deacon's dalmatic, which is red with green stripes and pectoral. In his left 
 hand he carries the lector's book as further indication of his rank in the 
 clergy. The artist has not drawn his right foot; it doubtless rested on the 
 gridiron, the instrument of his martyrdom, which is seen below him. In the 
 same relative position on the other side of the group is the other deacon 
 saint, the protomartyr Stephen, a constant companion of St. Lawrence in 
 Roman iconography ever since the sixth century, when he first appears in 
 this role in the mosaic on the arch of St. Lawrence-outside-the-Walls. On 
 his head he bears the stones with which he was slain. He, too, carries a 
 book, and a purple pallium is draped over his dalmatic, which is yellow- 
 white with green stripes and pectoral. Over his left arm is draped a green 
 maniple. At the extremities of the row of saints on either side are the 
 traditional founders of the Church. On the right of Christ is Lucina, who 
 wears a yellow-white undergarment, with a green overdress edged with 
 white, and a red palla draped upon her shoulders. Over the blue veil which 
 covers her head she wears a crown of green (the patrician ladies among 
 the early Roman saints usually became "princesses" in later legend), and 
 in her hands, piously veiled in a white napkin, she carries a little model 
 of the church; a very freely conceived model, lacking the portico, but 
 showing the basilical clerestory and a campanile with two windowed stories. 
 At the other end of the line stands Pope Sixtus, in episcopal costume. 10 
 He carries a red-covered book in his left hand. The figures are labelled 
 
 M White tunic, red dalmatic with a green patch, green paenula, or mantle, with a 
 yellow pectoral on the breast, white pallium-scarf with black crosses, and white neckcloth. 
 Sixtus, Lawrence, and Lucina all wear dark-colored shoes; the foot of St. Lawrence is 
 shod in yellow. All the saints stand on a greenish ground-istrip against a background of 
 violet. The arc of Heaven and the Hand are in blue and white. 
 
IO 
 
 LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 with inscriptions; by the side of Christ's halo is: YHS XC, and above the 
 heads of the other figures are the following titles, -S- PAVLVS, -S- 
 PETRVS, -S- LAVRENTI, STEPHANVS, -S-LVCINA, -S-SYXTVS- 
 The presence in the group of Sixtus, St. Lawrence and Lucina indi- 
 cates where Dal Pozzo's artist (i.e. Eclissi) copied the painting, and we 
 have also the definite assurance of Pompeo Ugonio (in his Historia delle 
 Stationi di Roma, Rome, 1588) that it belonged to S. Lorenzo in Lucina. 
 In his description of the church as it appeared in the last years of the six- 
 teenth century he mentions this painting first by way of bolstering up his 
 theory that the church was founded by Lucina, pointing out that he is sup- 
 ported in his opinion by the "ancient painting in the tribune, which shows 
 itself to be some centuries old, where among other saints is painted Saint 
 Lucina, holding a church in her hands, with her name above, in the manner 
 which we have already observed in the Station of S. Cecilia to have been 
 among our forefathers the customary way of painting those saints who 
 built the churches." 17 Further on he gives a full description of the com- 
 position: "Behind is the tribune, painted with ancient figures. In the 
 centre is Our SAVIOUR, to the right and left Saint Peter and Saint Paul, 
 Saint Lawrence and Saint Stephen. Next on one side is painted Saint 
 Lucina, who holds the church in her hands, being a proof that she built it; 
 and on the other side, with his name above him, is Sixtus III, also a 
 benefactor of the same church. A little below and next to (the tribune 
 painting) is depicted the life and story of the glorious martyr Saint 
 Lawrence." ls The painting must therefore have been in fresco and not 
 in mosaic, for in his description of other churches, Ugonio is careful to 
 mention the use of mosaic wherever occasion demands, and here he re- 
 peatedly tells us that the apse was "painted" (pittura antica, e . . . dipinta 
 santa Lucina, Tribune dipinta, si vede . . . dipinta S. Lucina) . Moreover, 
 no gold is used in the drawing, while Eclissi always uses gold in his copies 
 of mosaics. The drawing has therefore preserved a very fair replica of 
 an interesting mediaeval fresco. 
 
 "Historia dcllc Stationi di Roma, fol. 184. 
 
 18 It is possible that some of these scenes of the life of S. Lorenzo are copied in draw- 
 ings of the Dal Pozzo collection (Vol. I, fols. 50 to 78; vol. II, fols. 24 to 26, and fol. 
 86) which represent scenes in the lives of Sts. Lawrence and Stephen. But the great 
 majority of them are certainly copies of frescoes at St. Lawrence-outside-the-Walls, 
 and no certain connection can be established between the others and this series men- 
 tioned by Ugonio. 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME n 
 
 But of what period? There lies a difficulty, for while if the original 
 were before us the question would solve itself by mere indications of style, 
 it is quite a different matter to date a painting on the basis of a copy 
 executed about 1640 by an artist more or less indifferent to stylistic detail. 
 Nevertheless, the fresco gives certain clues to its date even through this 
 discouraging medium. 
 
 Reviewing the history of the church, there are but few epochs when 
 the tribune is likely to have been decorated. For to ascribe the fresco to 
 Sixtus and the fifth century is not only impossible on other grounds, — for 
 example, the little model which Lucina holds has a campanile, and bell- 
 towers were unknown in Rome in the fifth century, — but the epithet 
 Sanctus which appears in the inscription above the head of Sixtus shows 
 that the painting is later than his day, for a Pope could scarcely canonize 
 himself in his own work. The inscription might be a later addition, but 
 there is no reason to suppose this in the case of the halo, so that the 
 objection still holds. The next possible date is offered by the restoration 
 of Benedict II at the end of the seventh century. Against this there is 
 still the campanile, and the restoration of Benedict must in any case have 
 been anything but thorough, for a hundred years later, the Liber Ponti- 
 ficalis records, the church was "in ruins," and had to be "renewed" by 
 Hadrian I. The chronicle adds moreover that Hadrian restored the 
 church "noviter nimio decore," which apparently alludes to new interior 
 decoration, and we have evidence of this Pontiff's solicitude for the inner 
 aspect of Roman churches from the fact that he restored the mosaics of 
 S. Pudenziana. 19 
 
 Hadrian's biography in the Liber Pontificalis bears witness to great 
 activity in restoring the churches of the city, and his occupancy of the 
 Holy See marks the beginning of an artistic revival in Rome which lasted 
 until the middle of the ninth century and produced the mosaic of SS. Nereo 
 ed Achilleo under Leo III, the mosaics of S. Prassede, S. Cecilia and 
 S. Maria in Dominica under Paschal I, and that of Gregory IV in S. Marco. 
 As between the reigns of Benedict II and Hadrian I, then, it is to the latter 
 that the fresco would be more probably assigned. 
 
 Aside from mere fragments, and a few paintings in the church of 
 S. Maria Antiqua assigned to the reign of Hadrian I on rather insufficient 
 
 19 De Rossi, Musaici cristiani di Roma. 
 
12 LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 grounds, the only one of Hadrian's paintings left with which the drawing 
 may be compared is a fresco- 0 on the long wall to the right as one enters 
 the atrium of S. Maria Antiqua, representing the Madonna enthroned in 
 the midst of a group of six figures. Five of them are designated as saints 
 by the circular nimbus they wear around their heads, but the sixth is 
 Hadrian himself, wearing the rectangular nimbus which denotes the living 
 personage and labelled with doubtful modesty: (Sanct)ISSIMVS (Hadr) 
 I ANUS (pa) PA. The style, however, of these figures, with their slender 
 stiffness, flat draperies and Byzantinizing heads, offers little analogy to 
 the comparatively free treatment to be observed in the Dal Pozzo drawing, 
 even giving due allowance to the tendency of the copyist to modernize the 
 original. 
 
 The difference becomes more marked when we compare Eclissi's 
 drawing with the better preserved monuments of the period ushered in by 
 Hadrian's reign, the mosaics, namely, of the end of the eighth and the 
 first half of the ninth century which were commissioned by Hadrian's 
 successors. These mosaics of what may be called the Carolingian period 
 in Rome make the figures very long and slender. The garlands of the 
 borders are themselves somewhat attenuated ; they do not as in the drawing 
 under discussion fill the space assigned to them, but leave a strip of gold 
 background on either side between them and the frame. The Carolingian 
 artists also represented the Hand of God issuing from clouds, and not 
 from the formal Arc of Heaven seen in the drawing. The treatment 
 of the right arms of Peter and Paul offers another distinction; in the 
 Carolingian examples the arm is free, while in the fresco of S. Lorenzo 
 it is enveloped by the pallium. Lastly we have two considerations of a 
 more decisive character which make it extremely improbable that the 
 fresco was executed under Hadrian. The Carolingian Popes were ac- 
 customed to represent themselves as donors in their mosaics and frescoes, 
 wearing the rectangular nimbus and kneeling at the feet of the Virgin or of 
 Christ, or standing like Lucina, and sometimes holding a model of the 
 church in their hands. Hadrian is depicted, in the fresco of S. Maria 
 Antiqua previously noticed, as a standing figure wearing a rectangular 
 nimbus and holding a book. Not content with this, the Popes of the period 
 usually signed their work by placing their monograms in a little medallion 
 
 20 Griineisen, Ste. -Marie-Antique, fig. Cg. 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 13 
 
 at the top of the apsidal arch, where in the drawing the monogram of 
 Christ is seen. Paschal signs himself thus at S. Prassede, S. Cecilia, and 
 S. Maria in Domnica ; Gregory IV placed his monogram in the same 
 place at S. Marco; Hadrian I himself, when he repaired the apse of S. 
 Pudenziana, left his monogram, since destroyed, on the summit of the 
 arch. We would therefore expect to find it replacing the at the top of 
 the arch of S. Lorenzo if the apse had been decorated at his order. 
 
 Fig. 2. Facade and campanile of S. Lorenzo in Lucina. 
 
 The second objection brings us back to the campanile, evidently the 
 chief feature of the facade at the time the fresco was painted. As it ap- 
 pears in the model of the church which Lucina holds, the campanile is a 
 rough sketch of the usual Roman type, a square brick tower with two or 
 more windowed stories. But while church bells seem to have been used 
 in Rome at least as early as Gregory the Great, the bell-tower itself 
 was not introduced till later. The earliest example in Rome seems to be 
 the campanile of S. Marco, and this can scarcely antedate the reign of 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 Gregory IV (827-844). The campanile in the drawing is therefore quite 
 as much an objection to assigning the fresco to Hadrian as to its attribu- 
 tion to Benedict II or Sixtus III. It is more likely, from what will appear 
 later, that it is a free copy (Roman mosaics and frescoes are never very 
 accurate in the representation of buildings) of the twelfth century bell- 
 tower which at present flanks the church (Fig. 2). 
 
 The arguments which have been brought out against a date in the end 
 of the eighth century, save in the case of the campanile, hold for the whole 
 Carolingian period, and as for the tenth and eleventh centuries, there is 
 nothing in the history of the church or in the history of the mediaeval art 
 of Rome which would lead one to suppose that the fresco was produced in 
 those dark ages of the city. But the church suffered severely at the hands 
 of Robert Guiscard, and was dedicated anew by the antipope Anacletus 
 II in 1 1 30, and again by Celestine III in 1196. A dedication implies prac- 
 tically a rebuilding, with its attendant transformation of the interior. 
 Historically speaking therefore, this is the most likely time in which to 
 place the fresco, and if it is compared with the other works produced in 
 the twelfth century the connection with the period is clear. 
 
 There are three Roman churches which retain their mosaic decoration 
 of the twelfth century : S. Clemente, whose magnificent apse dates in the 
 pontificate of Paschal II (1099-1118), and was also a production due to 
 the destruction of the earlier church by Guiscard's Normans; S. Maria in 
 Trastevere, whose mosaics of fagade and tribune were ordered by In- 
 nocent II, and finished between 11 40 and 11 48; and S. Maria Nuova, now 
 S. Francesca Romana, whose apsidal mosaic, assigned by Ciampini to the 
 ninth century, is rightly ascribed by De Rossi to a restoration under Alex- 
 ander III in 1 161, because of its close resemblance to the tribune of 
 S. Maria in Trastevere in details of decoration and figures, and in the 
 composition depicted on the arch, — a composition now destroyed, but re- 
 produced by two copies in the Dal Pozzo collection (see page 20). 21 Al- 
 though somewhat far apart in date, all three of these churches show a 
 close community of style in their mosaics, and the peculiarities which 
 mark this style are found again in the fresco of S. Lorenzo. Thus the 
 classic attitude and drapery of Peter and Paul, premonitory of the "Roman" 
 style of Cavallini (see page 49), are found again in the St. Peter of S. Maria 
 
 21 De Rossi, op. cit. 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 15 
 
 in Trastevere and S. Maria Nuova, and in the St. John of S. Clemente. 
 All three have the broad banded garlands filling the spaces of the border, 
 and S. Maria in Trastevere and S. Clemente have the monogram at the 
 top of the apsidal arch, though in S. Clemente the A and Ul are added. 
 A formal rendering of the Arc of Heaven, as in the drawing, replaces the 
 clouds of the Carolingian period, and instead of the lanky awkward shapes 
 of the ninth century we find a fuller treatment of the figures and more 
 graceful attitudes. 
 
 It is safe, I think, to ascribe the fresco of which Eclissi's draw- 
 ing is a copy to the twelfth century. As between the rival candidates for 
 the honor of its production, Anacletus II and Celestine III, the latter 
 would seem to be a more likely Maecenas than an antipope, and yet it must 
 be remembered that Anacletus finished the decoration of the chapel of 
 St. Nicholas in the Lateran palace (see page 69). Some reason for prefer- 
 ring Celestine may be found in the greater detail and pomp with which his 
 inscription records the dedication, and more particularly in the fact that the 
 drawing bears a somewhat closer resemblance to the apse of S. Maria 
 Nuova, nearer to the time of Celestine III, than to that of the earlier mosaics 
 of the twelfth century ; for example, all the saints in S. Maria Nuova wear 
 the nimbus as in the fresco of S. Lorenzo, while in S. Maria in Trastevere 
 it is accorded only to Christ and the Virgin, and not given at all to Mary 
 and John in the Crucifixion of S. Clemente. The date of the fresco is 
 hardly capable of closer definition, and it is enough to have added an 
 interesting monument to the scanty data by which the revival of Roman 
 painting in the twelfth century is traced. 
 
II. THE TRIBUNE MOSAICS OE SANTA MARIA NUOVA 
 
 The apsidal mosaic of S. Maria Nuova (Fig. 3), or S. Erancesca 
 Romana, to give the church its modern dedication, is well known, and has 
 already been spoken of in connection with the fresco of S. Lorenzo in 
 Lucina. It is the strangest of all the mosaics of Rome; the setting of the 
 figures in the arcaded background, the curvilinear drawing of the drapery 
 and of the back of the Madonna's throne, and the formal calligraphic treat- 
 ment of the faces point to an artist unused to the mosaic technique and 
 trained rather as an illuminator of manuscripts. In many details, how- 
 
 Fa;. 3. Interior of S. Francesca Romana (S. Maria Nuova), showing present appear- 
 ance OF THE APSE AND ARCH. 
 
 16 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 17 
 
 ever, he has imitated his fellow artists of the twelfth century. The formal 
 treatment of the Arc of Heaven, the border, the monogram at the top of 
 the arch, and the classic arrangement of the draperies of Peter and Paul 
 are found again in the fresco of S. Lorenzo in Lucina, in S. Clemente, 
 and in the apse of S. Maria in Trastevere, while the composition on the 
 arch of the last named church was clearly the model for the arch mosaic of 
 S. Maria Nuova. 
 
 De Rossi was therefore right in refusing to accept the date in the 
 ninth century which Ciampini gave to the mosaic on the evidence afforded 
 by a passage in the Liber Pontijkalis. This chronicle, in the Life of 
 Nicholas I (858-867), tells us that this Pope decorated the church, but 
 De Rossi pointed out that it was dedicated anew by Alexander III in 
 1 161, and at the same time received rich gifts from the powerful Cencio 
 Frangipani, whose fortress-palace, built into the old Turn's Cartularia on 
 the Sacred Way, adjoined the church. This is beyond question the date 
 to which the tribune mosaics of S. Maria Nuova are to be assigned. 
 
 The apsidal mosaic is reproduced in one of Dal Pozzo's drawings 
 (Fig-. 4). 1 It is a fairly accurate copy, like all of Eclissi's drawings, 
 and the divergence from the existing composition is but slight, with one 
 important exception. Eclissi took some liberties with the border, and 
 with the lowest band of the "Arc of Heaven"; the L which is now seen 
 on St. John's toga is changed to an I, and there is some slight difference 
 in the labels at the feet of the saints. The little clusters of flowers 
 which appear to the left of Peter and to the left of James do not appear 
 in the existing mosaic, and here there is no doubt that the drawing- 
 supplies a detail of the original, for the same clusters are found in the 
 reproduction of the mosaic given by Ciampini in Volume II of his Vetera 
 Monimenta, of 1 690-1 699.'- The noticeable difference between the draw- 
 ing- and the mosaic as it is to-day and was in the time of Ciampini 
 is the arcuated opening, apparently a window head, in the bottom of the 
 mosaic at its centre, an opening which cuts off the Madonna's feet, the 
 pedestal on which they rested, and the lower part of the uprights of the 
 throne. In the present mosaic these portions have been restored. The 
 
 "■Mosaici Antichi, vol. I, fol. 33, no. 8965. Dal Pozzo number 2. Measures 24/, x 37 
 cm. Pen, gold and color. The drawing sihows some variations in color from the apse 
 in its present state, but none of great importance 
 
 'Vol. II, pi. LTII. 
 
18 LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 uprights are finished at the bottom in a manner somewhat different in 
 Ciampini from that of the present mosaic, but Ciampini is so inaccurate in 
 his treatment of details that no inference can be drawn from this as to a 
 possible reconstruction of the mosaic after his time. On the other hand, 
 the centre of the lowest zone of the apse has certainly been restored since 
 Eclissi copied it in the reign of Urban VIII. 
 
 Fig. 4. Drawing of the apsidal mosaic of S. Maria Nuova. 
 
 Some such change is shown by the text of the inscription which bor- 
 ders the apse below. At present it reads: COTINET IN GREMIO 
 COELVM TE IN DOMO GENITRIX PROCERES COMITATUR 
 ERILEM. There is evidently something the matter with this, for the 
 first hexameter limps at the end and the second at the beginning, while 
 the Latin itself defies translation. Ciampini does not record the inscription 
 in his description of the mosaic, but it was seen and copied in its original 
 state by Pietro Sabino for his epigraphic collection which was presented 
 to Charles VIII of France, when he came to Rome in 1495, and again 
 as late as 15 14 by Battista Brunelleschi, who has left a copy in Cod. Vat. 
 6041. 3 According to Sabino and Brunelleschi the inscription read: 
 CONTINET IN GREMIO CELUM TERRAMOUE REGENTEM 
 
 3 Fol. 28 verso. Cf. De Rossi, Musaici cristiam di Roma. 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 19 
 
 SANCTA DEI GENITRIX PROCERES COMITANTUR ERILEM. 
 This restores the prosody and at the same time gives us a title for the 
 mosaic of a fine feudal flavor: "The Holy Mother of God holds in her 
 bosom the Ruler of earth and heaven; the princes (i.e. the Apostles, 
 Peter, Paul, James and Andrew) are in attendance on their Lady's Son." 
 
 Carlo de Serva, of whose date we know nothing save that he was 
 living in 1603, has left a copy of the inscription reading as follows: 
 Continet in gremio celum terramq . . . Genetrix proceres comitantur 
 erilem. 4 Eclissi, who in all probability saw the inscription after De Serva, 
 reads : Continet in gremio celum te . . . re . . . nitrix proceres comitan- 
 tur erilem. De Serva evidently overlooked the re of re gent cm, which must 
 still have existed at his time, since it appears in Eclissi's copy. At 
 the time the latter was made the letters rramq had dropped off, leaving 
 the te from which the restorer produced the curious supplement which now 
 appears: te in domo. As the fragment containing the re must have disap- 
 peared when the inscription was restored in its present form, some time 
 must have elapsed after the date when the Dal Pozzo copy was made 
 before the inscription was mended and the missing segment of the lower 
 part of the apsidal mosaic was replaced. The restoration of the mosaic 
 therefore must have taken place after Eclissi's time, and cannot be as- 
 cribed, as by De Rossi, to the general renovation of the church undertaken 
 by the Olfctftani in 161 5. The inscriptions at the feet of the Apostles are 
 practically the same as to-day, and in fact the Eclissi's copy is much 
 more close to the modern labels than is Ciampini's. In one, that of James, 
 there is a difference from the present inscription, which has I ACOBS, 
 divided by the Apostle's right foot, while the drawing gives us I ACOBS. 
 
 The two hexameters which compose the inscription of the apse of S. 
 Maria Nuova have a more antique flavor than the Leonine verses of the 
 arch (see below). They are found again, with the change of sancta to 
 virgo, and of erilem to heriles, in a response of the Christmas service in 
 the antiphonary of St. Peter's at Rome (twelfth century), in which three 
 more hexameters are added, the whole response reading : 
 
 Continet in gremio ccclum terramque regentem 
 Virgo dei genitrix: proceres comitantur heriles 
 Per quos orbis ovans Christo sub principe pollet. 
 Maternis vehitur qui matrem gencrat ulnis 
 Bisseni comitcs queui stipant agminc fido. 
 
 4 Cod. Vallicell. G. 28, fol. 33. 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 "The virgin, Mother of God, bears in her bosom the Ruler of earth 
 and heaven; the princes chosen by the Master (proccrcs heriles), attend 
 Him, through whom the joyous earth waxes strong beneath the sway of 
 Christ. He who created His mother is carried by His Mother's arms, 
 and His twelve companions surround Him in a faithful troupe." Dela- 
 porte, 5 who first called attention to this response, pointed out that it 
 must have been originally an inscription accompanying a representation 
 of the Virgin and the twelve Apostles. It is earlier in origin than the 
 hexameters of S. Maria Nuova, which were clearly borrowed from the 
 fuller inscription. By taking only the first two hexameters, and the 
 change of heriles to (h)erilem, the mosaicist made the verses apply to 
 his own composition, in which only four of the twelve Apostles appear. 
 The longer stanza, according to Delaporte, may date from the Carolingian 
 period, and BatifTol suggests that it was inscribed originally in the Oratory 
 of the Manger in the basilica of S. Maria Maggiore, dating in the time 
 of Hadrian I (772-795), or Paschal I (817-824). 0 
 
 Eclissi's copy of the apsidal mosaic is far surpassed in interest 
 by his drawings of the arch mosaics of S. Maria Nuova, for the latter 
 mosaics are gone to-day, and the drawings are so far as we know the 
 only copies in existence (Plate II.). 7 The composition is the typical 
 one of the arch mosaics of the twelfth century in Rome; at the summit 
 
 5 Rasscgna Grcgoriana, 1910, pp. 230-247. 
 'Bull. Soc. Nat. Ant. Fr., 1910, p. 366. 
 
 1 Mosaici Antichi, vol. I: fol. 42, no. 8974 (right side of arch). Dal Pozzo number 3. 
 Measures 26J/2 x 31% cm. Pen, gold and color. Fol. 44, no. 8976 (left side of arch). 
 Dal. Pozzo number 1. Measures 26^ x 28^ cm. Pen, gold and color. The color details 
 are as follows: The outside border consists of white dots and violet jewels outlined in 
 yellow, on a red ground. The inscription is in white on violet. The field of the arch is 
 indicated as gold. The cross at the top is red on white within violet. The candlesticks are 
 in white, red, and violet. Of the evangelistic symbols, the lion is in black and gold, with 
 golden wings outlined with black and tipped with white and violet, which are given to 
 the other three symbols as well. He carries a gold and white book with red jewels. 
 The angel wears a yellowish-white garment shaded with black, and with violet shadows on 
 the flying fold, has a violet halo bordered with white, and carries a green wreath with a 
 jewel colored violet on white. The eagle and ox are in yellowish brown shaded with 
 black: the eagle carries a wreath like the angel's, the ox has a book in red and white. 
 The clouds are in red and white. The bird-cages are drawn in reddish purple. In the 
 spandrils the palms have green trunks, with red fruit and green and yellow leaves. 
 The prophets are white-haired and wear red tunics shaded with gold, and pallia in white 
 shaded with violet. Their rolls are outlined in white and inscribed with white letters 
 on red. The labels of the four evangelistic symbols vary in color: those of Mark and 
 Luke are in black on gold ; those of Matthew and John are white on violet. 
 
22 
 
 LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 we see the Greek cross in a medallion with A and UJ in the lower angles ; 
 to the right are four of the seven candlesticks of the Apocalypse, the 
 "seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits 
 of God" (Rev. iv.), and two of the four beasts "round about the throne," 
 recorded in the vision of Revelation, which in Christian symbolism repre- 
 sented the four Evangelists. Here the symbols are duly labelled: 
 S. IOHANNES and S. LUCAS, and are "like a flying eagle" and "like 
 a calf." The heavens are indicated by floating clouds. Below is that 
 curious motif of the bird in a cage which appears again in the arch of 
 S. Maria in Trastevere and has baffled explanation hitherto. In the spandril 
 is the prophet Baruch, who is identified by the quotation which appears 
 upon his scroll: HIC D(EV) S N(OSTE)R ET N(0)N ESTI- 
 MABITVR ALIUS f ILLO (Baruch, iii, 35). Behind the prophet is a 
 palm-tree, the usual symbol by which the Christian artists, ever since the 
 fourth century, localised their scenes in Paradise. 
 
 The left half of the arch, as recorded by the other of the two draw- 
 ings, shows at the top three candlesticks and the winged lion and angel, 
 symbols of Mark and Matthew. Below are the bird in its cage, the 
 palm-tree, and the prophet Isaiah, who carries a scroll inscribed : ECCE 
 CONCIPIET ET PARIET FILIVM (Isaiah, vii, 14). Isaiah and 
 Baruch owe their presence in this symbolical complex to the fact that, 
 according to mediaeval notions, they are among the prophets who 
 foretold the Coming of Christ. Christ is thus the Deus nostcr of the 
 mystic phrase on Baruch's scroll, and Isaiah's "Behold a virgin shall con- 
 ceive and bear a son" was related by the mediaeval symbolists to the 
 birth of the Saviour. 
 
 Along the inner border of the arch runs the inscription: 
 
 ARBOR SACRA CRUCIS FIT MUNDO SEMITA LUCIS 
 QUAM QUI PORTAUIT NOS XPC AD ASTRA LEUAUIT 
 
 "The sacred tree of the Cross becomes a path of light to the world, 
 And Christ who bore it has raised us to the stars." 
 
 The reference is obviously to the Greek cross in the medallion at 
 the top of the arch. In the sixteenth century Pietro Sabino copied the 
 first verse of the inscription as follows: GLORIA SCA CRUCIS FIT 
 NOBIS SEMITA LUCIS. It seems to have been altered afterward, for 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 23 
 
 Carlo de Serva read it : Gloria sta cruris fit mundo semita lucri (sic). 8 The 
 Dal Pozzo drawing, substituting ARBOR for GLORIA, shows another 
 change, which may date from the restoration by the Olevitani in 161 5, 
 to which reference has been made above. The reading given by the draw- 
 ing is found again in a copy of the arch mosaic which Ciampini describes 
 as being in the possession of his friend and master Johannes Lucius. 9 
 Lucius' drawing, however, recorded a different reading for the inscription 
 on Baruch's scroll : Hie est Deus noster et non ccstimabatur alius adversus 
 eum. The arch mosaic had disappeared when Ciampini's Vetera Moni- 
 menta was published (1690-1699), and its destruction must therefore have 
 occurred between the reign of Urban VIII, the date of the Windsor draw- 
 ing, and the appearance of Ciampini's work. 
 
 The rhyming hexameters of which this inscription on the arch of 
 S. Maria Nuova offers an example are called, from their supposed in- 
 ventor, Leonine verses, and are characteristic of the twelfth century. 
 It is true that Ciampini, who dated the arch in the ninth century, found 
 no objection to this date in the rhymed hexameters, but as a matter of 
 fact no others of so early a period are known. The Marquis de Castel- 
 lane, 10 in his collection of dated French inscriptions of the Middle Ages, 
 gives a few examples of the eleventh century, of which the earliest is the 
 epitaph of Burchard, archbishop of Vienne, who died in 1026. The period 
 of their commonest use, however, was the twelfth century. 
 
 These Leonine verses on the arch are thus further confirmation of 
 De Rossi's date of the twelfth century for the mosaics of S. Maria Nuova. 
 The other indications pointing to this period have been mentioned before. 
 Chief among them is the close resemblance of the arch mosaic to that of 
 S. Maria in Trastevere. The two arches are remarkably similar, both 
 having the candlesticks, the four evangelistic symbols, the palm-trees, the 
 birds in cages, and the exceptional motif of the jewelled wreath, 
 instead of a book, which is held by the angel of Matthew and the eagle 
 of St. John. The only differences are found in the substitution at S. Maria 
 Nuova of Baruch for the Jeremiah of S. Maria in Trastevere, and the 
 monogram which appears at the top of the arch in the latter church instead 
 
 * Cod. Vallicell. G. 28, fol. 33. 
 'Vetera Monimenta, II, p. 164 ff. 
 
 10 Inscriptions du XI e au XII e siecle, recueillies principalement dans le Midi de la 
 France, in Mem. Soc. Arch, du Midi la France, III, 1836-7, pp. 68 ff. 
 
24 LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 of the Greek cross of S. Maria Nnova. The change to the cross was made 
 to give point to the inscription just discussed. The mosaic of S. Maria in 
 Trastevere was made between 1140 and 1148; the relation of copy to 
 model which that of S. Maria Nuova bears to it is additional confirmation 
 of De Rossi's conclusion that the mosaics of the latter date from the 
 dedication of the church by Alexander III in 1161. 
 
III. THE APSIDAL MOSAIC OF SAN TEODORO 
 
 No one knows the origin of this little round church at the foot of the 
 Palatine, but all indications show that it was built at the end of the 
 seventh century, probably on the site of an ancient structure. The church 
 of St. Theodore, which was restored, according to the Liber Pontificalis, 
 by Hadrian I, was situated on Monte Savello, near Albano on the Appian 
 Way. and had nothing to do with our S. Teodoro. 1 This church is 
 first heard of in the life of Leo III in the Liber Pontificalis, 2 which 
 records that he made certain gifts to the diaconia of St. Theodore. The 
 title of diaconia remained with the church till the reign of Sixtus V. 
 Gifts were made to it by Gregory IV in the ninth century, and the 
 Liber Censuum shows that in the twelfth century S. Teodoro was already 
 the titular church of a cardinal deacon. There is no reference to any 
 restoration or decoration of the church until the time of Nicholas V, 
 when it was rebuilt during the years 1453- 1454. The walls of the 
 rotunda date from this time, but the reconstruction does not seem to 
 have included the apse, which still retains its earlier brickwork. There 
 is nothing to indicate a restoration of the apsidal mosaic at this time, there- 
 fore, but there can be no doubt that it was restored between the years 
 1642 and 1644, when Cardinal Francesco Barberini made a thorough 
 reconstruction of the church. Torrigio, who published his curious book 
 on the "History of the Martyrdom of S. Teodoro'' in 1643, while the 
 Barberini restoration was going on, and divides his pages between the 
 praises of the holy saint and eulogies of his cardinal patron, expresses 
 the hope that "the piety of the Signor Cardinal Francesco Barberini 
 
 1 Duchesne, Lib. Pont. I, p. 508. See De Rossi, Bull. arch, crist., 1873, p. 102. It is 
 curious to see this old mistake of Barbet de Jouy's repeated by Perate in Michel's 
 Histoire de I' art chretien (I, 1, p. 80). 
 
 2 Duchesne. Lib. Pont. IT, p. 12, and p. 41. noite 61. 
 
 2 5 
 
26 LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 will cause to be restored the mosaic figures, damaged as they are by 
 age and damp, by Giovanni Battista Calandra of Vercelli, who does won- 
 derfully in this kind of work, as his many achievements attest, in order 
 that so beautiful and venerable an antiquity may not perish." Earth- 
 slides from the Palatine damaged the church in the seventeenth century, 
 
 Fig. 5. Apsidal mosaic of S. Teodoro, present state. 
 
 making necessary a "dyke" behind it. This was provided by Clement XI 
 in 1704, who restored the church at the same time, without, however, 
 making any changes in the mosaic. 3 
 
 The Barberini restoration was rather thorough, as one finds on ex- 
 amining the mosaic as it appears to-day (Fig. 5). The gold back- 
 ground is largely modern, the head of Christ and the hand of Paul have 
 been remade, and the saint next to Paul is almost entirely modern from 
 head to feet. 4 Yet the Signor Giovanni Battista Calandri, by whom 
 
 5 This summary of the history of the church is taken from De Rossi, Musaici cristiani 
 di Roma. The other citations of De Rossi refer to the same work. 
 
 *I am indebted for these observations to Dr. Thomas Ashby, Director of the British 
 School in Rome. 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 27 
 
 we may suppose the restoration was conducted, respected the outlines of 
 the composition, and made no fundamental changes in the figures them- 
 selves. This, though quite contrary to the opinion of De Rossi, will 
 become apparent through a comparison of the existing mosaic with Eclissi's 
 drawing in the Dal Pozzo collection which is here reproduced (Plate III, 
 compare with Fig. 5). 5 
 
 Within a formal floral border, marked at the top by a white cross in 
 a medallion, is an apsidal composition of the type usual in the sixth and 
 seventh centuries. The Hand of God above issues from the clouds of 
 Heaven and holds a jewelled wreath over the head of Christ. The 
 Saviour is seated on a purple globe decorated with gold stars, wears a 
 crimson robe and a crossed nimbus, and carries a cross tipped with 
 little white jewels at the extremities. To the left of Christ is St. Paul, 
 in a violet tunic striped with black, and white pallium, holding a scroll 
 in his left hand, and opposite him on the other side of the Saviour is 
 St. Peter in similar dress, carrying in his right hand the Key of Heaven. 
 St. Peter presents to Christ the saint at the right end of the row, who 
 offers a jewelled wreath, veiling his hands in the folds of his yellow 
 chlamys. This is embroidered in red and decorated with a large patch 
 in purple. St. Paul performs the same office for another saint of a more 
 youthful appearance, an effect due to his long hair, beardless face, and 
 short tunic. The tunic is white with a gold border. This saint also 
 carries a jewelled wreath or crown, and wears a white chlamys decorated 
 with circles and crosses, and also with a large purple patch which is 
 prolonged over the shoulders and back like an overdress, and embroidered 
 with lilies. 
 
 The composition is typical of the "Greek" period in Roman art, a period 
 corresponding to the sixth and seventh centuries. It was a time when 
 the Popes themselves were largely Eastern in origin, and Greek monastic 
 communities were established in Rome. At this time, in consequence no 
 doubt of the Oriental tendencies of the Roman see, ecclesiastical art 
 breaks away from the pseudo-classic style of the fourth and fifth centuries, 
 which even in its crudities recalls the better days of Roman art, and 
 frankly adopts the formal decorative methods of the Christian East. The 
 
 s Mosaici Antichi, Vol. I, fol. 41, no. 8973. Dal Pozzo number 48. Measures 23% 
 x 36% cm. Pen, gold and color. 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 29 
 
 apse of SS. Cosma e Damiano is the first of the Roman mosaics to show 
 the new style with certitude; it appears again in the arch of St. Lawrence- 
 outside-the-Walls, and after these monuments of the sixth century still 
 dominates the art of the seventh, as at S. Stefano Rotondo, and here 
 at S. Teodoro. It is true that our mosaic has been dated by some at the 
 end of the eighth century in the reign of Hadrian I, but this opinion 
 rests, as was said before, on a misapprehension of a passage in the life of 
 that pontiff as recorded by the Liber Pontificalis. Aside from the general 
 resemblance to the Roman Byzantine works mentioned above, there are 
 characteristic details in the mosaic which connect it with other works of 
 the Greek period in Rome and distinguish it from the mosaics and frescoes 
 of the Carolingian "renaissance'' which beg^an at the end of the eighth 
 century. The latter show a tendency to lengthen the figures and to at- 
 tenuate the garlands of the borders; the saints are represented frontally 
 and the compositions lack unity. This is not seen at S. Teodoro, while on 
 the other hand we find here the motif of Christ seated on the globe, which 
 occurs at St. Lawrence-outside-the-Walls, and is doubtless imitated from 
 the same motif in the sixth century apse of S. Vitale at Ravenna, or other 
 North Italian monuments of the same period. There is, moreover, a unity 
 in the group of Christ and the saints, due chiefly to the obsequious move- 
 ment of the figures at the ends of the row toward the Saviour in the 
 centre, which is found in all the mosaics of the sixth and seventh centuries — 
 at SS. Cosma e Damiano, St. Lawrence-outside-the-Walls, and S. Stefano 
 Rotondo. Lastly, the saint near St. Peter is in type, dress and attitude 
 a fairly close replica of the figure which occupies the same relative position 
 in the apse of SS. Cosma e Damiano. 
 
 This makes possible the identification of the figure in the apse of 
 S. Teodoro as the titular saint of the church, for his double in SS. Cosma 
 e Damiano is labelled Sanc(tus) Thcodorus. The identity of his vis-a-vis 
 near St. Paul is an enigma, but to the many attempts that have been made 
 to give him a name I may add my own suggestion that he represents' 
 St. George. A Greek saint makes a natural pendant and companion to 
 St. Theodore, whose cult was Eastern rather than Western, and whose 
 aptpearance in the mosaics and among the saints of Rome is due, as at 
 SS. Cosma e Damiano, to Byzantine influence. The cavalier's costume which 
 he wears is consistent with an early East Christian rendering of the saint; 
 
3 o LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 he is usually a knight in Coptic art. Moreover Torrigio, 6 quoting Nicolo 
 Signorile, says that relics of St. George were preserved in the church of 
 S. Teodoro. Mabillon 7 suggested Charlemagne or Charles of Anjou( !), 
 and De Rossi thought that we may have here to do with St. Theodore 
 Tyron, the "recruit," distinguished in Byzantine hagiology from Theodore 
 "Stratelates" or "captain." Against this stands the fact that St. Theodore 
 Tyron is shown with a beard in Byzantine art (compare his figure on the 
 Harbaville ivory triptych in the Louvre, and in the mosaics of St. Luke 
 in Phocis). 8 
 
 Our reproduction of the drawing, being without color, at first sight 
 seems close to the existing mosaic, but there are some striking differences. 
 The robe of Christ is red instead of the muddy green which one now sees; 
 the cross at the top of the border is white instead of the present gold. 
 The Saviour sits on a purple globe instead of the present blue one, and 
 blesses in the "Greek" manner, holding the third finger against the thumb, 
 while in the mosaic of to-day He holds the last two fingers against the 
 thumb in the "Latin" fashion. The patch on the dress of the saint near 
 St. Paul is purple instead of the present dark green, and is adorned with 
 lilies which now no longer appear. St. Theodore's chlamys also has a 
 purple patch in the drawing which now is changed to black. The violet 
 tunics of Peter and Paul have changed to white with blue shadows. Lastly, 
 on the fold of Christ's pallium to the right is another detail which has 
 since disappeared, a small ornament shaped like an X, and similar to the 
 one on the pallium of St. Peter. 
 
 These divergences bring up the question whether the drawing repre- 
 sents the mosaic in its original state before the Barberini restorations. De 
 Rossi is very positive that it does not. De Rossi, however, though he often 
 cites the Windsor drawings, never actually examined them, and was 
 rather poorly served by those who described them for him. This is 
 apparent from the inaccuracies in his citations of the drawings, and 
 particularly in this case, for he tells us that "in the collection of the 
 original drawings of Cavaliere dal Pozzo which is preserved at Windsor 
 Castle, the mosaic of S. Teodoro is not to be found (!)." He knew the 
 
 8 Historia del Martirio di San Teodoro, p. 273. 
 1 Museum Italicum, I, p. 231. 
 
 * Sehulz and Barnsley, The Monastery of St. Luke in Phocis, pi. 49. 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 31 
 
 drawing only from an engraving of it published by Mabillon, 0 and re- 
 garded it as practically a replica of another colored copy of the mosaic 
 existing in Marini's collection of Christian inscriptions. 10 Comparing 
 the drawing as he knew it with the existing mosaic, De Rossi arrived 
 at the conclusion that the Dal Pozzo copy was done after the Barberini 
 restoration, or served as pattern for it. 
 
 To make the question quite clear it is necessary to repeat Torrigio's 
 description of the mosaic as it appeared before restoration: 11 "In the 
 tribune may be seen five figures made in the good times of mosaic, con- 
 sidered more ancient than those which are in SS. Cosma e Damiano and 
 also better. The said figures represent our Saviour blessing with His 
 right hand, and holding the ring finger against the thumb; with the left 
 hand He holds a long staff in the form of the Cross adorned with jewels 
 in its angles. His robe is a long one of red color, in a fold of which 
 is a mark which means Christus or Icsus. He is seated on a globe adorned 
 with stars ; above His head we see a hand coming from Heaven, which 
 holds a green garland with an egg shaped purple gem in the middle, making 
 allusion to the words of the eighth Psalm: 'Thou hast crowned Him with 
 glory and honor,' which mean Christ considered as man. On His left 
 hand we see St. Paul with a long face and black beard, in white robe 
 with black bands from the shoulders to the lower edge, holding with his 
 left hand the rolled up scroll, which represents his Epistles, with a sign 
 in the fold of his pallium which is a black mark like an I ; this being the 
 initial of the Greek word Ichthibolos, meaning the same as 'fisherman,' 
 and indicating that he, as also St. Peter, who has the same mark, are 
 the fishers of men, which is what the Saviour meant when He said T 
 shall make ye fishers of men,' having reference also to the other apostles. 
 Concerning this I refer to more learned interpreters. Near St. Paul is 
 seen a figure of a holy person, in an undergarment of white, and girded 
 up, and over this is a vestment worked with crosses, spheres and lilies; 
 holding both hands under this, the figure carries a garland of flowers, 
 offering it to Christ in sign of virginity, and of holy espousal as the 
 church chant has it, 'Come thou bride of Christ,' or of Martyrdom ac- 
 
 9 Op. cit. p. 231, plate. 
 
 10 Cod. Vat. 9071, P. 225.4. 
 
 11 Torrigio, op. cit., pp. 270 ff. 
 
32 
 
 LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 cording to the words 'Behold the martyrs with their crowns'; and because 
 one cannot tell whether it is a male or female saint (se sia santo, d santa), 
 I say no more concerning- it. On the left hand again we see St. Peter 
 holding a key in his right hand and dressed in the same garment as St. 
 Paul on the other side; near him is S. Teodoro in a long robe of gold with 
 red embroidery, offering the garland or diadem, or wreath of flowers; 
 he has a bearded face, and a circlet around his head. Around the tribune 
 runs a mosaic frieze of varied character, which contains in the middle a 
 white cross showing that the church was consecrated, but by whom I am 
 not now ready to state." In his discussion of the image of St. Theodore 
 Torrigio gives additional details regarding this figure : "tonsure on the 
 top of his head"; his robe "reaching almost to his feet, closed on all sides, 
 which could be called a pianeta" ; his left leg "in act of genuflexion," 
 and his hands covered by his robe; his feet clad in shoes without any 
 uppers, but with soles bound with bands. 
 
 Let us now hear De Rossi. Speaking of a misprint in Panciroli's Roma 
 Sacra c Modema (Rome, 1726) by which the Barberini restoration was 
 dated 1674 instead of 1644, he says: "This detail merits attention, for 
 if the Barberini restoration had been done in 1674, the above-mentioned 
 drawing- (referring- to the Dal Pozzo copy) would be a precious document 
 on the state of the mosaic before Calandri da Vercelli touched it. But 
 this is not the case." After quoting from Torrigio's description and 
 comparing it with the present mosaic, he again mentions the drawing : 
 "with the exception of the lilies embroidered on the false overdress of 
 the anonymous saint next to Paul, (the drawing) corresponds to the 
 present state of the monument; and this shows that the drawing is later 
 than the restoration and the replacing- of the missing- parts, or that it 
 served as prototype for the work (of restoration)." 
 
 De Rossi, as has been said, based his notion of the Windsor Drawing 
 on the engraving of it which Mabillon published in the Museum Italicitm 
 (1687). Mabillon describes the drawing: "Romcc ex templo sancti 
 Theodori martyris ab illustrissimo Commendatore Puteauo (Dal Pozzo) 
 expressa." Lacking- color, and leaving- out the border and other details, 
 the engraving could not give De Rossi a correct idea of the drawing, 
 and it is not surprising- that he notes only the one divergence from the 
 existing mosaic which is clearly indicated in Mabillon's copy, the lilies on 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 33 
 
 the overgarment of the saint next to Paul, and concludes from the ap- 
 parent completeness of Eclissi's copy that it was done after the 
 "missing" parts of the mosaic had been restored by Cardinal Barberini. 
 But the word mancanti, used by Torrigio in his description, is quite as 
 susceptible of the translation "damaged" as of the stronger rendering 
 "missing." There is one detail of the drawing, moreover, which De Rossi 
 should have noted, since it is indicated, though faintly, in the engraving 
 of Mabillon, a detail which makes it altogether impossible that the Windsor 
 drawing should be subsequent to the Barberini restoration or that it served 
 as a pattern for Calandri. This is the white segment of the globe on 
 which Christ is seated, indicating a missing portion of the mosaic. If 
 the drawing were a copy of the newly restored mosaic — I say newly 
 restored, for the drawing cannot have been made later than 1657, when 
 Cassiano dal Pozzo died — or if it were a model for the restorer, it would 
 not thus record a damaged portion of the apse. 
 
 Again the differences of the drawing from the present mosaic in 
 the matter of color are very marked, and it is significant how closely these 
 and other differences correspond to the details in which also Torrigio's 
 description diverges from the existing composition. Such are the red of 
 Christ's robe and the white cross at the top of the border ; the different 
 position of the fingers of the Saviour's hand ; the lilies on the overdress 
 of the saint next to Paul, which doubtless suggested Charles of Anjou 
 to Mabillon, and lastly the little decorative design on the fold of the 
 Saviour's robe. Every one of these details is found in Torrigio's descrip- 
 tion of the mosaic as it was before the Barberini restoration, even to the 
 little mark on the pallium of the seated Christ, which has a form that 
 might be taken for the letter X or a decorated I, and thus explains 
 Torrigio's remark that it "means Christits or Icsits." 
 
 Lastly, the drawing, like all the others discussed in this monograph, 
 betrays the style of Antonio Eclissi, who was the artist employed by Cardi- 
 nal Francesco Barberini to copy for him the ancient mosaics and frescoes 
 in the churches of Rome. 
 
 The Windsor drawing therefore represents the mosaic of S. Teodoro 
 before its restoration in 1 642-1 644. Does it also represent it in its original 
 state? In other words are we to attribute the modern portions to the 
 Barberini restoration alone, or in part to earlier ones ? The principal argu- 
 
34 
 
 LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 ments in favor of the latter view are ( I ) that the drawing" represents 
 the mosaic in so well preserved condition that it would seem unlikely that 
 Calandri put in all the remade portions that are now visible, and (2) 
 the overdress of the saint near St. Paul is unusual in the vestiary of 
 mediaeval art and looks, as De Rossi says, as if a restorer had made it 
 by enlarging an original patch like that on the chlamys of St. Theodore. 
 The last argument can hardly be regarded as conclusive. As to the first, 
 it is to be noted that the Windsor drawings seem to record only the 
 more obvious of the missing portions of the compositions of which they 
 are copies. Torrigio's word mancanti, applied to the figures as he and 
 Eclissi saw them, may well mean that they were simply damaged in 
 spots, and Dal Pozzo's copyist would naturally leave out such minor 
 deficiencies. He noted the larger ones, as is seen in the case of the missing 
 segment of the globe, and it is possible that the lines in the lower left 
 hand corner of the drawing, one running from the border to the robe of 
 the saint on St. Paul's right, the other from the lower edge of the robe 
 across his left leg, were meant to indicate another missing portion which 
 the artist saw fit to supply. Lastly, most of the modern work is found 
 in the background and in the figure of this same saint. One can hardly 
 hope that the copyist noted every piece of the gold background that was 
 missing, and so far as the saint is concerned, it is precisely in his case 
 that the drawing differs most from the modern mosaic, which sup»- 
 presses the lilies on his overgarment. Everything considered, the modern 
 portions of the mosaic may be attributed to the Barberini restoration. 12 
 As no previous restoration is mentioned in existing records, it is probable 
 that Eclissi's drawing represents the mosaic of S. Teodoro in its 
 primitive state. 
 
 12 Later restorers of the church do not seem to have changed the mosaic. See De 
 Rossi, op. cit. 
 
IV. THE APSIDAL MOSAIC OF SS. COSMA E DAMIANO 
 
 The mosaic (Fig. 6) which adorns the apse of SS. Cosma e Damiano 
 in the Roman Forum, is easily the most beautiful in Rome. This it owes 
 to the fact that it is the first of the Roman mosaics to show the newly 
 formed Byzantine style in the fulness of its decorative splendor, and to 
 use its deep and quiet color harmony of blue and green and gold. 
 
 Against a deep blue background the figure of Christ stands in relief 
 against a pathway of glittering sunset clouds. A strip of lighter blue 
 below is labelled JORDANES; it symbolizes here the River of Life. The 
 
 Fig. 6. Apse and Arch of SS. Cosma e Damiano, present state. 
 
 35 
 
36 LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 note of mystic symbolism in fact pervades the whole composition, and 
 proceeds not only from the formal symbols, like the palms that stand for 
 Paradise, and the phoenix, bird of immortality, which perches on the 
 outermost branch of the palm-tree to the left, but also from the hieratic 
 postures and earnest outward gaze of the saints who approach Christ from 
 either side. The literal subject of the apse is the presentation to Christ, 
 by Sts. Peter and Paul, of the patron saints of the church, Cosmas and 
 Damian. These were two Arab physicians who ministered to the sick 
 without pay, and after a life of good works attained martyrdom in the 
 persecution of Diocletian. Each carries the token of his profession in 
 the shape of a little red medicine case, a detail which is seen more plainly 
 in the figure of the saint to Christ's left, who carries it half concealed by 
 his pallium. The composition is completed to the right of the picture by 
 the figure of St. Theodore Stratelates, previously mentioned in connection 
 with the apsidal mosaic of S. Teodoro. The corresponding figure on the 
 other side is Pope Felix IV (526-530), who, as the builder of the church, 
 carries a model of it in his hands. 
 
 The mosaic has had a curious history. It dates from the sixth 
 century, having formed part of the original decoration given the church 
 by its builder Felix IV. Gregory XIII (1572-1585), one of whose 
 peculiarities was a cult of his great namesakes in the earlier ages of the 
 Church, removed the ancient figure of Felix and replaced it with an image 
 of Gregory the Great. This is the figure which appears in one of Eclissi's 
 drawings of the Dal Pozzo collection showing the state of the mosaic in 
 the time of Urban VIII (Fig. 7). 1 The figure is a typical product of the 
 late Renaissance, depicting the great Pope attired in tiara and the papal 
 robes, holding a book and the key of St. Peter, and inspired by the Dove 
 of the Holy Ghost which hovers at his ear. 
 
 The Windsor drawing is not the only available record of this change 
 in the mosaic. Ciacconio's collection of drawings in the Vatican library 
 includes a copy of the left side of the apse made shortly after the insertion 
 of the image of Gregory the Great. 2 Pompeo Ugonio's book on the 
 
 x Mosaici Antichi, vol. I, fol. 80, no. 0019. Dal Pozzo number 36. Measures 25 x 47^ 
 cm. Pen and color. 
 
 2 Ms. 5407, fol. 205. A copy of this drawing is preserved in the Ambrosiana at Milan 
 (221 inf. IV). 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 37 
 
 '"Stations of Rome," previously cited in connection with the fresco in the 
 apse of S. Lorenzo in Lucina, tells of the change made by Gregory XIII, 
 and adds that Cardinal Francesco Barberini, Torrigio's patron, had in his 
 possession a copy of the figure of Felix IV which was taken out at that 
 time. Suarez, :j in a manuscript note, confirms the statement of Ugonio, 
 and afterward when the old figure was restored under Alexander VII by 
 
 AWING OF THE APSIDAL MOSAIC OF SS. COSMA E DAMIANO. A DRAWING 
 LOWER FRIEZE OF THE APSE IS REPRODUCED IN FlG. I. 
 
 this same Cardinal Barberini, Suarez, who directed the restoration, seems 
 to have been guided by the Barberini copy. The present figure of Pope 
 Felix (Fig. 8) therefore, in all probability gives a fair notion of what the 
 original looked like, in spite of its obvious modernism of face and hair 
 and drapery. 
 
 Gregory XIII was not the only Pope who meddled with the mosaic. 
 Urban VIII, to whose reconstruction of the church is due the abbreviation 
 of the arch which was mentioned in the Introduction, also inserted under 
 the soffit of the arch the present baroque archivolt, and cut an oval window 
 in the top of the vault of the apse, operations which concealed the border 
 and removed at the summit of the apse the monogram, and the Hand 
 of God which in the original composition held a wreath over the head 
 of Christ. 
 
 s Cod. Vat. 9127, p. 169. 
 
3 8 LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 The Windsor drawing corresponds very closely to the present mosaic, 
 save that Eclissi gives a purplish hue to the background, and it shows that 
 the apse has undergone no essential changes since the time of Urban VIII. 
 Exception must of course be made of the figure of Gregory the Great. 
 Aside from the interest it affords in this respect, the drawing is important 
 
 Fig. 8. Detail of the apsidal mosaic of SS. Cos ma e Damiano, 
 
 SHOWING THE MODERN FIGURE OF POPE FELIX IV. 
 
 as the only complete record of the appearance of the mosaic before the 
 alterations under Urban VIII, restoring the Hand of God and the wreath 
 at the top of the apse, and the rich border of garlands banded spirally by 
 a ribbon, 4 with the medallion at the summit inclosing the monogram 
 flanked by the mystic letters A and fl. The phoenix which in the present 
 
 4 The green leaves of the garland are relieved with red and white blossoms. The outer 
 inclosing bands are red and blue, the inner are black. 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 39 
 
 mosaic perches on the branch of the palm-tree to the left is rendered 
 by Eclissi as hovering in the air beside the uplifted hand of Christ. It 
 is certain that in the original mosaic the phoenix was placed as it is at 
 the present day, for when Paschal I, in the ninth century, copied the 
 whole composition for his apse of S. Prassede he perched the phoenix on 
 the branch of a palm-tree in awkward but faithful imitation of the present 
 arrangement. It is probable that Dal Pozzo's artist did not see the branch 
 on which the phoenix rested, or that this detail had become mutilated or 
 destroyed, so that he conceived the bird as hovering in the air and, taking 
 it very naturally for the Dove of the Holy Ghost, drew it nearer the figure 
 of Christ than it really is. 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
V. THE FRESCOES OF THE ORATORY OF S. PUDENZIANA 
 
 Paul, in a letter to Timothy, sends him the greetings of Pudens. 1 
 Out of this trio of names there has evolved an ancient legend, embodied in 
 the curious "Acts of Saints Pudentiana and Praxedes." 2 According to 
 this story Pudens, who was the disciple of Paul at Rome, had two sons. 
 Timothy and Novatus, and two daughters, Pudentiana (or Potentiana) 
 and Praxedes. Pudens before his death transformed his house in the 
 Vicus Patricius, or Vicus Patricii, as it is more properly called, into a 
 Christian church under the name titulus Pastoris. The church was named, 
 according to the chronicle, after the Pastor who purports to be the author 
 of the "Acts," a priest who acted as the friend and adviser of the children 
 of Pudens after their father's death. The two daughters gave their goods 
 to the poor, and Novatus at his death left his property to his surviving 
 sister Praxedes, and to Pastor. The "Acts" are in the form of a letter 
 written by Pastor to Timothy, recounting these events, together with 
 another letter from Timothy to Pastor in which he consents to Novatus's 
 legacy, and a narrative appendix telling of the transformation of the 
 "Baths of Novatus" in the Vicus Lateritius into a second church which 
 thereafter bore the name titulus P raxed is. 
 
 The story is evidently constructed to explain the origin of the two 
 very old Roman churches of Santa Pudenziana and Santa Prassede. The 
 first one, supposed to have been built in the house of Pudens, may at 
 one time have borne the name titulus Pastoris given it by the "Acts," 
 but it first appears in early inscriptions under the appellation titulus Pudcntis 
 or ccelesia Pudentiana , and it is probable that it was from a misunder- 
 standing of the adjective in the latter phrase that the saint "Pudentiana" 
 was manufactured. The ecclcsia Pudentiana, at any rate, was in exist- 
 
 1 IT. Tim. iv, 21. 
 
 2 Migne, Pair. Crccc. II, col. 1019 ff. 
 
 40 
 
 / 
 
 / 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 41 
 
 ence at least as early as the end of the fourth century, for it is mentioned 
 by this name in the epitaph of one of its lectors who died in 384. 
 S. Prassede is nearly as old ; it has left records of itself as far back as the 
 fifth century. 
 
 The later tradition of the Roman Church, ever jealous of the dignity 
 of its first head, turned Pudens into a disciple of Peter, made him a 
 Roman senator, and identified him with the patrician whose son was raised 
 by Peter from the dead by way of confounding- Simon the Magician. 
 Yet the old Pauline tradition lasted far on into the Middle Ages, and this 
 is demonstrated by the frescoes which form the material of the present 
 chapter, since most of them have to do with the ministry of Paul in the 
 house of Pudens. 3 
 
 These paintings adorn the walls of a little oratory behind the apse of 
 the ancient church of S. Pudenziana. They are half ruined now and al- 
 most unknown, for the way to the oratory leads through a nunnery to 
 which visitors are seldom admitted. One of the frescoes was reproduced 
 in Ciampini's Vetera Monimenta^ and they were described in an unsatisfac- 
 tory manner by Armellini in his Chiese di Roma:' Wilpert was the first to 
 interpret them properly, and to point out their connection with the older 
 legend of Pudens contained in the Acta SS. Pudcntiancc ct Praxedis. G He 
 had an opportunity to examine them in 1906, and at that time had them 
 copied for his work on the paintings of the Middle Ages. 
 
 On the wall to the left as one enters is a lunette, divided vertically 
 by a border, in which are found the two scenes of which the Eclissi 
 drawing here reproduced (Plate IV) is a copy. 7 The scene on the 
 left is much damaged at the present day, having lost two-thirds of the 
 figure of Paul and also a portion of the inscription. The drawing restores 
 the scene completely; it is a picture of Paul preaching to his disciples. 
 The white haired Pudens stands at the Apostle's left hand, with Novatus 
 and the two virgins. To his right are Timothy and three youths represent- 
 ing, no doubt, the converts which the Apostle made in the house of his host. 
 
 The picture on the right is the one reproduced in Ciampini's plate, and 
 
 :, On the Pudens legend see Lipsius, Apostclgcscliichtc und Apostcllcgcndc, II, p. 418 ff. 
 
 4 Vol. II., pi. VI. 
 
 5 2nd ed. pp. 194 ff. 
 
 'Romische Oitartalschrift, 1908, p. 173 ff. 
 
 '• Mosaici Antichi. vol. I, fol. 85, no. 9024. Dal Pozzo numbers 52, 53- Measures 
 28^4 x 5 l Vi cm - P en ar, d color. 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 43 
 
 is still in good condition. St. Paul is baptizing the two sons of Pudens, 
 Timothy and Novatus. To the right of the font stand Pudentiana and 
 Praxedes, one of whom holds her brother's tunic. Four disciples make 
 up the rest of the group. To the left, behind Paul, is a youth dressed 
 in the costume of a mediaeval noble. The inscription which runs beneath 
 the pictures reads : 
 
 f PAULUS ALENS MENTE(m) PLEBIS NATASQ(ue) 
 PUDENTEM 8 
 
 f AUXIT MACTATOS HIC VIVO FONTE RENATOS. 
 
 The Latin is thoroughly mediaeval and bad, but may be rendered : 
 "Paul, giving sustenance to the spirit of his flock, and to Pudens and his 
 daughters, blessed them that were dead and here are born again in living- 
 water." 
 
 Beneath the lunette above described are two badly damaged pictures 
 brought to light by Wilpert, who removed the plaster under which they 
 had been concealed. Both have lost much of their area by the piercing 
 of an arcuated opening in the wall beneath them; the one on the right 
 is nearly all gone, but enough remains to show that the subject was again 
 a baptism in which Paul and one of the daughters figured. The other 
 is reproduced in one of Eclissi's drawings (Fig. 9). 0 In front of 
 an edifice which is summarily indicated by an entablature supported on 
 pilasters Paul is giving to Timothy his ordination as a Christian priest. 
 The Apostle is attended by a youth and what appears to be a maiden — the 
 dress of the figure is apparently that of a female, but the copyist seems 
 to have indicated a tonsure. In the fresco in its present state, to judge 
 from Wilpert's description, the two saints are all that is now left o: the 
 scene. The inscription too is omitted in his description; a fragment of it 
 is recorded in our drawing: AC ANXII. The colors used here are in 
 general those of the whole series: the background is violet with a ground 
 strip in pale green, while the colonnade behind the figures is in white out- 
 lined with dark green. The pilasters are shadowed with thin red or pink 
 and relieved against a violet background ; the haloes are painted with 
 yellow outlined with white and red ; Paul wears a violet tunic and a light 
 
 s Wilpert restored as follows: Paulus a[lloqn]ins plcbis nata[s]q. Pudentem. 
 9 Mosaici Antichi, vol. I, fol. 88, no. 9027. Dal Pozzo number C. Measures 25 x 25 cm. 
 Pen and color. 
 
44 
 
 LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 green mantle, the youth a red upper garment bordered with yellow, and 
 pink hose; the maiden ( ?) has a violet robe with a mantle of yellow. 
 
 The series was originally continued on the opposite wall, but here 
 the frescoes have disappeared. Over the altar on the wall opposite the 
 entrance appears a fresco representing the Virgin and the Child with 
 Pudentiana and Praxedes standing- beside her throne and offering crowns ; 
 
 Fig. o. Drawing of a fresco in the oratory of S. Pudenziana. 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 45 
 
 a copy of it is found among the Dal Pozzo drawings. 10 This fresco, 
 however, is well preserved and the drawing adds no more than a few mis- 
 sing letters to the names of the two saints which are inscribed beside them. 
 The same is true of another drawing 11 which reproduces the fragmentary 
 fresco over the doorway, representing an angel crowning St. Valerian, 
 beside whom stand St. Tiburtius and the bishop Urban, — a composition 
 derived from the story of St. Cecilia. 
 
 The chapel is covered with a groined vault, which is adorned with 
 
 Fig. io. Drawing of the ceiling-fresco of the oratory of S. Pudenziana. 
 
 w Mosaici Anitichi, vol. I, fol. 89, no. 9028. Dal Pozzq number D. Measures 
 2834 x 23 cm. Pen drawing. 
 
 a Mosaici Antichi, vol. T, fol. 46, no. 8978. Dal Pozzo number E. Measures 20 x 37^ cm. 
 Pen and color. 
 
46 LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 fresco. The decoration here is divided into rive panels by ornamental 
 borders which repeat the motifs used in the borders of the frescoes on the 
 side walls, showing that the whole series including the ceiling belongs to 
 the same period. The central panel of the ceiling is decorated with the 
 nimbed Lamb of God, and the others with the symbols of the Evangelists. 
 All these figures are still in fair preservation and the copy of the ceiling 
 which appears among the Windsor drawings (Fig. io) 12 is chiefly valuable 
 in preserving the inscriptions. Wilpert found these badly mutilated in 
 places and comparison of his readings with those of the drawing shows 
 that he was not only wrong in his supplements but, apparently, mistaken in 
 some of the still remaining letters. He attempted, for example, to fill the 
 lacuna? of the inscription around the central medallion as follows: 
 
 fAGNVS HONOR (is in nuf) BES OSTIA VITE (que) DEVSQUE 
 
 The drawing gives the inscription: f Agnus honor nwndi, spcs ostia vita 
 salusque; "The Lamb, the Glory of the world, our Hope, Door, Life and 
 Salvation." Wilpert found the inscription over the lion of St. Mark 
 destroyed "bis auf den Namen MARCO und die Endung RIS"; it is 
 given in the drawing: Vox clamantis, ais, qua, Marce, leone notaris; 
 "The voice of one crying, thou sayest,' — wherefore, Mark, art thou signi- 
 fied by the lion." 
 
 The four beasts of Revelation, typifying the four Evangelists, are 
 perhaps the commonest symbol in Christian art, and have already been 
 mentioned with reference to the arch of S. Maria Nuova. The symbolism 
 is very old, deriving from the Christian imagery of the second century. 
 Later on the churchmen sought to rationalize the types on the basis of 
 characteristic features in the content of each Gospel: Matthew was the 
 man because his Gospel begins with the genealogy of Christ after the flesh; 
 Mark, whose opening sentences tell of the mission of John, the "voice 
 crying in the wilderness," was fitly typified by the lion ; the ox was given 
 to Luke because it was the animal of sacrifice, and his Gospel begins with 
 the sacrifice of Zacharias; John is the eagle because his spiritual message 
 transports us aloft to the very heart of divinity. Jerome seems to have 
 been the first of the Fathers to distribute the symbols in this fashion and 
 
 13 Mosaici Antichi, vol. I, fol. 84, no. 9023. Measures 37% x 37% cm. Pen and color. 
 Inscribed : "Pitture nel volto della capella superiore dietro alia tribuna in Santa 
 Pudentiana." 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF RO^vIE 
 
 47 
 
 at the same time to justify them in the manner described. 13 He was 
 followed by Gregory the Great, who summarizes the symbolism as follows : 
 "For Matthew, because he begins with the human genealogy (of Christ) 
 is justly signified by the man; Mark by reason of the 'crying in the 
 wilderness' is rightly typified by the lion; Luke, beginning with a sacri- 
 fice, is properly figured by the ox; while John, since he communes with 
 the Word's divinity, is properly designated by the eagle." 14 Gregory 
 passed the concept on to the Carolingian period, 15 and from that time on 
 it is a commonplace of mediaeval symbolism, appearing finally in the vast 
 compendium of mediaeval learning known as the Speculum Mains, which 
 Vincent of Beauvais compiled in the thirteenth century. The most com- 
 plete and picturesque presentation of the notion is that found in the well- 
 known hymn De SS. Evangelistis of Adam of St. Victor (d. 1172-1192) : 
 
 Formam viri dant Matthseo 
 Quia scripsit sic de Deo 
 Sicut descendit ab eo 
 Quern plasmavit, homine. 
 Lucas bos est in figura 
 Ut prsemonstrat in Scriptura 
 Hostiarum tangens iura 
 Legis sub velamine. 
 
 Marcus, leo per desertum 
 Clamans, rugit in apertum 
 Iter fiat Deo certum 
 Mundum cor a crimine. 
 Sed Ioannes, ala bina 
 Caritatis, aquilina 
 Forma fertur in divina 
 Puriori lumine. 
 
 This is the thought that inspires the Leonine verse above Mark's lion 
 on our ceiling fresco. Similar verses attend the other symbols. The eagle 
 is inscribed : Arcanis scandit fades aquilina Johannis: "The eagle form 
 of John penetrates the secrets (of Heaven)." Matthew's angel has 
 
 13 Comm. in Ezech. chap. 1. 
 
 "Horn, in Ezech. II, 4, 1. Migne, Patr. Lat. 76, col. 815. 
 
 15 Compare the verses which accompany the pictures of the Evangelists in the Codex 
 of St. Emmeran (ninth century, Munich, Cimel. 55) : 
 
 Humanum Christi describit Mattheus ortum 
 More boat Marcus frendentis voce leonis. 
 Mugit amore pio Lucas in carmine Christi. 
 Scribendo penetras caelum tu mente Joannes. 
 
48 LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 above his head the verse: Frons hominis pandit Xpi (Christi) cdmcrcia 
 carnis: "The face of a man portrays the Incarnation of Christ in the 
 flesh." The copyist gives the inscription for Luke: Luca boantis 
 spectr(um) ct sorte(m) mutat arantis. Wilpert read : (bains) BOANCIS 
 (=boantis) SPECIES TE MVTAT ARANTIS, with apparent disregard 
 of lacuna?. The inscription of the drawing must represent the original, and 
 forces acceptance of the first word Luca as a decadent form of the nomina- 
 tive Lucas, translating: "Luke changes the aspect and the lot of the lowing 
 beast of the plow" — a sentiment that does not impress by its clarity and 
 distinction, but is none the less consistent with the Latinity of the period. 
 
 The period in question is the end of the eleventh century, if Wilpert's 
 verdict on the date of the frescoes is accepted. This is based on their 
 resemblance in style to the frescoes of that epoch which were found in 
 the lower church of S. Clemente, and is supported by the fact that the 
 church of S. Pudenziana received a thorough restoration at the hands of 
 Gregory VII (i 075-1 085). The use of the Leonine verses would not be 
 inconsistent with such a date (see page 23). 
 
VI. THE SIGNATURE OE PIETRO CAVALLINI 
 
 Rietro Cavallini some years ago was a rather pale personality among' 
 the painters of the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. Crowe and 
 Cavalcaselle, endeavoring to reconstruct his oeuvre from the irresponsible 
 biography of the artist which we owe to Giorgio Vasari, make him a pupil 
 of the Cosmati, much influenced by Giotto. It was Hermanin's publica- 
 tion of Cavallini's remarkable frescoes in S. Cecilia in Trastevere that 
 brought the Roman master the appreciation which was his due, and 
 proved him no disciple of Giotto, nor one who "mixed his manner with 
 that of the Greeks," as Vasari puts it, but a thoroughly independent 
 painter, neither Tuscan nor Byzantine, but Roman in the fullest sense. 
 For he was able to revive with understanding and power the old Roman 
 traditions of form, and through them to arrive at a conception of nature 
 both noble and true. There can be no doubt that Giotto knew him and 
 came under his influence when he visited Rome at the end of the thir- 
 teenth century. Cavallini perhaps deserves part of the credit for the ideal 
 dignity which invests the later work of the Florentine painter. 
 
 Little is known of the career of Cavallini, save that his lifetime lasted 
 from about 1250 to about 1330. Vasari's biography is a mass of errors, 
 and there are but few works whose attribution is certain. His signature 
 has been found on only one of the works ascribed to him. 
 
 The work in question is the mosaic decoration of the lower part of 
 the apse of S. Maria in Trastevere at Rome. Vasari says that Cavallini 
 did these mosaics, a statement which would carry little weight were it 
 not confirmed by the famous Florentine sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti, who 
 according to Hermanin visited Rome between 1397 and 1400, about 
 seventv years after Cavallini's death, 1 and mentions these mosaics in his 
 list of Cavallini's works. 
 
 1 Hermanin, s.v. Cavallini in Thieme-Becker, Allg. Lexikon der bild. Kunstler. 
 
 49 
 
50 LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 I have spoken of the tribune mosaics of S. Maria in Trastevere in 
 the chapters on the fresco of S. Lorenzo in Lucina and the mosaics of 
 S. Maria Nuova. In these cases the mosaics referred to are those which 
 decorate the arch and the vault of the apse, and were done between 1140 
 and 1 148. The part of the tribune decoration which is ascribed to Caval- 
 lini is the series of seven panels added in 1291 2 to the above men- 
 tioned mosaics of the twelfth century, and arranged along the lower part 
 of the apse and the pillars of the arch. Six of the panels are scenes from 
 the life of the Virgin: her Birth, the Annunciation, the Nativity, the 
 Adoration of the Magi, the Presentation of the Christ Child in the 
 Temple, and the Death, or, as the Middle Ages called it, the "Falling 
 Asleep" of the Virgin. The seventh panel is located in the middle of 
 the apse below these scenes from the life of the Virgin. On this the 
 Virgin is represented in half-figure with the Child in her arms. The 
 group is framed in a circular border. To the left is St. Paul (inscribed 
 S. PAVLVS), with sword and book; and to the right St. Peter (S. 
 PETRVS), holding a book in his left hand and resting his right on the 
 head of a kneeling donor — the donor of the whole series of the eight 
 mosaic panels, in fact— who is labelled: BERTOL(dus) / FILIVS / 
 PFT(r)I. Beneath the Virgin's medallion is an oblong space containing 
 these hexameters : 
 
 Virgo Deum complexa sinu servando pudorem 
 Virgineum matris fundans per ssecula nomen 
 Respice compunctos animos miserata tuorum. 
 
 Below this in turn is the coat-of-arms of the Stefaneschi family, to which 
 the donor belonged, being Bertoldus, "son of Peter" (his label tells us), 
 Stefaneschi, and brother of the Cardinal Giacomo Gaetano Stefaneschi 
 who was Giotto's patron during his sojourn at Rome. 
 
 The mosaics of S. Maria in Trastevere have been many times re- 
 stored, but no essential changes have been made either in the earlier ones 
 of the arch and the upper part of the apse, nor in these of Cavallini. 3 It 
 is certain that the restorations of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries 
 left them intact, and that the earlier repairs brought with them no great 
 
 2 For this date see De Rossi's commentary on the Cavallini mosaics in Musaici 
 cristiani di Roma. 
 -t See De Rossi, op. cit. 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 51 
 
 changes is shown by the close resemblance of the mosaics in their present 
 state to the color copies in Ciacconio's collection of the sixteenth century, 4 
 and to those made by Antonio Eclissi, by order of Cardinal Francesco Bar- 
 berini, in 1640. 5 
 
 Eclissi's copy of the votive picture is here reproduced 0 for the first 
 time in Fig. 11. It differs from the present mosaic in the highly important 
 
 Fig. 11. Drawing by Antonio Eclissi of a mosaic by Pietro Cavallini in 
 S. Maria in Trastevere. 
 
 respect of preserving a portion of the inscription, now destroyed, which 
 originally ran along the lower border of the composition and is now re- 
 placed by the conventional pattern which surrounds the rest of the panel. 
 In Eclissi's copy the inscription read: 
 
 VS IT PETRVS 
 
 4 Cod. Vat. 5408. 
 
 5 Formerly in the Barberini Library, now in the library of the Vatican (Cod. Barb. 
 Lat. 4404). 
 
 0 The reproduction is made from a bromide negative kindly furnished me by Dr. 
 Thomas Ashby, Director of the British School in Rome. 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 According to De Rossi, who first called attention to this copy of the 
 inscription in his Musaici cristiani di Roma, it may be restored in one of two 
 
 ways: hoc opVS fieri feelT PETRVS in which case PETRVS 
 
 would be the donor who "caused the work to be done"; — or hoc opVS 
 feclT PETRVS .... "Petrus did this work," thus constituting the signa- 
 ture of the artist. The circumstance which suggested De Rossi's first 
 restoration is the long blank which Eclissi's copy left between VS and IT; 
 too long, apparently, to be filled by the letters "fee" of the second emenda- 
 tion. But the first is ruled out by the fact that the donor's name was 
 not Petrus, but Bertoldus Stefaneschi. De Rossi therefore supposed an 
 error on the part of Eclissi and restored the inscription: HOC OPVS 
 FECIT PETRVS, thus recovering for the history of Italian painting a 
 monument of some consequence, the only known signature of Pietro 
 Cavallini. 
 
 There is another copy of this votive mosaic which was unknown to 
 
 Fig. 12. Drawing of a mosaic by Pietro Cavallini in S. Maria in Trastevere. 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 53 
 
 De Rossi in one of the Dal Pozzo drawings (Fig. 12). 7 It is a fair replica 
 of the mosaic. The inscription under the Madonna and Child is omitted, 
 and it follows the Barberini copy in leaving out what are evidently modern 
 additions, viz., the plant beside St. Paul, and the names which are in- 
 scribed under the figures of the Apostles. On the other hand it records 
 many small details in common with the other drawing, as for example 
 the little circle in the left hand lower corner of the border, surmounted by 
 a cross and inclosing a P, which De Rossi thought might be Cavallini's 
 monogram. Above all it shows in the lower border the same fragmentary 
 inscription which was copied by Eclissi in the Barberini drawing discussed 
 
 above: VS IT PETRVS \nd here again the 
 
 lacuna is too large to be filled with the letters FEC. 
 
 The Windsor drawing is clearly the work of Antonio Eclissi. The re- 
 semblance to the Barberini copy, sufficiently apparent from the reproduc- 
 tions in Figs. 11 and 12, is too close to be explained by the common model. 
 It resides in the identity of method in drawing nostrils, eyes, ears, mouth 
 and hands, and most of all in the air of niggling hesitancy which pervades 
 both of these copies, and is found in all the drawings discussed in this 
 monograph. The Barberini drawing, recording the inscription under the 
 Madonna and the details of the border, is a more finished work than the 
 drawing in the Dal Pozzo collection, but the latter cannot be regarded as a 
 preliminary sketch for the Barberini copy, since it contains details of gold 
 and color which would have been unnecessary in a sketch. It is much more 
 likely that the Windsor drawing is an independent copy made for Dal 
 Pozzo, as in the case of the copy of the mosaic of S. Teodoro. In view of 
 this it is worthy of note that Eclissi spaces the remaining letters of the in- 
 scription about the same in both drawings, s and in any case the general ac- 
 curacy of the copies precludes De Rossi's suggestion that he mistook to any 
 great degree the amount of space left by the letters missing in the middle 
 of the inscription. 
 
 It follows that De Rossi's restoration of these missing letters as FEC 
 is wrong, for the space is too large for three letters only, but he is none 
 the less correct in regarding- it as the signature of the artist for the reason 
 
 7 Mosaici Antichi, vol. II, fol. 6, no. 9041. Measures 23 x 28 cm. Pen, gold and color. 
 s The letters VS are drawn, in the Barberini copy, slightly to the left of the position 
 which they occupy in the Windsor drawing. 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 given above. His mistake was rather in completing the signature in ac- 
 cordance with the short formula commonly used by the Cosmati and other 
 Roman marble workers, instead of the fuller one employed by the mosai- 
 cists. Good examples of the latter are the two signatures of Giacomo 
 Torriti, who signed the apsidal mosaic of St. John Lateran in 1290, and 
 that of S. Maria Maggiore in 1296, dates close to the time when Cavallini 
 was working on the mosaics of S. Maria in Trastevere. The signature 
 in the Lateran basilica has been altered by modern retouches, and now 
 reads : IACOBVS : TORITI / PICT • OC OP • FECCIT. Its original 
 form is given by a copy preserved in a collection of Roman inscriptions 
 formed toward the end of the sixteenth century," as follows: IACOB 
 ToRITI / PICTOR H : OP : FECC : The other signature, in S. Maria 
 Maggiore, reads : IACOB : TOR / RITI PICTOR / H : OP • MOSIAC 
 • VEC Jacob (us) Torriti pictor h(oc) op(us) mosiac( um ) fec(it). This 
 signature is found in identical form in the above mentioned epigraphic 
 collection of the end of the sixteenth century, and is therefore pretty surely 
 still in its original state. Using- a formula similar to Torriti's, and like 
 abbreviations, and crediting Cavallini with enough Latinity to avoid the 
 solecism mosiacum, we may restore the signature as follows: [HOC OP 
 M]VS[IV — FEC]IT PETRVS [PICTOR], i.e. hoc op[us] musiv[um] 
 fecit Petrus pictor; "Peter the painter made this mosaic." This gives a 
 formula which properly fills the lacuna? and is at the same time typical of 
 the mosaicists rather than of the sculptors and architects of the time. 
 
 0 Preserved in a manuscript of the Biblioteca Angelica at Rome. See De Rossi 
 Bull. arch, crist. 1891, p. 95. 
 
VII. 1HE FRESCOES IN THE TRIBUNE OF S. PASSERA 
 
 S. Passera is the name which the Romans give to a little church out- 
 side of the Porta Portese on the right bank of the Tiber, almost oppo- 
 site St. Paul's-outside-the- Walls. There never existed a saintly lady of 
 this name, for the name of the church is a corruption of Abba, or Apa 
 Cyrus, an Egyptian martyr. Abbacy rus became successively Appaciro, 
 Appacero, Pacero, Pacera and Passera; Passera then became mixed up 
 with Prassede, and in the days of the little church's prosperity its most 
 popular feast day was July 21, the festival of St. Praxedes, or Prassede, 
 the holy daughter of Pudens, whose acquaintance we have made in a 
 previous chapter. 1 
 
 Abba or Apa was the native Egyptian designation for a monk; pre- 
 fixed to the name of the saint, it gave him the appellation of Abbacyrus 
 by which Rome knew him throughout the Middle Ages. The monk Cyrus 
 had a companion John, who is described as a soldier. The bodies of both 
 martyrs were interred at Menuphis near Alexandria, the modern Abukir (a 
 name by the way which is itself derived from Abbacyrus) by the bishop 
 Cyril of Alexandria, who has left the two discourses which he delivered on 
 the occasion of this interment. It is from a figurative characterization of 
 the martyrs as "physicians" in one of these discourses that the later legend 
 seems to have arisen, according to which the two saints were doctors, 
 serving the poor and the sick without pay, like Saints Cosmas and Damian. 
 
 The cult of Abbacyrus 2 and John was probably brought to Rome in 
 the seventh century during the period of Oriental ascendency which I have 
 mentioned in speaking of the apsidal mosaic of S. Teodoro. Both saints ap- 
 pear in one of the earliest frescoes in the old church of S. Maria Antiqua 
 
 1 Armellini, Chiese di Roma, 2nd ed. pp. 945-6. 
 
 2 For the cult of Abbacyrus at Rome and its connection with the church of S. Passera, 
 see Sinthern, Romische Quartalschrift, 1908, pp. 196-239. 
 
 55 
 
5 6 LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 in the Roman Forum, decorating- the wall of the chapel to the right of the 
 apse, and dating from the reign of John VII (707-708). In the ninth 
 century the cult grew apace, and several sanctuaries appear to have been 
 dedicated to the "doctor saints," or to Abbacyrus alone, who tended to out- 
 strip his companion in the popular veneration. There is a striking- bust of 
 Abbacyrus among the frescoes of S. Maria Antiqua attributed to Nicholas I 
 (858-867), 3 and above this bust is another painting of the eleventh or 
 twelfth century representing Christ between the white haired, bearded 
 Abbacyrus and the youthful John. 4 
 
 Fie. 13. Drawing of the upper fresco in the apse of S. Passera. 
 
 About the time this fresco was painted the Abbacyrus cult in Rome 
 
 experienced a renaissance. A church was built in honor of the martyr in 
 
 the Forum of Trajan, and it was at this time that the lower church of 
 
 S. Passera assumed its present form and received the inscription which 
 
 still adorns the entrance to the underground chamber that lies beneath it: 
 
 Corpora sancta Cyri renitent hie atque Johannis 
 Qua? quondam Roma? dedit Alexandria magna. 
 
 "Here lie resplendent the holy bodies of Cyrus and John, 
 Which great Alexandria once gave to Rome." 
 
 3 Griineisen, Sti '.-Marie- Antique,, p. tot, fig. 75. 
 
 4 Griineisen, op. cit. pi. XV. Later Byzantine iconography, as represented by the 
 well known "Painter's Manual" which Didron discovered still in use among the monastic 
 artists of Mt. Athos, makes Cyrus's companion a gray haired man with a pointed beard. 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 57 
 
 One would suppose from the tenor of this inscription that the renewal 
 of the cult was clue to the translation of the bodies of the two saints at 
 this time from Alexandria to the church of S. Passera, but there is little 
 reason to suppose that this took place. As a matter of fact there seems 
 to have been from very early times a shrine at this point on the Via 
 Portuensis dedicated to Abbacyrus and his companion, and a tradition that 
 their bodies rested in the underground chamber beneath the lower church. 
 Above the lower church was built, in the thirteenth century, the present 
 chapel of S. Passera, so that the sanctuary offers the interesting- complex 
 of three stories: upper church, lower church, and the underground chamber 
 or hypogseum. 
 
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
 
 Fig. 14. Drawing of the lower fresco in the apse of S. Passera. 
 
 The apse and arch of the upper chapel are decorated with frescoes 
 which are in sad condition, due chiefly to a ruthless overpainting, apparently 
 done toward the end of the seventeenth century, which has transformed the 
 attributes of the saints and obliterated details to such an extent that Sin- 
 thern, the latest writer to describe the church, was unable to identify some 
 of the figures. 5 The original compositions of the tribune are fortunately 
 preserved to us by numbers 8936, 9197, 9198 and 9220 of the Windsor 
 drawings, here reproduced (Figs. 13, 14, 15, 16), 6 together with a photo- 
 
 * Op. cit. pp. 236-7. 
 
 'Mosaici Antichi, vol. I, fol. 9, no. 8936 (apse, upper portion). Measures 21I/2 x 40 cm. 
 Pen and color. 
 
 Vol. II, fol. 83, no. 9197 (right side of arch and panel with figure of St. Praxedis). 
 Panel is marked with the Dal Pozzo number 3. Measures 24^/2 x 33?4 cm. Pen and color. 
 
58 LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 gravure of the tribune in its present state (Fig. 17). A comparison will 
 show the curious changes which the overpainting produced. 
 
 In the vault of the apse (Fig. 13), the gesture of Christ's right 
 hand has been changed, the figure has been broadened, and instead of the 
 roll which originally was held in the left hand one now sees an open book 
 inscribed: Ego sum via, Veritas, et vita. The two palms which framed 
 the Saviour's figure have disappeared; Peter's right hand, once uplifted, 
 now dangles the keys in front of him; Paul's left hand no longer holds 
 a roll, but hangs awkwardly at his side. Of the two saints which terminate 
 the group, the one to the right, St. John Evangelist, has been but slightly 
 
 Fig. 15. Drawing of the frescoes on the left side of the arch of S. Passjika. 
 
 altered, but John the Baptist on the opposite side has lost the medallion 
 with the Lamb which he once held in his left hand, and has received in his 
 right a scroll inscribed: cccc agnus Dei qui [tollit peccata mundi], "Be- 
 hold the Lamb of God which [taketh away the sin of the world]." 
 
 The lower wall of the apse (Fig. 14) was treated more heroically 
 still. The Virgin and Child are not much changed, but the throne on 
 which the Madonna sits has been brought up to date by the addition of 
 a very baroque canopy and flying putti who hold the Virgin's nimbus. To 
 
 Vol. II, fol. 83, no. 9198 (left side of arch and panel with figure of St. Pudentiana) . 
 Measures 25 x 345/ cm. Pen and color. 
 
 Vol. II, fol. 98, no. 9220 (apse, lower portion). Measures x 38 cm. Pen and 
 
 color. This leaf has the same watermark (crown and star?) as vol. I, fol. 9. 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 59 
 
 her left the erstwhile St. Michael has been transformed into a figure in 
 which Sinthern saw St. Praxedes, holding in her left hand the sponge 
 with which she collected the blood of the martyrs. At any rate the wings 
 of the archangel are almost obliterated and another object has replaced 
 the globe, marked with a cross, which he originally held in his left hand. 
 The little kneeling figure of a female donor at his left is entirely gone, 
 swallowed up by the large tub or other receptacle into which Praxedes, 
 if Praxedes it be, seems to be squeezing the sponge. The figures to the 
 right (from the spectator's point of view) are not greatly altered. Ab- 
 bacyrus, with spatula in his right hand and a medicine case in his left, 
 
 tic. 16. Drawing of the frescoes on the right side ok the arch of S. Passera. 
 
 stands beside the seated Christ, at whose left appears the figure of John, 
 holding the same symbols of his physician's profession. 
 
 On the other side of the Virgin's throne stands a dignified saint in 
 whom Sinthern recognized St. Joseph. The drawing proves him to be 
 St. James Major, for in front of him are his pilgrim's staff and scrip. 
 It is probable that his left hand rested originally on the staff; his right 
 lies on the head of a kneeling donor, whose form is still faintly to be seen 
 in the present fresco. The last saint to the left, in Franciscan dress, hold- 
 ing a book in his right hand and resting the left on the head of a kneeling 
 female donor, might well be St. Francis. Sinthern calls him St. Anthony 
 of Padua, doubtless because of his youthful appearance, which is even 
 more apparent in the drawing. 
 
6o 
 
 LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 The arch (Figs. 15, 16) still displays at its summit a much damaged 
 Agnus Dei, framed in a medallion and flanked by two candlesticks on 
 either side. The drawing shows no divergence here, but distributes the 
 svmbols of the Evangelists differently. Eclissi, whose hand is again de- 
 tected in this group of copies, drew the four beasts in the order: ox 
 (Luke), angel (Matthew), eagle (John), and lion (Mark), while the 
 actual fresco arranges them : eagle, angel, lion ox. The copyist must 
 
 Fig, 17. Frescoes in the tribune of S. Passera, present state. 
 
 have found the svmbols considerably effaced, since he records only one of 
 the inscriptions on the books of the Evangelist (the Liber generationis 
 Iesu Christi on the book of Matthew), and it is barely possible that the 
 discrepancy in the arrangement is due to a mistake on his part and not 
 to the repainting. 
 
 Sinthern was unable to identify the figures in the spandrils. They 
 are clear enough in the drawing: to the left (Fig. 15) we have the young 
 St. John, whose short tunic, boots and military cloak recall his original pro- 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 61 
 
 fession of soldier, and to the right (Fig. 16) St. Cyrus, painted as usual 
 as a white haired old man with a long beard. Both saints hold the physi- 
 cian's spatula and medicine case. 
 
 Below these figures are panels, each of which still contains the figure 
 of a female saint. The one on the left is labelled : "Potentiana" by an 
 inscription scratched on the plaster ; in the saint opposite we may therefore 
 recognize her sister Praxedes, whose connection with S. Passera has 
 been mentioned before. The drawing shows that Praxedes wore a crown 
 as well as her sister, although this detail does not now appear. 
 
 The borders of the arch and the upper portion of the apse are not 
 materially different in fresco and drawing; the Windsor copyist has not 
 recorded them in his rendering of the lower portion. This lower group, 
 so heterogeneous in its elements, is obviously the result of the desire of 
 each of the three donors of the fresco, who kneel at the feet of St. James, 
 St. Cyrus and the Franciscan saint, to have their patrons included in the 
 holy group ; the Virgin, the seated Christ and the archangel Michael are 
 the nucleus of the devotional picture, and are objects of reverence too 
 common to require an explanation of their presence. 
 
 Whether the monastic saint at the extreme left of the row is St. 
 Francis himself, or his famous disciple St. Anthony of Padua, he at any 
 rate dates the fresco. St. Francis was canonized in 1228 and St. Anthony 
 in 1232. Sinthern suggested Honorius III (1216-1227) as the builder 
 or restorer of the upper church. The tribune fescoes, subsequent at least 
 to the canonization of St. Francis, cannot be earlier than the thirteenth 
 century, and no earlier period could have conceived the Gothic frames 
 which inclose the figures of Praxedes and Pudentiana. On the other hand 
 the frescoes cannot be much later than the middle of the thirteenth century 
 because of the close adherence of the arch composition to the type in use 
 throughout the twelfth century. We have made the acquaintance of this 
 form of arch decoration at S. Maria Nuova. It is repeated at S. Maria in 
 Trastevere, and the essential features appear as early as the arch of 
 S. Clemente ("under Paschal II, 1099-11 18). In the arch of S. Passera 
 they appear again : the four symbols of the Evangelists flanking the 
 medallion at the top of the arch; the candlesticks on either side; especially 
 the palm-trees and the standing figures in the spandrils. The type is in 
 decadence here, however, as is seen from the reduction of the seven 
 
62 LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 candlesticks to four, as if the painter had lost their meaning, and the 
 substitution in the spandrils of the titular saints of the church for the 
 prophets who hold this place in the arches of the twelfth century (Plate 
 II). The tribune frescoes of S. Passera may therefore be dated about 
 the middle of the thirteenth century. 7 
 
 T The following summary indicates the colors used in the Windsor copy : 
 
 ARCH : The background is in gray wash. The symbols of the Evangelists have white 
 wings shaded with pink, and yellow haloes. The candlesticks are yellow. The medallion 
 in the centre has an outside border of red ; the inside border is white. The Lamb is white 
 with a yellow nimbus crossed with red. The beasts to the night are brownish in color; 
 to the left the ox is pink, and the angel wears a green tunic with a red mantle. In 
 the spandrils, St. John wears a white tunic striped horizontally with red, violet leggings, 
 yellow shoes and a red mantle. The trees on both sides are green, with a shadow in 
 violet. St. Cyrus has a reddish tunic, steel-gray shoes, and a reddish-yellow mantle. He 
 stands on a green groundstrip. The border of the arch consists of red, white and 
 green bands ; the inner band is white with black crenellations. 
 
 APSE (upper portion) : The background is violet inclosed in the upper part by a 
 green border, which is the color of the strip that crosses the centre of the field behind 
 the figures. A checkerboard pattern in red and white separates this green inner bor- 
 der from the outside border, which has yellow vases, and white flowers with green stems 
 on a red ground. This border is inclosed in dark red bands. The palms have yellow 
 trunks, green tops, and red fruit. The haloes are yellow, that of Christ being crossed 
 with red. John the Baptist wears a violet tunic and yellow mantle ; the medallion which 
 he carries is violet with white border, on which the Lamb is relieved in white with a 
 red-crossed nimbus. All the other saints have similar violet tunics, but wear red mantles, 
 while Christ wears a red tunic and a violet pallium. St. John Evangelist's chalice is yellow. 
 
 APSE (lower portion) : The background is violet with a green groundstrip. The 
 haloes are yellow. St. Anthony (or Francis) wears a yellow-brown habit and carries 
 a yellow book. The kneeling donor beside him wears a red robe and has a white veil 
 on her head. St. James has a white tunic and red pallium; the donor in front of him is 
 clad in a green robe. His staff is yellow with the scrip in white with yellow shadows. 
 The Virgin's throne is yellow with red stripes. The Virgiin herself wears a violet robe 
 and white veil. The Child wears a white and yellow garment; His nimbus is crossed 
 with white. St. Michael wears a tunic with green sleeves ; over this is a white garment 
 with a checkered pattern of crossed lines in brown, and a yellow girdle; his mantle is 
 red. The globe which he carries is white with a red cross. His wings are white with 
 pink shadows, and he wears dark brown boots. The kneeling figure at his feet has a 
 violet robe with a white veil. St. Cyrus wears a violet robe and red shoes ; he carries a 
 white spatula and a yellow medicine case. Christ's throne is yellow ; He wears a red 
 tunic and green mantle. His book is red. St. John wears a white tunic almost com- 
 pletely concealed by a green overdress, and a red mantle. His spatula and medicine 
 case are white. St. Pudentiana stands in a dark-brown niche, wears a yellow crown, and 
 is dressed in a violet undergarment with a yellow sleeve, and a red and yellow mantle 
 bordered with yellow and white. She carries a white book. The niche of St. Praxedes 
 is also brown, and she wears a yellow crown like her sister. Her undergarment is red 
 with a green sleeve ; over this she wears a yellow and white mantle bordered with green. 
 Both saints have yellow haloes. 
 
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VIII. THE FRESCOES IN THE CHAPEE OF ST. NICHOLAS IN 
 THE LATERAN PALACE 1 
 
 Among Eclissi's drawings in the Dal Pozzo collection are five 2 which 
 restore the decorations of the tribune of the chapel of St. Nicholas in the 
 old Lateran, which was destroyed during the remodelling of the palace 
 under Benedict XIV in 1747. These drawings have long been known, 
 and I have included them in the monograph only for the sake of their re- 
 production, adding such explanatory comment as seemed necessary. 
 The first of the drawings represents the fresco of the apse (Plate V). 
 In the center is the Madonna in royal robes and crown, seated on a 
 throne from which on either side arises the figure of an angel bearing a 
 flaming torch. The Christ Child sits erect and formal on her lap. Above 
 her head the Hand of God extends a jewelled wreath. In the field on 
 either side is a figure in episcopal robes; the one to the left wears the 
 papal tiara in the form it assumed previous to 1300, and is inscribed: 
 S -SILVESTER ; the other is bareheaded, and labelled : S ANASTASIVS. 
 At the feet of the Madonna kneel two Popes, each clasping- one of her 
 feet. They both wear the rectangular nimbus to indicate that they are 
 
 1 On the subject of these frescoes see De Rossi, Esame storico cd avcheologico dell' 
 immaginc di Urbano II papa; reprinted from Gli Studi in Italia, IV, Rome, 1881 ; 
 E. Miintz: Ricerche intorno ai lavori archeologici di Giacomo Grimaldi, Florence, 1881 ; 
 and Duchesne, Lib. Pont. II, 'p. 325, note 22. 
 
 2 Mosaici Antichi, vol. I, fol. 49, no. 8981 (apse). Dal Pozzo number 49. Measures 
 31 x 52^ cm. Pen and color. 
 
 Vol. II, fol. 87, no. 9205 (Gelasius and Paschal). Measures 30 x 22-Ki cm. Pen 
 and color. 
 
 Fol. 87, no. 9206 (Urban and Leo). Dal Pozzo number 3:1. Measures 30 x 22 l / 2 cm. 
 Pen and color. 
 
 Fol. 92, no. 9213 (Gregory the Great and Alexander). Measures 30 x 22'4 cm. Pen 
 and color. 
 
 Fol. 92, no. 9214 (Gregory VII and Victor). Dal Pozzo number 30. Measures 30 x 
 22^4 cm. Pen and color. 
 
 64 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 65 
 
 living persons; the Pope to the left is inscribed: CHALISTO II PP 
 (Papa), and the one on the right is designated: ANASTASIVS TIL 
 Under the Madonna's throne is the inscription : PRESIDET ETHEREIS 
 PIA VIRGO MARIA CHOREIS. The rest of the lower border is oc- 
 cupied by an inscription recording the building and decorating of the 
 chapel : 
 
 SVSTVLIT HOC PRIMO TE(m) PLV(m) CALIXTV(s) AB IMO 
 VIR CLAR(us) LATE GALLORVM NOBILITATE 
 Pr PAT (us) CVLMINE 
 
 HOC OPVS ORNAVIT VARIISQVE MODIS DECORAVIT 
 
 The other drawings give the decoration of the lower part of the apse 
 on either side, a row of figures representing Popes who had attained the 
 dignity of sainthood. The copies of Fol. 87 (Plate VI) reproduce the 
 left half of this frieze, containing the figures of Gelasius II (SCS GELA- 
 SIVS PP. II), Paschal II (SCS PASCHALIS PP. II), Urban II (SCS 
 VRBANVS PP. II), and St. Leo the Great (SCS LEO PP). Fol. 92 
 (Plate VII) gives the figures of the right half: St. Gregory the Great 
 (SCS GREGORIVS PP), Alexander II (SCS ALEXANDER PP. II), 
 Gregory VII (SCS GREGORIVS PP. VII), and Victor III (SCS VIC- 
 TOR PP III). In the center between these two quartettes of Popes was 
 the figure of St. Nicholas, inscribed with his name, which does not appear 
 among the Windsor drawings. 3 
 
 3 The drawings are colored as follows : 
 
 Apse : Border-design in red and yellow on green, inclosed by narrow inner bands of 
 yellow and broader outer bands of reddish brown, of which the inner one is continued 
 along the bottom of the apse. The field of the apse is inclosed by a black band. The 
 field is reddish purple; the stars with which it is decorated are in gold (?) and silver (?). 
 The wreath above the Virgin's head is yellow with red dots and a blue jewel. The 
 Virgin wears a yellow crown, dotted with black. Her collar is yellow with red dots. 
 She wears a blue underdresis decorated with yellow and red; her mantle is of bronzed 
 blue, and the shoes are red. The cushion on which she sits is decorated with a -diaper 
 pattern in red and white. The Christ-child wears a white tunic and a yellow pallium 
 shaded with red. The throne is yellow, lined with red. The foot-stool of the Virgin is in 
 yellow and blue jewels. The angels wear blue tunics and green mantles; their wings 
 are red, shaded with blue, and their torches yellow, with red flames. The hair of the 
 Virgin, Child, and angels is in brownish yellow. The kneeling Popes wear white dalmatics 
 covered by dull red paenulae : their pallium scarfs are white with black crosses; the 
 shoes are in red and yellow. The figures of the standing saints are colored alike : white 
 dalmatics with decorations in red, blue and yellow ; red paenulae bordered with yellow ; 
 yellow shoes, white pallium scarfs with black crosses, white neck-cloths or stoles, and 
 white tiara (on the head of Sylvester). The ground-strip on which they stand is green. 
 The inscriptions are in white letters; the haloes are all done in yellow, bordered with 
 red. 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 67 
 
 The chapel of St. Nicholas was built in the old Lateran palace, the 
 papal residence up to the time of the building of the Vatican, by Calixtus 
 II (1119-1124). Calixtus was a Burgundian by birth, hence the Gallorum 
 nobilitate of the inscription. The building of the oratory is ascribed to 
 him not only by the inscription in the apse but also by the Liber Ponti- 
 ficalis.' 1 The inscription gives him credit for the frescoes as well, but as 
 the tribune was restored about 1570 and suffered considerable change at 
 that time, the present form of the inscription is not altogether to be 
 trusted. Pietro Sabino transcribed it at the end of the fifteenth century, 
 and read the verse under the image of the Madonna as follows: Prcsidet 
 cuthereis pia virgo Maria chords, which corresponds, save in the unim- 
 portant particular of ccthereis for the more likely ethercis, to Eclissi's 
 copy. But Sabino read the rest of the inscription in full: 
 
 Sustidit hoc primo templum Callistus ab into 
 Vir Celebris late Gallorum nobilitate. 
 Letus Callistus papains culminc frctus 
 Hoc opus ornavit variisque modis decoravit. 
 
 Sabino's copy, although made before the restorations of the sixteenth 
 century, must be inexact, for he uses "Callistus" instead of "Calixtus," the 
 current form of the twelfth century, and the beginning of the third verse 
 should read Callistus letus instead of letus Callistus, in order to make the 
 Leonine rhyme with fretus. It will be noted moreover that some other 
 beginning of the third verse is indicated by the remaining letters P/> of 
 the Windsor copy, and that the repetition of Calixtus' name is somewhat 
 strange. The first verse, also, "Calixtus first built this temple from its 
 foundations," leaves the reader with the impression that the last two 
 
 The eight Popes : Background violet, with ground-strip in green. The haloes are 
 yellow with white and red stripes ; the tiaras are all white, with a yellow band dotted with 
 white. The tops of the tiaras are decorated in the case of the first four, plain for the 
 others. All the figures have yellow shoes, white pallium-scarfs with black crosses and 
 yellow tips, and white neck-cloths; the invariable decoration of the lower edge of the 
 dalmatic is a gray band with oblong ornaments in violet and white. Gelasius is given 
 flaxen hair; Paschal, Leo and the two Gregorys have brown hair; that of Urban, Alexan- 
 der and Victor is white. Gelasius and Victor, at the ends of the row, wear green paenulae 
 over dalmatics decorated with circular ornaments in red, violet and white. All the others 
 have .scarlet paenulae ; the dalmatics are orange in the case of Paschal, Leo, and the two 
 Gregorys ; Urban and Alexander have the white and red dalmatics of the saints at the 
 ends of the row. The books are red, yellow, green or rose in color. 
 
 4 Duchesne, Lib. Pont. 11, p. 323. 
 
68 
 
 LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 verses ought to record the completion and decoration of the chapel at 
 the hands of another Pope. 
 
 Arguing from these indications, Duchesne decided that Pietro Sabino 
 must have inserted his own conjectures into the inscription in the places 
 where words were lacking in the fifteenth century. The fragmentary 
 letters to be seen in the Windsor drawing at the beginning" of the 
 third line permit one to suppose Prasul as the first word of the verse. 
 Anastasius might be suggested as the name of the Pope to replace that 
 of Calixtus, because his name is inscribed next to the kneeling donor to 
 the right of the Virgin. But no faith can be placed in the present labelling 
 of the figures in the apse, since they were nearly all changed in the course 
 of the repairs of the sixteenth century. Anastasius III moreover did 
 not ascend the throne of St. Peter till 1 1 53, and it is unlikely that the 
 chapel of St. Nicholas, destined for the daily use of the Pope, remained 
 unfinished for a period of thirty years, between Calixtus's death in 1124 
 and the accession of Anastasius. The intervening Popes were Innocent 
 II, who occupied the Lateran (in 11 33) for too short a time to under- 
 take the decoration of the chapel, and the antipope Anacletus II, men- 
 tioned in the first chapter as the possible author of the apsidal fresco of 
 S. Lorenzo in Lucina. The substitution of Anacletus gives the needed 
 Leonine rhyme for fretus, and so Duchesne, whose argument we have 
 been summarizing, restores the inscription as follows : 
 
 Sustulit hoc primo templum Calixtus ab imo 
 Vir Celebris'' late Gallorum nobilitate. 
 Prccsul Anacletus papains culmine fretus 
 Hoc opus ornavit variisque modis dccoravit. 
 
 "Calixtus first built this temple from its foundations 
 
 A man famed far and wide and of gentle Gallic blood. 
 
 The pontiff Anacletus, enthroned on the supreme seat of the papacy, 
 
 Adorned the work and beautified it in various ways." 
 
 The kneeling figure opposite Calixtus is then the antipope Anacletus II, 
 whose name was no longer visible when the restoration of the frescoes 
 was carried out in the sixteenth century, having no doubt been erased after 
 his death and the restoration to power in Rome of Innocent II. The 
 inscription beside his figure should therefore be changed from 
 
 s Sabino"s Celebris is more probably correct than the rather obvious clarus of the 
 Windsor drawing. 
 
LOST MOSAICS AND FRESCOES OF ROME 
 
 ANASTASIVS III to ANACLETVS PP II, and that of Calixtus should 
 obviously read : CALIXTUS PP II, instead of the extraordinary 
 CHALISTO. The standing bishop to the left is properly labelled 
 S. SILVESTER, but Duchesne is undoubtedly 4-ight in assuming a mis- 
 take in the inscription which designates the other figure, who is in all 
 probability St. Anacletus, bishop of Rome in the first century, and the 
 eponymous patron of the kneeling antipope. He wears no tiara, as the 
 tiara was supposed to have been worn first in the time of Constantine 
 by Pope Silvester. 
 
 This tiara which Sylvester shares with the popes of the lower frieze 
 is an interesting indication from the historical point of view, for there 
 are but few earlier instances of its use in Christian art/' Up to the time 
 of Boniface VIII the popes wore, as in these frescoes, a single circlet 
 on the tiara, or regnum as it was then called. Boniface introduced 
 a second crown, the trircgnum quickly followed, and the triple crown 
 became distinctive of the papal tiara from the fourteenth century on. 
 
 The whole decoration of the chapel of St. Nicholas, and of the cham- 
 bers that adjoined it, was a pictorial allegory expressive of the temporal 
 supremacy which was the ideal and aim of the Popes of the twelfth 
 century. The relation of the frescoes to the Concordat of Worms and 
 the struggle against secular investiture may be studied in detail in De 
 Rossi's exhaustive treatment (see note 1). Eclissi is not the only one 
 who copied the frescoes before their destruction ; Grimaldi made a copy in 
 the early seventeenth century, and there are other and later ones. The 
 Windsor drawings themselves have had a partial publication in Marriot's 
 Vestiarium Christianum, 1 but the present reproduction is the first, I 
 believe, to give in complete form (save for the missing figure of St. 
 Nicholas) this interesting series of frescoes. 
 
 6 An example is foi nd in the tiara worn by the Pope in a fresco of the lower church 
 of S. Clemente rep' ring the funeral procession of a saint. The fresco dates in the 
 eleventh century. L e Rossi, Bull. arch, crist. 1864, p. 3. 
 
 7 P. 243; pi. XLVI (upoer half of apse only).