Dagnan Bouverets, the Mersons, the Cazins, the Puvis de Chavannes,
etc., of the fifth century have had a hand in the conception and
realization of the beautiful compositions to be found on the nave walls
of the two churches of St. Appollinare Nuovo and St. Appollinare in
Classe. Here all the scales are of delicate degrees of light tones,
supreme in their beauty, completeness, and, most important to us, their
true decorative instinct. In the Baptistery we find what I may term a
third essay in color, by weaving in rich, dark, and glowing colors on
figures and bold sinuous forms of ornament in such a skillful and
judicious manner that the whole dome seems to be alive with harmonies,
although they are mostly primaries.

As you know, rules for the disposition of color are futile, yet some
details that struck me as eminently satisfactory may interest you. In
all cases the tesserae are of small dimensions, about a quarter of an
inch square. The stucco joints are large and open, surfaces far from
level, but undulating considerably. The tesserae stick up in parts,
brilliant edges showing. Absence of flatness gives play to the light.
The gray of the stucco joints brings the whole composition together,
serving as cool grays in a picture to give tender unity. Gold, apart
from backgrounds and large surfaces, is used very cleverly in small
pieces in borders of garments, and more especially in thin outlines to
make out the drawing and certain flowing forms of ornament. Brilliant
pieces of glass actually moulded at the kiln into forms of jewels add
brilliancy to crowns, borders, etc. These stick boldly out from the
surface. I noticed in the Baptistery below the springing of the dome a
frieze about 2 ft. 6 in. deep, having the ground entirely in black,
through which was woven in thin gold lines a delicate foliated design.
This, in conjunction with the upper surfaces in dark, rich color, had a
most delightful effect.

We, as students, can learn most from the Ravenna examples, for great are
the needs of light and silvery color in this country, where gray and
gloomy days far outnumber those in which the sun gives liberally of his
light. I may say, in passing, as our subject is really a matter of
decoration, that our nineteenth century efforts in this direction are
all of a somewhat gloomy tendency. We fill our rooms with imitations of
somber Spanish leather, stain and paint our woodwork in leathery and
muddy tones, to arrive at what is n