embodied, is wonderfully majestic
and simple. A female figure of colossal dimensions, far exceeding
in proportion all the attendant personages and accessories, stands
immediately beneath some figure or emblem representing almighty power:
either it is the omnipotent hand stretched out above her, holding the
crown of immortality; or it is the mystic dove which hovers over her;
or it is the half-form of Christ, in the act of benediction.

She stands with arms raised and extended wide, the ancient attitude of
prayer; or with hands merely stretched forth, expressing admiration,
humility, and devout love. She is attired in an ample tunic of
blue or white, with a white veil over her head, thrown a little
back, and displaying an oval face with regular features, mild,
dignified--sometimes, in the figures of the ruder ages, rather stern
and melancholy, from the inability of the artist to express beauty;
but when least beautiful, and most formal and motionless, always
retaining something of the original conception, and often expressibly
striking and majestic.

The earliest figure of this character to which I can refer is the
mosaic in the oratory of San Venanzio, in the Lateran, the work of
Greek artists under the popes John IV. and Theodorus, both Greeks by
birth, and who presided over the Church from 640 to 649. In the vault
of the tribune, over the altar, we have first, at the summit, a figure
of Christ half-length, with his hand extended in benediction; on each
side, a worshipping angel; below, in the centre, the figure of the
Virgin according to the ancient type, standing with extended arms, in
a violet or rather dark-blue tunic and white veil, with a small cross
pendant on her bosom. On her right hand stands St. Paul, on her left
St. Peter; beyond St. Peter and St. Paul, St. John the Baptist holding
a cross, and St. John the Evangelist holding a book; and beyond these
again, St. Domino and St. Venantius, two martyred saints, who perished
in Dalmatia, and whose relics were brought out of that country by the
founder of the chapel, John IV., himself a Dalmatian by birth. At the
extremities of this group, or rather line of figures, stand the two
popes, John IV. and Theodorus, under whom the chapel was founded and
dedicated. Although this ancient mosaic has been many times restored,
the original composition remains.

Similar, but of later date, is the effigy of the Virgin over the altar
of the archiepiscopal chapel at Ravenna.