ly add intensity, may, for
instance, be seen in representations of the Agony in the Garden. This
subject is usually divided into three sections, each consecutive one
showing, with the same general scene, greater darkness, an advance up the
hill, and the figure of Christ more bowed. Another composition, the "Sleep
(death) of the Virgin," is all sweetness and peace, but no less powerful. A
remarkable invention is the _etomasia_, a splendid empty throne prepared
for the Second Advent. The stories of the Old Testament are put into
relation with the Gospel by way of type and anti-type. There are
allegories: the anchorite life contrasted with the mad life of the world,
the celestial ladder, &c., and fine impersonations, such as night and dawn,
mercy and truth, cities and rivers, are frequently found, especially in MS.
pictures.

A few general schemes may be briefly summarized. St Sophia has the
Pantocrator in the middle of the dome, and four cherubim of colossal size
at the four corners; on the walls below were angels, prophets, saints and
doctors. On the circle of the apse was enthroned the Virgin. To the right
and left, high above the altar, were two archangels holding banners
inscribed "Holy, Holy, Holy." These last are also found at Nicaea, and at
the monastery of St Luke. The church of the Holy Apostles had the Ascension
in the central dome, and below, the Life of Christ. St Sophia, Salonica,
also has the Ascension, a composition which is repeated on the central dome
of St Mark's, Venice. In the eastern dome of the Venetian church is Christ
surrounded by prophets, and, in the western dome, the Descent of the Holy
Spirit upon the Apostles. A Pentecost similar to the last occupies the dome
over the Bema of St Luke's monastery in Phocis; in the central dome of this
church is the Pantocrator, while in a zone below stand, the Virgin to the
east, St John Baptist to the west, and the four archangels, Michael,
Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel, to the north and south. A better example of
grandeur of treatment can hardly be cited than the paintings of the now
destroyed dome of the little church of Megale Panagia at Athens, a dome
which was only about 12 ft. across. At the centre was Christ enthroned,
next came a series of nine semicircles containing the orders of the angels,
seraphim, cherubim, thrones, dominations, virtues, powers, principalities,
archangels and angels. Below these came a wide blue belt set with stars and
the signs of t