we reach the Church of S. Domenico, a basilica founded by one of the Exarchs, but quite modernised. It contains the grave of Luca Longhi, the painter, and

Right, 3rd Chapel. Luca Longhi (1507-1580). The finding of

the True Cross.

Choir. Niccolò Rondinelli (one of the best pupils of Giov. Bellini). ' S. Domenico, S. Peter.

Chapel Left of High Altar. A curious miraculous' crucifix, of wood covered with linen, which is said to have sweated blood during the battle of Ravenna.

Left, 2nd Chapel. Luca Longhi. The Fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary.

Close to this church is that of S. Michele in Affrisco, built in 530, but modernised.

In the Stradone della Stazione, which continues the Strada del Monte, is the Church of S. Giovanni Evangelista or della Sagra, built in 425 by Galla Placidia in fulfilment of a vow that she would build a church in honour of S. John the Evangelist, if she were saved from shipwreck with her children on a voyage from Constantinople to Ravenna In front of the church is an Atrium approached by a very

interesting Gothic portal of 1300. Its sculptures record the story of Galla Placidia longing for a relic of the Evangelist wherewith to enrich her church, and receiving one of his sandals in a vision. In the lower part of the relief she is represented embracing the feet of S. John as he appears to her; in the upper she presents the sandal he has left to the Saviour and S. John, her confessor S. Barbation and others standing by. The church has three aisles, and retains its twenty-four ancient columns of grey marble. It contains :—

Left, 4th Chapel. The frescoes of the vaulting are, with great uncertainty, attributed to Giotto. In the centre is a medallion, containing the Lamb with a Cross; in each of the four rectangular divisions a Doctor of the Church and an Evangelist, facing each other, and, above them, the emblems of the Evangelists. Those who follow Crowe and Cavalcaselle will maintain that there can be no doubt of the authenticity of this fresco, in which Giotto exhibited all the qualities of which he was so complete a master in his prime.' The frescoes have been ruined by 'restoration.'

6th Chapel (left). Here are the only remains of the once magnificent mosaics of Galla Placidia in this church, a fragment representing the storm and the vow of the empress.

Apse. Beneath the high altar repose SS. Canzius, Canzanius, and Canzianilla. The confessional beneath is of the fifth century.

In the Campanile are two bells cast by Robert of Saxony, 1208.

At the end of the Strada del Monte is the Piazza Maggiore, representing the ancient Forum. It has (now adorned with figures of S. Apollinaris and S. Vitale) the columns which mark the towns which at some time have been under the Venetian rule. Between them is a seated statue of Clement XII. (1730-1740). Several palaces encircle the square, chiefly occupied for government or civic offices. The Palazzo Communale is adorned with busts of seven Cardinal Legates, and part of the gates of Pavia, seized by the troops of Ravenna. The beautiful sculptured capitals of the columns in the colonnade deserve careful attention. They are supposed to be the remains of a temple of Hercules.

Beyond the Piazza Maggiore is the little Piazza dell' Aquila, containing a column in honour of Cardinal Caetani, and surmounted by an eagle which was his badge. The name of the square will bring to mind an earlier connection of the eagle with Ravenna, as the arms of the Polentani, who ruled it in the latter part of the thirteenth century

'Ravenna sta com' è stata molt' anni:
L'aquila da Polenta là si cova

Si che Cervia ricuopre co' suoi vanni.'

Dante, Inf.' xxvii. 40.

Hence, the Strada del Duomo leads to the cathedral

square.

On the left is the Baptistery or Church of S. Giovanni in Fonte.-the most interesting of all ancient baptisteries-built A.D. 451 by Archbishop Neo. It is octangular and surrounded by two tiers of arches, with columns of different sizes and orders, probably collected from pagan edifices. It is little altered since the fifth century, except by the raising of the pavement, which has buried the bases of the pillars. There is water beneath. In the midst is the eightsided baptismal font made with slabs of porphyry and white marble, with an ambo for the officiating priest. In one of the recesses is a curious ciborium and altar, said to contain the head of the martyr S. Felix ; in another is a font, said to have belonged to the Temple of Jupiter in (the suburb) Cesarea, and to have been afterwards used by S. Apollinaris in the purification of Gentile converts. The cupola blazes with the ancient mosaics.

The earliest mosaics of the fifth century with which we are acquainted, namely, the internal decorations of the Baptistery at Ravenna, are, in respect of figures as well as ornament, among the most remarkable of their kind. A double row of arches occupies the walls in the spandrils of the lower ones, between splendid gold arabesques on a blue ground, are seen the figures of the eight prophets, which, in general conception, especially in the motives of the draperies,

Entered by a low door close by

are in no way distinguishable from the later antique works. Though the execution is light and bold, the chiaroscuro is throughout tolerably complete. In the upper tier of arches, between rich architectural decorations, a series of stucco reliefs occupy the place of the mosaics. The subjects of these are male and female saints, with rams, peacocks, sea-horses, stags, and griffins above; chiefly white upon a red, yellow, or grey ground. At the base of the cupola is a rich circle of mosaics consisting of four altars, with the four open books of the Gospel, four thrones with crosses, eight Episcopal sedilia beneath the conch-niches, and eight elegant tombs surmounted with garlands.1 All these subjects are divided symmetrically, and set in a framework of architecture of beautiful and almost Pompeian character. Within this circle appear the chief representations—the twelve Apostles, colossal in size; and in the centre, as a circular picture, the Baptism of Christ. The apostles stand upon a green base, representing the earth, with a blue background, under a white gold-decorated drapery, which embraces the whole circle of the cupola, and is divided into compartments by gold acanthus plants. The robes of the Apostles are of gold stuff; and as they step along in easy, dignified measure, bearing crowns in their hands, they form a striking contrast to the stiff immobility of later mosaics. The heads, like most of those in the Catacomb pictures, are somewhat small, and, at the same time, by no means youthfully ideal or general, but rather livingly individual, and even of that late Roman character of ugliness which is so observable in portraits of the time. In spite of their walking action, the heads are not given in profile, but in front, which, in a work otherwise of such excellence, is decidedly not ascribable to any inability of drawing on the part of the artist, but to the desire of giving the spectator as much as possible of the holy countenances. In default of a definite type for the apostles-the first traces of which can at most be discerned in the figure of S. Peter, who appears with grey hair, though not as yet with a bald head--they are distinguished by inscriptions. Especially fine in conception and execution are the draperies, which in their gentle flow and grandeur of massing, recall the best Roman work. As in the antique representations of Victory, the folds appear to be agitated by a supernatural wind. In the centre picture-the Baptism of Christ-the character of the nude is still easy and unconstrained, the lower part of the Saviour's figure being seen through the water--a mode of treating this subject which continued late into the Middle Ages, probably on account of the artist's objection to give any incomplete representation of the Saviour's form. We are led to conclude this from the fact that in other figures, where no such scruples existed, that part of the person which is in the water is generally rendered invisible. The head of Christ, with the long

Interesting as an early pictorial representation of the earliest memorial altar

tombs.

divided hair, corresponds in great measure with the already described Catacomb type. The whole is still treated somewhat in the spirit of ancient fable, the figure being represented simply, without nimbus or glory, with a cross between the Saviour and the Baptist; while the river Jordan, under the form of a river-god, rises out of the water on the left, in the act of presenting a cloth. The angels, which in later representations perform this office, occur but rarely at this time. The combined ornamental effect, the arrangement of the figures, and the delicate feeling for colour pervading the whole, enable us to form an idea of the genuine splendour and beauty which have been lost to the world in the destruction of the later decorated buildings of Imperial Rome.'-Kugler.

In the court close to the Baptistery are a number of ancient sarcophagi.

The Cathedral, or Basilica Ursiana, was founded by Archbishop Ursus in A.D. 400, but was almost entirely rebuilt by Archbishop Guiccioli in 1734, only the round campanile and the ancient crypt remaining. The great

door retains some fragments of the ancient door of vinewood (whose planks measured 13 ft. by 1) brought from Constantinople. In the Interior of the Church we may observe :

Right Transept (Cappella del Sudore). Two magnificent marble sarcophagi, containing the remains of S. Rinaldus, and of S. Barbation, the confessor of Galla Placidia.

Sacristy. A curious Paschal Calendar on marble for A.D. 532-626, a silver crucifix of the sixth century, and the ivory throne of the Archbishop Maximian, 532-626, covered with bas-reliefs chiefly of the History of Joseph.

Ambulatory behind the Choir. A bas-relief of S. Mark by Lombardi, and two sculptured marble slabs from an ancient ambo, shown by the inscription to have been erected by S. Agnellus.

'The bas-reliefs of the ancient ambones, now incrusted into the wall behind the choir, hardly deserve mention as works of art, but are curious as exhibiting in distinct rows, the fish, the dove, the lamb, the stag, peacock, &c.—"the whole sacred menagerie," as Mr. Hope calls it, of Symbolism.'— Lindsay's Christian Art.'

Choir. The picture of the Consecration of the church by S. Ursus is by Camuccini, that of the Death of S. Peter Chrysologus by Benvenuti.

Left Transept (Cappella del Sacramento). Guido Reni. The Fall of