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The coloring, again, was a conventional scheme of
flat tints in reddish-browns and bluish-greens, with heavy outline
bands of brown. There was little perspective or background, and the
figures in panels were separated by vines, leaves, or other ornamental
division lines. Some relief was given to the figure by the brown
outlines. Light-and-shade was not well rendered, and composition was
formal. The great part of this early work was done in fresco after the
Roman formula, and was executed on the walls of the Catacombs. Other
forms of art showed in the gilded glasses, in manuscript illumination,
and, later, in the mosaics.
Technically the work begins to decline from the beginning in
proportion as painting was removed from the knowledge of the ancient
world. About the fifth century the figure grew heavy and stiff. A new
type began to show itself. The Roman toga was exchanged for the long
liturgical garment which hid the proportions of the body, the lines
grew hard and dark, a golden nimbus appeared about the head, and the
patriarchal in appearance came into art.


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