The youthful Orphic face of
Christ changed to a solemn visage, with large, round eyes, saint-like
beard, and melancholy air. The classic qualities were fast
disappearing. Eastern types and elements were being introduced
through Byzantium. Oriental ornamentation, gold embossing, rich color
were doing away with form, perspective, light-and-shade, and
background.
[Illustration: FIG. 19.--CHRIST AS GOOD SHEPHERD. MOSAIC, RAVENNA,
FIFTH CENTURY.]
The color was rich and the mechanical workmanship fair for the time,
but the figure had become paralytic. It shrouded itself in a sack-like
brocaded gown, had no feet at times, and instead of standing on the
ground hung in the air. Facial expression ran to contorted features,
holiness became moroseness, and sadness sulkiness. The flesh was
brown, the shadows green-tinted, giving an unhealthy look to the
faces. Add to this the gold ground (a Persian inheritance), the gilded
high lights, the absence of perspective, and the composing of groups
so that the figures looked piled one upon another instead of receding,
and we have the style of painting that prevailed in Byzantium and
Italy from about the ninth to the thirteenth century.
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