The church of S. Maria antiqua (1902) (14780270882)

Identifier: churchofsmariaan01rush (find matches)
Title: The church of S. Maria antiqua
Year: 1902 (1900s)
Authors: Rushforth, G. McN. (Gordon McNeil), 1862-1938 Ashby, Thomas, 1874-1931. Classical topography of the Roman campagna
Subjects: Santa Maria Antiqua (Church : Rome, Italy) Church decoration and ornament Art, Byzantine
Publisher: London : (Macmillan & Co.)
Contributing Library: University Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Digitizing Sponsor: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill



Text Appearing Before Image:
m, whom hetakes by the hand. Under the feet of Christ appear two heads, perhaps the Satan andHades of the Gospel of Nicodemus. The left hand of Christ appears to be unoccupied ;perhaps it originally held a roll. The (later) inscription describes the scene as expoliatioi(ii)feri. In the next scene the bodily resurrection of the saints appears with the in- 1 Venturi, Storia delV Arte Ilaliana, i. 444^/. Fig. 266 (p. 279). Cf. Lowrie, Christian Art,&c, 269 note. The sculptures are also reproduced in Garrucci, vi. T. 498. S. Maria Antiqua. 117 scription surgu(n)t corp(pr)a s(ari)c(t)or(iim), explaining, as noticed above (p. 114) theGreek name of the Anastasis. (2) Owing to the connexion of time and place, it is peculiarly interesting to observehow the scene was represented in the mosaics of John VII.s famous chapel ofthe Virgin in St. Peters. We have to rely for our knowledge of them on the drawingsmade before the destruction of the chapel in the seventeenth century. In spite of their
Text Appearing After Image:
Fig. 10.—The Descent into Hell. (Add. MS. 19352.) deficiencies it is clear (e.g. from the one preserved in the Archives of the Vatican Chapterx)that the representation followed the simple and early type. Christ, without the cross(here again the hand may well have held a roll), and with the prostrate figure of thedevil under his feet, apparently removes a chain from Adams hand. But this may be amisunderstanding on the part of the draughtsman. (3) That mine of Byzantine iconography, the eleventh-century Psalter in the BritishMuseum,2 to which we have often had occasion to refer, contains three representations of 1 Garrucci, iv. T. 280, 8. 2 Add. 19352. The MS. is described in Dr. Kenyons Facsimiles of Biblical Manuscripts inthe British Museum, No. vii. Cf. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain, iv. 7 sqq. u8 The British School at Rome. the subject. One (f. 146 l>) is of a more elaborate and independent character. But in theother two cases (f. 82^, S3 «. Ps. lxvii. = lxviii. in