Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: the top of the arch, and seems to apply to the whole twenty-seven original pictures that remain. A considerable part of them still exist S. Maria Maggiore (Basilica Liberiana), A.D.432?440. in fair preservation, comprising two ranges of pictures over the columns of the nave, with subjects from the Old Testament; and on the arch over the tribune, called the arch of triumph, are subjects from the New Testament, in five rows; in the lowest are lambs, over these the two holy cities, Jerusalem and Bethlehem. In the centre, over the arch, is a round medallion, supported by S. Peter and S. Paul, and the emblems of the four Evangelists; on the north side in this upper row is the Annunciation, and on the south the Presentation in the Temple. On the medallion is represented the throne of God richly ornamented with jewels; at the back is a cross and a circle or crown, and on the seat the book with the seven seals; at the end of the arms of the chair, or throne, are small medallions, with busts of S. Peter and S. Paul. Under the throne is the inscription Sixtus Episcopus Plebis Dei. In the second range is the Adoration of the Magi, and the Child Jesus in the midst of the Doctors. The third range is occupied entirely by the Massacre of the Innocentse, merely divided by the arch. The subjects from the Old Testament are arranged in thirty pictures, most of which are double, that is, consisting of two groups of figures, one over the other; they extend the whole length of the nave, fifteen on each side; a few are destroyed, and others havebeen repaired, others renewed, but in mosaic work repairs can always be seen by the difference of colour or of the work, however skilfully they may be done. Six of the pictures have been renewed or replaced by others in the sixteenth century, and ...