(artist(s) unknown) (concecrated 550, various developments to structure and decoration spanning from the 6th to 9th centuries). The Transfiguration of Christ with Saint Apollinaris, First Bishop of Ravenna [apsidal mosaic]. Church of Sant’ Apollinare in Classe.

The top-most register depicts the representative icons of the four apostles (from left to right, Eagle/John, Man/Matthew, Lion/Mark, Bull/Luke) oriented towards Christ. Their proximity to heaven is implied by the cloud patterning that builds the background of the register. Heaven is connected to the temporal world in the next register down, which continues the cloud motif. The entire composition conforms to the architectural forms, voids and surfaces they are expressed on, and this formal strategy is especially ingenious in this register, where the upper arch of the apse is used to represent to Earth (though, of course, in the Middle Ages it was not common knowledge that the world was round). Civilization is implied in the second register by the cubic forms that bracket it, with a flock gathering beneath the direct, staring eye of Christ. 

Saint Apollinaris gathers his flock in the apse, in similar fashion to Christ. He resides in an Eden-like field with rhythmically-paced plants and animals gesturing toward the true center of interest of this combination of mosaics. This is the Christian cross, floating in a portal, surrounded by stars, the true path to the eternal afterlife. The bottom-most register alternates between full-standing figures and windows, two arcades interwoven together. The global composition is quite static and organized, communicating through symbols and images, not words, directly to the observer.

Formally, though the composition is typical to the planar style of the Byzantines, there is a degree of modelling available consistent with such ancient works as Queen Nefertari Making an Offering to Isis. Texturing is a combination of deliberate rendering within shapes blended with the qualities native to mosaic, possibly the greatest harmonizing measure of this series. Registers-within-registers, a form of reverse diminution is used in the flora and fauna that surround the front-and-center Saint Apollinaris. Intuitive temperature and purity counter this, maintaining the shallow sense of depth.

Directional accessways and flow are as organized as this works sense of symmetry: The eye is directed vertically along the stacking of registers, and then at perpendicular angles according to the lateral, rhythmic pacing of subjects. This work certainly favors formal harmony over energy, but there are interest-generating measures. Most notable are tensions created between subject sizes, occasional sharp contrasts in value and chroma, and rigid versus curvilinear forms which conform gracefully to the medium.