History of art . d the land of the because of its Greek character, the city is aboveall sensitive to what the artists of the delta of the Nilehave to offer it. They create the image of HellenizedEgypt—that profound portrait in which one looks intothe limitless depths of the eyes that have lost theirhealth; and with this revelation the Greco-Egyptianartists teach the decorative industries, mosaics, andpainting, such as we see in the garlands of foliage, offruits, of amours, and of animals that the painters ofPompeii also used to decorate their walls.^ 1 For the multiple origins of th
History of art . d the land of the because of its Greek character, the city is aboveall sensitive to what the artists of the delta of the Nilehave to offer it. They create the image of HellenizedEgypt—that profound portrait in which one looks intothe limitless depths of the eyes that have lost theirhealth; and with this revelation the Greco-Egyptianartists teach the decorative industries, mosaics, andpainting, such as we see in the garlands of foliage, offruits, of amours, and of animals that the painters ofPompeii also used to decorate their walls.^ 1 For the multiple origins of the art of Byzantium, see the Manuel dartbyzantin, by Charles Diehl. BYZANTIUM 213 In the illuminations of the manuscripts there is evi-dently nothing left of the freshness of the world thatonce went mad with the joy of its self-discovery. Butit is the Greek spirit that is here. Man approaches thegod with a free attitude; all of life finds its goal in him,as in a center of attraction, and the organization of life. Ravenna (vi Century). Nave of Sant Apollinare Nuovo. is a natural one and well balanced in its elements. Ifthis spirit is less apparent in the great painted idolsand in the shining mosaics that decorate the conventsand churches from top to bottom, it is because there isless of suppleness in the material, because the surfacesto be covered make severer demands, because a decora-tive scheme is more necessary, and because the artistis under closer surveillance. Sometimes, upon contactwith the soil of Italy, at Ravenna, especially, the imagesturn into pictures full of movement, and figures pass 214 MEDIEVAL ART among the trees, among the herds, on the sea, or onthe shore. Almost always they are stiff, ranged in
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