Notes from the vault-Christ on something like a chariot

Christ on something like a chariot arriving in a mosaic in a mausoleum near St Peters 

a threat to the Sun King du Jour - He held triumph over death in an orb in his left hand. 

Life after death was a theme of early Christian art - found in what is now Italy.  But Old Testament stories appear too. 

Shepherds show up, as they do in bucolic nostalgia paintings of the pagans whose kids went to the same schools and played on the same soccer teams. 

Finally, a teaching Christ emerges not much distinguished from his followers save a Chi-Rho monogram. 

The Eastern Provinces of the Empire show a divergent exposition. Byzantine art comes later. And it represents a totality of experience and effect that has few objective correlatives in other stations in the history of art and culture.

Still, it introduces the dubious notion of secret knowledge - of art for the adept. Good for Yeats, T.S. Elliot - but mostly bleccch.

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