I will now give some celebrated examples of the various styles of treatment.

There is a group in mosaic, which I believe to be singular in its kind, where the Virgin is enthroned, with Christ.  She is seated at his right hand, at the same elevation, and altogether as his equal.  His right arm embraces her, and his hand rests on her shoulder.  She wears a gorgeous crown, which her Son has placed on her brow Christ has only the cruciform nimbus; in his left hand is an open book, on which is inscribed, “Veni, Electa mea” &c.  “Come, my chosen one, and I will place thee upon my throne.”  The Virgin holds a tablet, on which are the words “His right hand should be under my head, and his left hand should embrace me.” (Cant. viii. 3.) The omnipotent Hand is stretched forth in benediction above.  Here the Virgin is the type of the Church triumphant and glorified, having overcome the world; and the solemn significance of the whole representation is to be found in the Book of Revelations:  “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father in his throne.” (Rev. iii. 21.)

This mosaic, in which, be it observed, the Virgin is enthroned with Christ, and embraced, not crowned, by him, is, I believe, unique either as a picture or a church decoration.  It is not older than the twelfth century, is very ill executed, but is curious from the peculiarity of the treatment. (Rome.  S. Maria in Trastevere.)

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In the mosaic in the tribune of S. Maria-Maggiore at Rome, perhaps the earliest example extant of the Coronation, properly so called, the subject is treated with a grand and solemn simplicity.  Christ and the Virgin, colossal figures, are seated on the same regal throne within a circular glory.  The background is blue studded with golden stars.  He places the crown on her head with his right hand; in the left he holds an open book, with the usual text, “Veni, Electa mea, et ponam te in thronum meum,” &c.  She bends slightly forward, and her hands are lifted in adoration.  Above and around the circular glory the emblematical vine twines in arabesque form; among the branches and leaves sit peacocks and other birds; the peacock being the old emblem of immortality, as birds in general are emblems of spirituality.  On each side of the glory are nine adoring angels, representing the nine choirs of the heavenly hierarchy; beyond these on the right stand St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Francis; on the left, St. John the Baptist, St. John the Evangelist, and St. Antony of Padua; all these figures being very small in proportion to those of Christ and the Virgin.  Smaller still, and quite diminutive in comparison, are the kneeling figures of Pope Nicholas IV. and Cardinal Giacomo Colonna, under whose auspices the mosaic was executed by Jacopo della Turrita, a Franciscan friar, about 1288.  In front flows the river Jordan, symbol of baptism and regeneration; on its shore stands the hart, the emblem of religions aspiration.  Underneath the central group is the inscription,—­