Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/246

216 Roman Sculpture. actual victories side by side with allegorical groups, and combined the realism of Oriental pictorial annals with something of the ideal beauty of Greek works of a similar class — differing, however, in one essential particular from anything previously produced. The plan hitherto adopted of giving each figure a clear outline on a flat surface was abandoned, and an attempt was made to introduce a greater variety by means of a graduated background, the Fig. 92.— Relief from the Trajan Column. figures in the foreground being almost or entirely detached, with figures in lower relief behind them. The result was a crowded effect never met with in Greek works. The Arch of Titus, erected in memory of the conquest of Jerusalem, is especially interesting. On one side is a representation of a procession carrying away the spoils of the Temple, amongst which figure the Ark and the seven-