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890 30. the visual arts<br />

Fig. 29 Mosaic panel <strong>of</strong> the Hospitality <strong>of</strong> Abraham from the nave <strong>of</strong> S. Maria Maggiore, Rome,<br />

432–40. (Photo: Alinari/Art Resource, NY)<br />

decoration. The nave imagery is more than mere narrative, and involves just<br />

as complex symbolic and liturgical references as the triumphal arch. For<br />

example, the panel on the left wall nearest to the sanctuary shows a narrative<br />

sequence <strong>of</strong> Abraham meeting the three angels at the oak <strong>of</strong> Mamre,<br />

his hospitality, and their prediction <strong>of</strong> Sarah’s pregnancy, but the evocations<br />

are rich and deeply theological: among these are the reference to the typological<br />

connection between Sarah and Mary, and the implication that the<br />

<strong>Cambridge</strong> <strong>Hi</strong>stories Online © <strong>Cambridge</strong> University Press, 2008

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