Reliefs Reused in the Façade

Datable to the 9th century, the reliefs of S. Sabina are a transcription, by now devoid of any creative impulse, of tired themes current in the area of Byzantine influence. In the same period, or a little later, the Lombard school enlivens with great bite the usual repertory of plant and animal motifs, insisting on the traditional symmetries but without becoming entangled in their mechanical development. We are nevertheless still far short of the ferment that will characterise Romanesque sculpture and constitute its force of rupture with tradition.