ustration: RIGHT DETAIL, PORTAL.--ARLES.]

In design it is simple, in execution incomparably rich. The principal
theme of the Last Judgment has Christ seated on a throne as the central
figure, and about him are the symbols of the four Evangelists. This is
the treatment of the tympanum. Underneath, Patriarchs, Saints, Just, and
Condemned form the beautiful frieze. The Apostles are seated; and to
their left is an angel guarding the gates of Paradise against two
Bishops and a crowd of laymen who have yet to fully expiate their sins
in Purgatory. Behind them, naked, with their feet in the flames, are
those condemned to everlasting Hell; and still beyond is a lower depth
where souls are already half-consumed in hideous fires. On the Apostles'
extreme right is the beginning of our human history, the Temptation of
Adam and Eve; and marching toward the holy men, on this same side, is
the long procession of those Redeemed from Adam's fall, clothed in
righteousness. An angel goes before them, and hands a small child--a
ransomed soul--to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The end panels treat the
last phases of the dominant theme;--a mammoth angel in the one weighs
the souls of the dead; and an equally awe-inspiring devil in the other
is preparing to cast two of the Lost into a sea of fire.

The remainder of the portal tells of many subjects, and represents much
of the theological symbolism of its time. Light, graceful columns, with
delicately foliated capitals and bases rich with meaning sculptures,
divide the lower spaces into niches, and in these niches stand statues
of Apostles and of Saints, each having his story, each his peculiar
attributes; and about these chief figures are carved rich designs,
strange animals, and numberless short stories of the Bible. Above there
is a small, subsidiary frieze; below, the pedestals which tell the tale
of those who stand upon them. The figures have life and meaning, if not
a true plasticity; and in this portal there is instruction, variety, and
majesty, wealth of allegory and subtle symbols for those who love
religious mysteries, and splendour of sculpture for those who come in
search of Art.

There are those to whom a simple beauty does not appeal. After the
richness of the portal's carving, the interior of Saint-Trophime is to
them "far too plain;" in futile comparison with the Cloister's grace, it
is found "too severe;" and one author has written that only "when the
refulgence of a Mediterran