'Chick’s interpretative exercise thus takes the reader on a fascinating journey, as she pieces together potential meanings in order to reconstruct the mosaic’s experiencing by newly baptised Christians, under the guidance of local clerics who would have revealed to them the Christian symbolism of the scenes and of the overall programme. While the range of meanings available to us is limited by the extant sources, making it thus impossible to ascertain all potential interpretations, Chick’s effort is worthwhile since late antique viewers, too, would only have been able to grasp part of the meanings. The book thus has the great merit of drawing attention to the varied interpretations of Justinianic art by members of the lay audience; a dimension in need of further attention, since most scholarship to date focused on understanding this art through the prism of the erudite but small intelligentsia of the time. Thus, the book will hopefully serve as a model for future analyses of late antique art, to shed further light on the polysemy that represented one of its main features.' – Vladimir Ivanovici (2025): Plekos 27
