The figures in Sargent’s Frieze of Angels possess the front-facing and highly stylized qualities associated with Byzantine and early Christian wall decoration. Sargent had studied specific examples of both styles. A mosaic in the 12th-century Palatine Chapel in Palermo, Sicily, in particular, provided him with crucial inspiration. He recorded part of this mosaic in a watercolor in 1897, later adapting some of the details for his frieze. 1. Frieze of Angels, detail of angels on the left (1999 photo) 2. Angels, Mosaic, Palatine Chapel, Palermo, 1897 Watercolor, gouache, and graphite, 25 x 35.5 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art*