""Commemoration" was a particularly important function of portraiture. 's well-known dictum on the ability of paintings to preserve the likeness of men after their deaths was an expression of faith in the magical victory of art over time, as if painting could overcome death. It is significant in this respect that the portrait itself is descended from the tomb effigy or least was originally associated with this art form. Examples of likenesses of deceased persons — usually members of the high clergy — in the form of reliefs or sculptures on altar tombs date from as early as the high or late Middle Ages: the tombstone of Archbishop Friederich of Wettin (c. 1152) at , for example, or that of (), shown in crowning two reduced-scale kings. Links between the portrait and the cult of the dead may be traced back to antique art. In Roman times and kept in the shrine in the of s."