MOSAICS

Pictures or patterns formed by closely spaced polychrome or monochrome stones (tesserae) of near uniform size, natural or artificial, embedded in a binder, such as cement. In its use as architectural revetment and pavement surfacing, mosaic combines decorative qualities with a high resistance to humidity and wear. These qualities mosaic shares with related media, such as glazed tile, stone incrustation, and inlay. The latter differ from mosaic in that their units are larger and of varying sizes and shapes. The employment of these media began very early in history. An inlay depicting animal fables decorates an early dynastic harp from Ur (Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia). Glazed tile is found in the funerary precinct of Pharao Zoser of the Third Dynasty in Old Kingdom Egypt. It is noteworthy that the extensive and refined use of stone incrustation parallels that of mosaic during the late Roman and early Byzantine periods.

Terminology. The term "mosaic" seems borrowed from the Greek μο[symbol omitted]σα. In its present meaning it is of late antique origin (Spartian, Pesc. Nig. 6.8: "pictum de musio"; Trebellius Pollio, Trig. Tyr. 25.4: "pictura est de museo"; Augustine, Civ. 16.1.1: "quae musivo picta sunt"). The term seems to have been applied at first only to wall and vault decoration and not to pavements. A list of artisans in a decree of a.d. 337 (Cod. Theod. 13.4.2) includes both tessellarii who laid mosaic pavements and musivarii, makers of wall and vault mosaics. The comprehensive use of the term to include both kinds of mosaic became established gradually in the post-antique period.

Early History. The earliest recorded use of mosaic is found in Sumer. A temple façade in Warka (Biblical Erech), dating from the protoliterate period before 3000 b.c., was covered with geometric designs formed by colored cones of fired clay embedded in the walls. Luxury objects and jewelry decorated with a mosaic inlay of costly materials were produced in ancient Mesopotamia, Crete, and Egypt. However, a continuity of mosaic production on a large scale can be observed only since ancient Greece. Beyond the boundaries of European civilization the Aztecs and Mayans had developed an independent production of turquoise mosaics used on armor and luxury articles.

Ancient Greece and Rome. In ancient Greece figural scenes composed of polychrome pebbles have been found on pavements dating from the late 5th and early 4th centuries b.c. These pebble mosaics were popular in the early Hellenistic period. Some examples of rare quality have been excavated at Olynthus and Pella. Polychrome pebble pavements of decorative design were used during the archaic period. The earliest pebble mosaic is of the late 8th century; it was discovered at Gordion in Asia Minor and consists of geometric designs distributed in a blue and red pattern on a white ground.

It seems likely that the rounded shapes of pebbles and their limited polychromy as found in nature induced the Greeks to stress silhouette and outline in the design of their figured pebble mosaics. Nonetheless, certain of these display a considerable degree of modeling in the round, notably the "Stag Hunt" by Gnosis excavated at Pella.

During the Hellenistic period the development of the practice of cutting stones into small pieces of deliberate shape, called tesserae, allowed for an increase of sophistication in pictorial design akin to painting, with which the pebble mosaics had not been able to compete. An example of this technique is a panel by Sophilos depicting Alexandria personified found at Thmuis in Egypt.

Other tessellated pavements of the 3d century b.c. have been found in Morgantina. By the 2d century before Christ tessellated pavements achieved an extreme refinement in technique and pictorial conventions. Mosaics found in the palace of the Attalids at Pergamon, dating from the period before the annexation of the city by the Romans (133 b.c.), are among the finest Hellenistic pavements known. They are notable for the extremely small

size of their tesserae and particularly for their rich polychromy intensified by the appearance—the earliest recorded on pavements—of glass tesserae in colors not available in natural stone. The development of a brilliant mosaic art during the Hellenistic period, attested by a limited number of originals, is corroborated by Roman copies and texts. The luxurious boats of Hellenistic rulers were decorated with mosaics. Sosos, a Pergamene mosaicist, is credited by Pliny with the invention of "the unswept floor," a subject often repeated on Roman mosaic pavements (Nat. Hist. 36.184). Roman reflections of sophisticated pictorial conventions developed in Hellenistic mosaic are found in the mosaics located in the lower sanctuary of Fortuna at Palestrina, from the period of Sulla (82–79 b.c.). One depicts a panoramic Nilotic landscape filled with human figures, architecture, and the fauna of Egypt. The other portrays a sanctuary of Neptune beneath the sea filled with fish and encompassed by a shore. The many abrupt changes in scale and orientation evident in the composition of this mosaic are in accord with its pavement location, which excludes the possibility of a consistent spatial vision on the part of the viewer.

The widespread use of mosaics in the decoration of the Hellenistic home is illustrated by the mosaic pavements located in middle-class houses in Delos of the 2d century b.c. During this century the Romans came into intimate contact with the Hellenistic world, and the Roman patricians soon adopted the practice of decorating homes with mosaic. The wealthy Campanian houses, buried by the eruption of Vesuvius in a.d. 79, were amply decorated with mosaics. In the House of the Faun in Pompeii were found pavements dating from the latter part of the 2d century b.c. (Naples Museum). Most famous is the large panel depicting the victory of Alexander over Darius at Issus. It copies a Hellenistic painting, most likely by Philoxenos of Eretria. Judging from the recorded names of mosaicists on signed pavements, the artists were mainly of Greek origin.

During the period of the Roman Republic and the early Empire decorative mosaics were a popular means of pavement surfacing. Their tesserae were large, of relatively constant shape and size, and evenly laid. These decorative mosaics, whose production required no unusual talent, were called opus tessellatum by the Romans, who distinguished between them and the much finer opus vermiculatum (wormlike workmanship) comprising smaller figural panels made of much finer stones, irregularly disposed. Such smaller panels were capable of great refinements in pictorial modeling and landscape space. A number of the finest emblemata from Campanian houses, notably the Dioskurides panel from the House of the Faun, were mounted on plaques. The mounting indicates that they had been produced in specialized workshops and were then acquired for insertion in the pavements.

Occasionally mosaics in the towns buried by Vesuvius were used on the surfaces of walls and columns. In a small court of a house in Herculaneum an entire wall that contained a fountain and niches was decorated with mosaic. Sparkling glass tesserae depicted hounds chasing deer and vine branches and festoons set against a dark ground. On an adjacent wall appeared a panel portraying Neptune and Amphitrite. The resistance of mosaic surfaces to humidity led to their application on the walls and vaults of baths and nymphaea. However, the use of mosaic on a large scale can be traced only from the 2d century a.d. Remains of vault mosaics appear in the baths of the Sette Sapienti in Ostia and in the canopus of Hadrian's villa in Tivoli.

During the later Roman Empire the mosaic emblem of limited size containing figural subjects was gradually replaced by a more extensive pictorial design. This tendency involved changes toward simplification in technique and composition; it is evident in the black and white pavements popular in Italy during the 2d and 3d centuries a.d. These pavements allowed for a graphic clarity in the discernment of an expansive subject matter presented on a neutral white ground. The reduced mosaic style of late antiquity yielded masterpieces, for example, the polychrome mosaic of the Glorification of Hercules in the Tetrarchial villa at Piazza Armerina in Sicily.

Mosaic pavements were used widely in private homes and public buildings throughout the Empire. A particularly rich tradition of polychrome pavements in North Africa extends from the 1st century a.d. until after the Vandal conquest. An early North African pavement of unusual refinement was found in a villa at Zliten, dating from the later 1st century a.d. It depicts a plant scroll with various birds and animals distributed among the volutes. The extreme fineness of the work in the figured parts is indicated by the mean count of 40 to 50 tesserae per square centimeter.

Excavations that have been made at Antioch, in Asia Minor, have given evidence of a continuous mosaic production extending from the middle Empire into the early Byzantine period. A pavement showing the Seasons from the Constantinian villa in Antioch is square and sectioned into geometric fields disposed around a common center; this symmetrical mode of composition lent itself to the design of ceilings and domes.

Early Christian, Medieval, and Byzantine Mosaics. The development of mosaic as the preferred monumental art extends from early Christianity through the entire course of the Byzantine Empire. In the medieval West its use was centered in Italy and was dependent on the presence and influence of early Christian sources, as well as on the influence of Byzantium. Northern Christian Europe was acquainted with architectural mosaic until the Carolingian revival as witnessed by the original mosaic decoration of Charlemagne's Palatine chapel at Aachen. However, in the later Middle Ages mosaic as the preferred architectural decoration was replaced by sculpture, fresco, and stained glass.

The earliest extant vault mosaic in good condition is located in a modest Christian tomb beneath St. Peter's in Rome. Christ-Helios in a quadriga occupies the apex of the vault. A radiant halo surrounds the head, and the figure is displayed against a gold ground. A grapevine spreads over the golden vault, which preceded by a short period of time the construction of the church above it.

The intense polychromatic effect achieved in large interiors by the use of mosaic revetment, and especially by gold tesserae, is evident in Hagios Georgios in Thessalonica, whose mosaics date probably from the later 4th century. The most impressive of all must have been the interior of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (532–537; 557 and after) judging by descriptions contemporary with its construction. The gold mosaic surfacing of its vaults produced a radiance that was intended to transform the experience

of the architectural interior into a vision of God's heaven: "The dome covers the church like the radiant heavens" (Paulus Silentiarius).

In centralized domed buildings with mosaic interiors, churches or baptisteries, the main subject is located in the center of the dome with subordinate subjects grouped around it. In the Baptistery of the Arians in Ravenna (c. 500) the Baptism of Christ is so situated. In the zone around the Baptism appear the Twelve Apostles. The dome of the Baptistery of the Orthodox (449–452) has a third zone that shows, in alternation, the four Gospel books set on altars and four ornate empty thrones (Ap 22.1–4).

The longitudinal basilica was decorated at times with mosaic on its façade. During the Middle Ages the façade of Old St. Peter's in Rome depicted the 24 Elders adoring the Holy Lamb (Ap 4.4–11). Mosaics were distributed around the interior of the basilica. The mosaics on the nave walls of S. Maria Maggiore in Rome (432–440) depict Old Testament scenes, and along the nave walls of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna (6th century) processions of saints move in the direction of the apse. A striking apse mosaic is preserved in Sant'Apollinare in Classe (dedicated 549). In the center of the apse St. Apollinaris spreads his arms apart in the orans gesture. He is flanked by 12 lambs denoting the Apostles. Above the saint is depicted a Transfiguration rendered in symbolic terms. Christ appears in the shape of a cross enclosed in a mandorla that encloses a starry sky. A small bust of Christ is located at the center point of the cross. The three sheep beneath the mandorla symbolize the Apostles present at the Transfiguration. Elijah and Moses appear in the sky above. The mosaic decoration of the Christian sanctuary presented the illiterate devout with visual sermons whose beauty was intended to deepen the experience of faith. The mosaic panel in San Vitale in Ravenna depicting Justinian and his court illustrates an ability to represent succinct resemblances with reduced means.

In the later Byzantine period refined workmanship was particularly stressed, for instance, in the carefully modeled figures of the Deësis mosaic in Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (late 12th or 13th century). This tendency reached a peak in the portable mosaics of late Byzantium composed of extremely fine stones. Two such panels depict the 12 main feasts of the liturgical year (14th century; Opera del Duomo, Florence). The concern for the thematic distribution of mosaics within centralized interiors culminates in the decoration of the post-iconoclast cross-in-square church. In the church at Daphni (c. 1100) a severe Christ Pantocrator dominates the center of the dome and turns His eyes upon the devout beneath. Around Him are the 12 Apostles, and further below appear scenes from the life of Christ; the Virgin and Child occupy the eastern apse.

During the course of the Middle Ages the influence of Byzantine mosaics often reached far beyond the geographical boundaries of Byzantium. The mosaics of the Ummayad mosque at Damascus (8th century) depict landscapes with villas, derived from ancient Roman and classicizing Byzantine sources and transmitted by Byzantine mosaicists working for Muslim patrons.

Byzantine influence in medieval Italy is reflected in the flourishing mosaic activity in the Veneto and Norman Sicily. The Norman kings employed Byzantine artists for the mosaic decoration of their cathedrals at Monreale and Cefalù (12th century). St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice (1063 and after), which was copied after the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople, offers with its vast mosaic program perhaps the most cogent visual reflection of the interior decoration of the large churches of the Byzantine capital. The Virgin and Child in the apse of the basilica at Torcello (12th century), floating on a sea of gold, is perhaps the most striking example of Byzantine mosaic style in the West.

Rome, with its heritage of early Christian mosaics, remained an active center of mosaic production until the advent of the Renaissance. giotto's most monumental pictorial work was the Navicella, a mosaic 52 feet wide and 33 feet high, located on the entrance tower facing the atrium of Old St. Peter's in Rome. This mosaic may well have imitated an early Christian model. A major artistic achievement of the 13th century in Tuscany was the vast mosaic decoration of the dome of the baptistery of Florence.

From the Renaissance until Modern Times. With the advent of the Italian Renaissance and the fall of Byzantium to the Turks mosaic ceased to be a primary artistic medium. From the 15th century onward it relied mainly on conventions established by the painters. The "Death of the Virgin" in the Mascoli Chapel in St. Mark's in Venice, perhaps the finest mosaic of its period (mid-15th century), illustrates this attitude. Its perspective depth explains, as in Renaissance painting, the natural spatial relationships within the panel itself; but its deep space is totally unrelated to the shape of the vault on which the panel rests. raphael supplied the cartoons for Luigi di Pace's mosaics in the dome of the Chigi Chapel in S. Maria del Popolo in Rome (1516). The reliance of the mosaicist on the painter can be traced in St. Mark's, Venice, during the following centuries. The 18th-century "Arrival of the Body of St. Mark" by Leopoldo del Pozzo, situated over the north door of the facade, is based on a cartoon by Sebastiano Ricci. The same situation prevailed elsewhere in Italy. During this period mosaicists had little interest in medieval work. Orazio Manenti's thorough reconstruction of Giotto's Navicella (1673–75), relocated in the narthex of St. Peter's in Rome, follows Giotto only in the general features of the composition.

In the later 18th century the renewal of interest in classical, early Christian, and medieval mosaics resulted in a growth of mosaic production throughout Europe; the renewal also reached America. This revival reflected in many ways the eclecticism of the period. Early Christian mosaics were carelessly restored, as in the case of the apse mosaic of San Michele in Affricisco in Ravenna, acquired by Prussia in 1844 and transferred to Berlin. Early Christian subject matter was rendered in an unrelated contemporary style, as in Burne-Jones's pre-Raphaelite "Christ Enthroned Flanked by Angels" in the American Church in Rome. The classical pavements discovered in the excavations of the Roman towns in Campania influenced the activity of the Belloni workshop in Paris during the early 19th century.

During the 19th and the early 20th centuries churches received extensive mosaic decoration. St. Paul's in London was partially decorated with mosaics after designs by G. F. Watts and Alfred Stevens. In Paris, the apse of the Panthéon was covered with a mosaic depicting "Christ Revealing to the Angel of France the Destinies of her People," and Magne and Merson depicted in Sacré Coeur (1912–23) a Christ in Glory, the Virgin, St. Michael, and Joan of Arc. The new cathedral in St. Louis, Mo. (dedicated in 1914) is decorated largely with mosaics designed by Albert Oerken. On the whole, the style of all these mosaics is eclectic and mechanical.

At the present time mosaic is used widely as an adjunct to architecture and as an independent art. But its importance is not clearly established. The preference in contemporary art for composite media has blurred the role of mosaic as an independent medium. The recent mosaics of Jeanne Reynal, consisting of tesserae scattered here and there on rough panels of colored cement, illustrate this tendency. Around the turn of the century Gaudí used mosaic together with glazed tile and other materials in the revetment of his art nouveau architecture in Barcelona.

In recent church architecture, because of the increased awareness of the medieval heritage of Christian mosaics, frequent use is made of mosaic for the decoration of central areas in the sanctuary. On the whole, however, the influence of the architecture of the International Style on recent churches and buildings in general, with its emphasis on clean wall surfaces and spatial clarity, seems to have impeded a broader role for architectural mosaic. A notable recent exception is the university library in Mexico City, designed and decorated by Juan O'Gorman. The exterior of the library is wholly covered with mosaics depicting scenes from the history of Mexico. In the bright sun these mosaics sheathe the building in a blaze of color.

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[j. polzer]