Page:EB1911 - Volume 18.djvu/918

 true art or wall-mosaics. Though at first the simple and archaic style of Cimabue and his pupils Jacopo da Turrita, Giotto, and Taddeo Gaddi was equally applicable to painting or mosaic, yet soon the development of art into greater realism and complexity required a method of expression unfettered by the necessities and canons of mosaic work. Pietro Cavallini, a Roman artist, was one of the last who worked according to the old traditions. His mosaic of the birth of the Virgin in S. Maria in Cosmedin, Rome, executed about the middle of the 14th century, is not without merit, though his superior knowledge of form has only caused his composition to be somewhat feeble and insipid compared with the works of the earlier artists. Even in the 15th century a few good mosaics were produced at Venice and elsewhere. The mosaics from Titian’s pictures on the west end of S. Mark’s at Venice, Raphael’s in the Chigi Chapel in S. Maria del Popolo, and many large pictures in S. Peter’s in Rome are the most striking examples of these.

The following list, in chronological order, comprises a selection from among the most important glass wall-mosaics during the period when mosaic-working was a real art. The Byzantine origin of these great wall-mosaics, wherever they are found, is amply proved both by internal and documentary evidence. The gorgeous mosaics of S. Sophia and S. Saviour’s in Constantinople, 6th century, and the later ones in the monasteries of Mount Athos, at Salonica and at Daphne near Athens, are identical in style with those of Italy of the same date. Moreover, the even more beautiful mosaic work in the “Dome of the Rock” at Jerusalem, 7th and 11th centuries, and that in the sanctuary of the great mosque of Cordova, of the 10th century, are known to be the work of Byzantine artists, in spite of their thoroughly Oriental design. The same is the case with the rarer mosaics of Germany, such as those in S. Gereon at Cologne and at Parenzo.

A very remarkable, almost unique, specimen of Byzantine mosaic is now preserved in the “Opera del Duomo,” Florence. This is a diptych of the 11th century, of extremely minute, almost microscopic work, in tesserae of glass and metal, perhaps the only example of tesserae made of solid metal. It has figures of saints and inscriptions, each tessera being scarcely larger than a pin’s head. This beautiful diptych originally belonged to the imperial chapel in Constantinople, and was brought to Florence in the 14th century.

. 4.—Marble Mosaic at Monreale Cathedral.

2. The second medieval class, mosaic pavements, though of great beauty, are of less artistic importance. This so-called opus alexandrinum is very common throughout Italy and in the East, and came to greatest perfection in the 13th century. It is made partly of small marble tesserae forming the main lines of the pattern, and partly of large pieces used as a ground or matrix. It is generally designed in large flowing bands which interlace and enclose circles, often of one stone sliced from a column. The finest example is that at S. Mark’s, Venice, of the 12th century. The materials are mainly white marble, with green and red porphyry, and sometimes glass.