Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/886

Rh 854 MOSAIC 14th Century. Florence. Baptistery, finished by Andrea Tafi. Pisa. Cathedral east apse by Cimabue, 1302, north and south apses by his pupils. Rome. S. Peter s navicella, in atrium by Giotto. 8. Maria in Cosmedin on walls by Pietro Cavallini, c. 1340. Venice. SS. Giovanni e Paolo in arch over effigy of Doge Morosini. Tins list is by no means exhaustive, and only gives some of the best and most typical examples of the mosaic-work of each century. 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 &quot; Dome of the Rock &quot; at Jerusa lem, 7th and llth 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 &quot;Opera del Duomo,&quot; Florence. This is a diptych of the llth century, of extremely minute, almost micro scopic, work, in tessera; of glass and metal, perhaps the only example of tessera made of solid metal. It has figures of saints and inscrip tions, each tessera being scarcely larger than a pin s head. This beautiful diptych originally belonged to the imperial chapel in Con stantinople, and was brought to Florence in the 14th century. 2. The second medieval class, mosaic pavements, though of great beauty, are of less artistic importance. This so-called &quot; opus Alexandriuum &quot; 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 tessera; 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. Besides the countless churches in Italy possessing these beautiful pavements, such as S. Lorenzo, S. Marco, S. Maria Maggiore, and S. Maria in Trastevere, in Rome, we have, in the Chapel of the Confessor, and in front of the high altar at Westminster, very fine specimens of this work, executed about 1268 by a Roman artist called Odericus, who was brought to England by Abbot Ware, on the occasion of a visit made by the latter to Rome. Another English example is the mosaic pavement in front of the shrine of Becket at Canterbury ; this is probably the work of an English man, though the materials are foreign, as it is partly inlaid with bronze, a peculiarity never found in Italy. There are also many fine examples of these pavements in the churches of the East, such as that in S. Sophia at Trebizond, of the most elaborate design and splendid materials, very like the S. Mark s pavement at Venice. Palermo and Monreale are especially rich in examples of sectile mosaic, used both for pavements and walls, in the latter case generally for the lower part of the walls, the upper part being covered with the glass mosaics. The designs of these Sicilian works, mostly executed under the Norman kings in the 12th cen tury, are very Oriental in character, and in many cases were actually executed by Moslem workmen. Fig. 4 gives a specimen of this Fio. 4. Marble Mosaic at Monreale Cathedral. mosaic from Monreale cathedral. Its chief characteristic is the absence of curved lines, so largely used in the splendid opus Alex- andrinxim of Italy, arising from the fact that this class of Oriental design was mainly used for the delicate panelling in wood on their pulpits, doors, &c., wood being a material quite unsuited for the production of large curves. 3. Glass mosaic, used to ornament ambones, pulpits, tombs, bishops thrones, baldacchini columns, architraves, and other marble objects, is chiefly Italian. The designs, when it is used to enrich flat surfaces, such as panels or architraves, are very similar to those of the pavements last described. The white marble is used as a matrix, in which sinkings are made to hold the glass tessera ; twisted columns are frequently ornamented with a spiral band of this glass mosaic, or flutings are suggested by parallel bands on straight columns. The cloisters of S. Giovanni in Laterano and S. Paolo fuori le rnura have splendid examples of these enriched shafts and architraves. This style of work was largely employed from the 6th to the 14th centuries. One family in Italy, the Cosmati, during the whole of the 13th century, was especially skilled in this craft, and the various members of it produced an extraordinary amount of rich and beauti ful work. The pulpit in S. Maria in Ara Ceeli, Rome, is one of the finest specimens (see fig. 5), as are also the ambones in S. Cle- mente and S. Lorenzo, and that in Salerno cathedral. The tomb of Henry III., 1291, and the shrine of the Confessor, 1269, at Westminster are the only examples of this work in England. They were executed by &quot; Petrus civis Romanus,&quot; probably a pupil of the Cosmati. In India, especially during the 17th century, many Mohammedan buildings were decorated with fine marble inlay of the class now called Flor entine.&quot; This is sectile mosaic, formed by shaped pieces of various-coloured marbles let into a marble matrix. A great deal of the Indian mosaic of this sort was executed by Ital ian workmen ; the finest examples are at Agra, such as the Taj Mehal. The modern so-called &quot;Roman mosaic&quot; is formed of short and slen der sticks of coloured glass fixed in cement, the ends, which form the pattern, being finally rubbed down and polished. Many not unsuccessful attempts have been made lately to reproduce the Roman tesselated work for pavements ; and at Mu- rano, near Venice, glass wall-mosaics are still pro duced in imitation of the magnificent works of me dieval times. 4. Mosaics in wood are largely used in Moham medan buildings, especially from the 14th to the 17th centuries. The finest specimens of this work are at Cairo and Damascus, and are used chiefly to decorate the magnificent pulpits and other woodwork in the mosques. The patterns are very delicate and complicated, worked in inlay of small pieces of various-coloured woods, often further en riched by bits of mother-of-pearl and minutely carved ivory. The general effect is extremely splendid from the combined beauties of the materials and workmanship, as well as from the marvellous grace and fancy of the designs. This art was also practised largely by the Copts of Egypt, and much used by them to ornament the magnificent iconostases and other screens in their churches. Another application of wood to mosaic-work, called &quot; intarsia- tura,&quot; was very common in Italy, especially in Tuscany and Lom- bardy, during the 15th and early 16th centuries. Its chief use was for the decoration of the stalls and lecterns in the church-choirs. Very small bits of various-coloured woods were used to produce geometrical patterns, while figure-subjects, views of buildings with strong perspective effects, and even landscapes, were very skilfully produced by an inlay of larger pieces. Ambrogio Borgognone, Raphael, and other great painters often drew the designs for this sort of work. The mosaic figures in the panels of the stalls at the Fio. 5. Part of Marble Pulpit with glass mosaic, church of Ara Coeli, Rome.