Ancient Mosaics in the Churches of Rome [pp. 137-144]

A,'CIENT MIOSAICS IN THrE CHURCHES OF ]ROME.
obljects of nature by means of solid materials, such as stones, marble, shells, or
glass. The forms and colors of land scapes, buildings, and animals are depicted in this manner with truth and
beauty. The blue of the sky, the expanse of water, and the gloss of the skin
of animals, or the feathers of birds, are
reproduced with all their shades of color.
"Miosaic," says an old writer, "is a
sculpture painted, and a painting sculptured, which, escaping the ravages of
time, transmits to posterity specimens of
the art of various centuries." The hardness of the material guarantees duration,
and there is nothing to fear from the
restorations of ignorant artists, as it only
needs cleaning to restore it.
The first mention of the art of mosaic
is in the Book of Esthler, where the palace of Ahasuerus is described: "There
were white and green and blue hangings,
fastened with cords of fine linen and
purple to silver rings and pillars of marble: the beds wvere of gold and silver
upon a pavement of red and blue and
white and black marble." It is thought
that the application of the arit to pictures,
and the copying of paintings in oil, was
invented by the Etruscans. The Greeks,
however, were consummate masters of
the art, and many of the mosaics in Italy
were wrought by Greek artists. The first
mention of mosaics in Rome is made
after the conquest of Greece. The art
of mosaic has had three periods: the ancient or golden age, dulring the reign of
Augustus; the early Christian; and the
present. It followed the rise and fall of
the arts of painting and sculpture, as,
instead of inventing new subjects for
itself, it generally followed the best models of the sister arts. Like painting and
sculpture, from the fifth to the fourteenth
centuries its conception and execution
indicated the reign of ignorance and decline of art. From want of marbles,
Italy almost lost the art of miosaic during
the Middle Ages; but, with the revival of
art, the Florentine schools led it back to
the pure style which had been lost during the Byzantine rule, and it was brought
to great perfection by the Venetians in
the sixteenth century. The present fac tory, on the island of Murano, near
Venice, produces mosaics made of glass
and gold enamels, which are considered
superior to the ancient, and had great
success at the Vienna Exposition in I873.
St. Mai-k's Church, in Venice, combines
in itself the whole history of the art from
the thirteenth century. It is covered
within and without with gold and mosaic
pictures, and the factory of Murano is
now furnishing a mosaic pavement of
colored glass. Rome, Florence, and
Venice are rivals in the art. The Vatican
manufactoi-y, which has ornamented St.
Peter's and St. Paul's Churches with
such exquisite mosaic pictures, is famous
all over the world. The construction of
these pictures is Lunder the direction of
the miost eminent artists, and one paint ing occupies four or five of them for ten
years. The manufactur-e of small mo saics for jewelry commenced in Rome a
century ago, and has arrived at such perfection that often it is impossible with the
naked eye to distinguish the pieces of
which the jewel is composed. It is now
an industry as well as an art, and one of
the principal sources of profit in the city.
The ancient mosaics are made of marble, or hard stones-of various colors, cut
in cubes and cemented togethler. The
modern are made of a composition of
glass, which offers greater variety of
tints, while its transparency enables the
picture to exceed the beauty of fresco
paintings. Since I86I, the tints of the
enamels have been so multiplied that
there are now no less than seventeen
thousand various colors used in the manufactur-e of the pictures. The artist is
thus able, by the juxtaposition of analagous shades of enamel, to imitate the art
of the painter, who mixes various colors
upon his easel in order to produce a
new one.
One of the most interesting ancient
specimens of this art is- the celebrated
Doves of Venus drinking out of a vase,
which is now in the Capitoline Museum.
It is described by Pliny, who admired its
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