01 • THE FIRST MOSAICS AMONG THE SUMERIANS
The archaeological remains of the cities of Ur and Uruk testify that in 3000 BC the Sumerians adorned their buildings with
geometric decorations glazed in white, black, and red, and adorned vases and other ornaments with tiles of nacre, lapis lazuli,
and terracotta.
In Egypt too we find mosaics dating to the third millennium BC, and we can also consider to be mosaic decorations the compositions
of semiprecious stones, precious stones, and glass that adorned the sarcophagi of pharaohs. (pic.01: mosaics from Inanna temple, Uruk)
02 • MOSAICS IN THE GREEK WORLD
In the first millennium BC, an alternative to rugs began to be used, a cobblestone paving that gave greater resistance to wear
and made the floor itself waterproof.
The oldest traces of a primitive mosaic decoration in Greece date back to the fifth century BC, with the spread of stone mosaic
floors.
The cobblestone technique reaches its peak with Alexander the Great, and animals, hunting scenes, and episodes of mythology
are represented with excellent results.
Often a thin lead sheet was inserted to highlight the outline of the subjects or to define small details, as it will be done, several
centuries later, in the Gothic stained glass windows.
Starting from the fourth century BC, they begin to use cubes of marble, onyx, and various stones, which have higher accuracy than
cobbles, until the third century BC, with the introduction of cut tesserae. The floor mosaics preserve the aesthetic characteristics
of rugs: smaller than the room, they are composed of a series of edgings around a central panel, called ‘èmblema’, often bearing
a figurative subject. (pic.02: Dioniso House, Pella)
03 • MOSAICS IN THE ROMAN WORLD
The earliest evidence of tesserae mosaics in ancient Rome dates back to around the end of the third century BC.
Initially considered luxury goods, therefore not for everyone, two-coloured mosaics (white and black) were later introduced.
Largely used thermal baths, public-use areas, and in less luxurious dwellings, they combined simplicity and cost-effectiveness
with a very wide range of possible decorations.
The tesserae, sometimes of very minute size, compose representations taken from painted art, or decorations that are reminiscent
of the architecture. Mosaics become an integral part of the environment they are in, therefore influencing iconography as well:
mythological scenes in the temples, marine motifs in the thermal baths, athletes in gyms, still life, or erotic subjects in the
wedding rooms.
The materials used are marble, various types of stones, and glass paste: the glass paste mosaic particularly has great technical
refinement. Already in the first century BC, mosaics were present in every house, with common subjects, and particularly notable
in this period are the Roman floor mosaics discovered in Ravenna in the Domus of stone rugs. (pic.03: Alexander’s battle, Pompei)
04 • MOSAICS IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD
Islamic art began around the second half of the seventh century in Syria: from here, it reached a very vast geographical area, also
affecting areas of Christian religion, such as Sicily and Spain.
Fundamental is the refusal of any realistic shape, mainly to avoid the risk of idolatry: geometric and floral motifs thus spread,
usually replicated in series, reminiscent of the rugs’ decorations.
However, in the splendid mosaics and stuccos found among the ruins of Hisham’s Palace, figures of animals and humans are also
found. In the Mosque of Omar of Jerusalem, which is the oldest masterpiece of Islamic art and dates back to 692, both outside
and inside there are rich decorations with polychromatic marbles, majolicas, and mosaics. (pic.04: exterior, Rock’s Mosque, Jerusalem)
05 • MOSAICS IN THE BYZANTINE ERA
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the incredible Byzantine mosaics came to know their most brilliant expressions.
In Ravenna, in 540, it was decided that a church would be decorated to commemorate the victory of the Byzantines over the
Goths: the basilica was called San Vitale, and was decorated with sumptuous mosaics, including the famous frames representing
on one side Justinian, considered the saviour of the Roman Empire, with all his court; on the other side Teodora, with her court.
The mosaics that decorate the walls of the basilicas of the two imperial cities, Ravenna and Constantinople, consisting of vitreous
tesserae (glazes) and pure gold, are of incomparable beauty.
The Byzantine style is very easily distinguished, the figures are still, motionless, they have no sense of movement and have no real
footing, so much so that the characters seem to float on the golden background, symbol of God’s light. A particular case is the
Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, built in the sixth century by Justinian over the ruins of other previous churches; it was initially decorated
with geometric and floral motifs. It was enriched, after the iconoclastic period, with figurative images, of which spectacular
examples still remain.
Even in Rome we find important Byzantine mosaics in the Basilica of Santa Prassede, or the Mausoleum of Santa Costanza, while
in Milan, precious are the mosaics of the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio and San Lorenzo. (pic.05: Teodora, San Vitale, Ravenna)
06 • MOSAICS IN THE MIDDLE AGES
Romanesque art preferred frescoes over mosaics. It is interesting, then, to perceive the introduction of less glittering glasses in
order to better mimic the shades of tempera with luminous variations more or less glossy. Along the glass fragments, semiprecious
stones were often used.
Mosaics, however, were mostly for pavements, and experience their peak in the twelfth century. It was also very common to
reuse ancient fragments or tesserae of pre-existing mosaics, like in the church of Santi Maria and Donato in Murano, where the
large floor stone slabs are fragments of sarcophagi, and in Rome, where the Cosmatesque floors have porphyry or marble discs
cut from columns.
The best-known paving mosaic of this period is that of the Otranto cathedral, dating back to 1163 and depicting the Tree of Life.
The mosaics of the Cathedral of Monreale are the greatest decoration of this kind in Italy: covering 0.75 hectares with stone
tesserae and at least 100 million glass tesserae.
Remarkable are the mosaics of the facade of the Orvieto Cathedral of which, unfortunately, remain few examples, and those of
St Mark’s Basilica in Venice, made in the eleventh century. (pic.06: St. Marcus Basilica, Venice)
HISTORY OF MOSAIC
7
EMPHASIS
