S96 Observations on Mosaic. 



walls of Aix, in the place occupied by the aiitieiit city in tFie 

 time of the Romans. These mosaics, the destruction of which 

 Saint-Vincens could not prevent, were engraved by the care 

 of his son, and published in the Biographical Notice which 

 the latter gave of his learned father. Me could procure only 

 some interesting fragments of them, which he affixed on the 

 \vii\h of his cabinet. Several otlier mosaics were found at 

 Aix, which have been engraved in the history of that city by 

 Menard. One of them re presents a female with a dog and a 

 flambeau : the female has a great resemblance to the goddess 

 Nehalennia of the Gauls. Some pavements which exhibit 

 nothing but compartments were dug up also at Auxerre. 



During the searches which the prelate Cazali caused to 

 be made at Rome, there was found a very beautiful mosaic 

 paivement, which contained a representation of the rape of 

 Europa : it was removed to his house to ornament the floor 

 of his apartment, and he likewise had it engraved. 



The pavements in the Pio- Clementine mnsaeum are orna- 

 mented with several beautiful mosaics. In the vestibule, at 

 the top of the stnir-case, there is one, found at Rusinella, near 

 the antient Tusculum, which represents a bust of Pallas in 

 the middle of an elegant grotcsfjue. Another, dug up at 

 Otricoli, ornaments the grand rotundo : it is divided into 

 several zones intermixed with meanders, large compart- 

 ments containing tritons, nereids, and combats of centaurs, 

 who have in the middle of them a buckler covered with 

 scales, and on which is seen the Gorgon. This large mosaic 

 is surrounded by a border of other mosaics white and black, 

 among which is distinguished the adventures of Ulysses and 

 the Syrens. In an octagon hdl close to this rotundo there 

 is seen also a l)eautiful grotesque of mosaic with a Medusa iu 

 the middle, found in one of the vaults of the palace Caetani 

 on the Esquiline hill. Several other mosaics, representing 

 animals and articles of provision, are observed also in oIIrt 

 halls. 



In the mu-{eurn of the Augustines there is a singular mo- 

 saic, executed in the sixth century. It is the tomb of Fre- 

 degonda, composed of a great number of small stones broken 

 and pounded in a mortar, like those coloured grains with 



which 



