Observations on Mosaic, 203 



a«(l w employed for copying paintings of less size. The best 

 works of this kind are in the chapel of the grand duke at 

 Florence, Several beautiful mosaics of this kind are now in 

 tiie Musijeum of the Arts at Paris, 



One of the greatest advantages of mosaic is its resistance to 

 every thing that generally alters the beauty of fine paintings, 

 and the facility with which it may be cleaned, by giving it 

 a new polish without any danger of destroying the colours. 

 As mosaic, however, can be executed only in a slow manner^ 

 and as it requires considerable expense, it never can be 

 brought into such general use as painting ; it would never 

 even have attained at Rome and Florence to that degree of 

 perfection to which it was carried, had not the governments 

 of these two countries defrayed the expenses. 



In modern times very beautiful mosaics in wood, known 

 in England by the name of inlaying, in France by that of 

 manjuelerie^ and in Italy under that of tausia or larsiay have 

 been executed in different countries, Philip Bruneleschi and 

 John de Vanone at Florence, who lived in the 15th century; 

 John Marc, of Blois, who worked for the king of France ; 

 and Melchior Rummer, who resided near Heidelberg, distin- 

 guished, themselves most in the execution of this sort of mo- 

 saic. Shell-work may be considered also as a kind of mosaic. 

 In one of the groves of Versailles there is a master-piece of 

 this kind, Bonavita Blank, director of the cabinet of natural 

 history at Wiirzbourg, is the inventor of a new kind of mosaic, 

 in which nothing is employed but different sorts of moss, and 

 has been able to execute, with the greatest fidelity, landscapes, 

 marine views, volcanoes, ruins, and buildings. The beau- 

 tiful collection of this artist has been exhibited in four halls 

 of the castle of Wurzbourg since 1794, the period when it 

 was purchased by the bishop. 



The most beautiful mosaics preserved in the pavements or 

 on the walls of antient buildings are : 1st, That found in the 

 pavement of a chamber of the villa Hadriani, near Tivoli ; 

 it represents a vase filled with water, on the edge of which are 

 four pigeons, one of them in the attitude of drinking. The 

 great merit of this work consists chiefly in its being composed 

 oi small stones, while in all the other mosaics pastes of glass 



are 



