Ohservations on Mosaic, 29 1 



the appellation of an art. These people, indeed found means 

 to manage the shades with so much dexterity, and to give to 

 the figures and groups which they executed such order and 

 harmony, tliat at a distance they resembled paintings. 



This art was conveyed from the Greeks to the Romans. 

 Sylla was the first among the latter who caused to be exe- 

 cuted in the temple of Fortinie at Praeneste, at present called 

 Palaestrina, a mosaic, great part of which still exists. At 

 first the pavements of buildings only were ornamented in 

 this manner, but afterwards walls and arched ceilings. 

 Portable floors for the tents of princes and the commanders 

 of armies, in order to guard against moisture, were orna- 

 mented also in the same manner. The invention *of coloured 

 glass gave to this art a greater degree of perfection. This 

 material, in particular, was employed in the time of Au- 

 gustus. But pieces of glass or marble were still of too large 

 size to admit of the shades being properly blended, and con- 

 se(piently of giving the natural colour to the objects. Under 

 Claudius the Romans began to colour marble, and under 

 Nero to give it spots by an artificial process. 



In the fifth century, when the arts were expelled from 

 Italy by the invasions of the barbarians, mosaic painting and 

 sculpture were preserved much longer among the Greeks of 

 Byzantium for ornamenting the altars and utensils of the 

 church. Mosaic, however, lost at Constantinople, as the 

 other arts did, that character of elevation which characterizes 

 the monuments of Grecian art : besides, works of this kind 

 were executed with pearls and precious stones, whereas the 

 antient Greeks preferred marble for mosaic. Towards the 

 end of the 13th century an Italian, named Andrew Tassi, 

 learned the art of mosaic from one Apollonius, a Greek, 

 who decorated with it the church of St. Mark, at Venice, 

 where an excellent pavement by him is still to be seen. But 

 in general these works want design, are in a bad taste, and, 

 besides, have a bad colour. Since that period this art has 

 been carried to a high degree of perfection in Italy. Pope 

 Clement VIII. contributed greatly to this improvement in 

 the 17th century, by causing all the interior part of the cupola 

 of the church of St, Peter to be oniamented with mosaic. 



O o 2 Among 



