MORVEAU 



3545 



MOSAIC 



Mosaic from ancient Rome, now in the British Museum, representing sacrificial rites at an altar, probably by a tomb 



Morveau, Louis BERNAKD GUY- 

 TON DB (1737-1816). French 

 chemist. Born Jan. 14, 1737, at 

 Dijon, he studied law, and was 

 avocat-g^neral to the parlement 

 of Dijon, 1755-82. His main 

 interest, however, was science, and 

 he taught chemistry at Dijon for 

 15 years. In 1772 he published his 

 Digressions Academiques. The fol- 

 lowing year he introduced fumiga- 

 tion as a safeguard against conta- 

 gion. Giving up the law in 1782, he 

 began, with Lavoisier and others, 

 the great work on chemical nomen- 

 clature, the first volume of the 

 Dictionnaire de Chimie being pub- 

 lished in 1786. Elected to the 

 Legislative Assembly, 1791, and 

 to the Convention, 1792, he voted 

 for the death of Louis XVI, and be- 

 came a member of the committee of 

 public safety. He died Jan. 2, 1816. 



Morvi. Native State and town 

 of India in the Gujarat district of 

 Bombay Presidency. Its area is 822 

 sq. m. The town h 35 in. from 

 Rajkot, on the bank of the Machhu, 

 where the river is bridged. Pop. 

 dist., 90,000; town, 15,000. 



Mosaic (Low Lat. mu-saifiis 

 belonging to the Muses, artistic). 

 Term applied (1) to the tesselated 

 work in ancient Roman pavements, 

 and (2) to classical and medieval 

 decorations executed with inlaid 

 cubes of various stones, mctals.and 

 ulnss. Mosaic was derived from 

 Hellenistic art. Its principal use in 

 Roman times was to imitate col- 

 oured woollen carpets spread on 

 pavements. The early Christians, 

 searching for a technique capable 

 of producing images resplendent in 

 lilit and colour, found it in 

 mosaics of melted coloured glass 

 and squares of gold. In the Con- 

 etantinian period inlaid marbles of 



various sizes (opits sectile) and frag- 

 ments of marble and hard stone 

 (opus alexandrinum), put together 

 so as to form a geometrical design, 

 were largely employed for mural 

 decoration. 



As the technique was enriched 

 by the addition of glass and ena- 

 mel, the art was no longer confined 

 to geometrical patterns, but took 

 the place of pictorial fresco decora- 

 tion. These pictures in mosaic were 

 entirely restricted to the interiors of 

 Constautinian basilicas ; it was not 

 until the 12th or 13th century that 

 they began to appear on the facades. 



Fine interior mosaics of the 4th and 

 5th centuries are preserved in S. 

 Maria Maggiore and the baptistery 

 of 8. John Lateran at Rome and in 

 the churches at Ravenna. In the 

 baptistery of the Orthodox at Ra- 

 venna the mosaics of the cupola 

 and drum arc esteemed the most 

 complete and best preserved of all 

 baptistery mosaics. Those of S. 

 Mark's, Venice, are notable. The 

 remains of fine medieval mosaics 

 are to be seen on the shrine of the 

 Confessor, Westminster Abbey. 



In all Byzantine architecture 



Iq.v.) mosaic is the recognized 



_^__^^_^_ decoration for 



Mosaic from Pompeii depicting a dog, beneath which is 

 the warning Cave canem, beware oi the dog 



National Muttum, Jfaplei 



walls, ceiling?, or 

 pavements. The 

 pieces were laid 

 on a ground of 

 fresh stucco of 

 lime and marble 

 dust, of such con - 

 3 i s t e n c y and 

 firmness that 

 when dry they 

 could be polished 

 <-mooth on the 

 top. Mosaic was 

 impervious t o 

 water, wind, and 

 sunshine, and 

 thus appealed by 

 i tslasting quality. 

 The modem prac- 

 tice of it is some- 

 what restricted, 

 chough there are 

 tine examples in 

 the dome of 8. 

 Paul's Cathedral, 

 and in the chapels 

 of Westmio^ter 

 Cathedral. See 

 Art ; Byzantine 

 Art . Issus ; Jus- 

 tinian ; S. Mark's. 



