MOSAIC. 



729 



Motre. the Lago Maggiore. It is the production of Rafaelli, 

 "V* an arti-t <>f the Roman school, by whom eight or ten 

 men were employed on it daily during eight years ; 

 and it cost 7500 Sterling. Originally commissioned 

 by Buonaparte, his expulsion is said to have thrown it 

 into the hands of the artist, from whom it was pur. 

 chased by the present emperor of Austria. 



Mosaic appears to greatest advantage at some dis- 

 tance ; nor can it be compared in general to the deli- 

 cacy, smoothness, and uniformity of painting. But its 

 superiority is affirmed to consist in greater durability, 

 and resisting the influence of damp, and the attack of 

 inserts ; its not suffering from exposure to the sun ; in 

 preserving the permanence of colour, and requiring no 

 particuhr light for embellishment. Yet all these pro- 

 perties are so far counterbalanced by the weight of the 

 materials, tediousness and cxpence of execution, toge- 

 ther with other obstacles, as will prevent Mosaic from 

 competing, in most countries, with painting. 



Analogous to Mosaic is the pietrn dura, or Floren- 

 tine work, which consists of the union of irregular por- 

 tions of hard stones containing the gradation of co- 

 lours in each, instead of obtaining that gradation by 

 the union of multiplied ('moment*. Some fine speci- 

 mens of this are preserved at Florence, such as a slum- 

 bering Cupid reposing on a hi P. 



art of working in Mosaic ascends to high antiqui- 

 ty, and probably preceded painting. It is not obvious, 

 however, as some hive asserted, that it was known to the 

 Jews, although that nation was acquainted with singular 

 MMMita; for the Koran relates that when the ' 

 of Sheba louion, she was received in a hail 



where the mistook the pavement for water, and bared her 

 limbs; on which Solomon -aid, " The floor is solid: it is 

 made of gla." Likewise amidst the wonders beheld by 

 John, in the Revelation, was " a sea of glass like unto 

 crystal." But other emst'-rn nations were acquainted with 

 i;c ; fur in the palace of Ahasueru* was " a pave- 

 t of red, and blue, and black marble," Either, chap, 

 i. v. 6. Ciampini, an author who has bestowed much 

 investigation on this subject, ascribes the invention of 

 Mosaic to Persia, of which there does not seem to be 

 satisfactory evidence ; and it must be admitted that 

 there is considerable uncertainty as to the precise coun- 

 try over which Ahasueroa reigned. 



The name Motaicum, Mutiacum, or Mutivum, was flr-t 

 employed only towards the fourteenth century; and the 

 words pariotfnla Lilhoslrata, srclilia, tecla, or lrx-e. 

 /i/a, wrre used to denote mosaics properly so under- 

 stood by the ancients. Thus it is affirmed that the 

 til floors of the Greeks gave way to mosaic ; and 

 Pliny observes, that IMhoilrata acceptacerejam tnliSylla 

 <.lit eerie cnulit, titat ho-iirqur, ijtuid in Fortune 

 'ro Praenetlf fecit. I'ulia deinde ex humo jtavimeuta 

 in camtrai Iranriere e vitro, lib. xxxvi. cap. 60, 64. Athe- 

 narus speaks of the rich pavements in the palace of De- 

 metrius Ph*lereu, lib. xiii. 60; and Hiero, king of 

 Syracuse, is said, by the same author, to have had an 

 extraordinary ship constructed, in which the tesselated 

 pavements of the cabins represented the whole fable 

 of the Iliad, lib. v. f 41. Thus the art was familiar to 

 other nations as well as to the Romans, from whom o'ir 

 acquaintance with it is derived. Isiclorus afterwards 

 designs real mosaic very distinctly, by litho\lrala par. 

 . rruilit ac tetitlHijunctoi in carioi coloret Dn Ori- 

 .v. cap. 8 'Piitimentum seclile wa composed 

 rge compartments of marble ; leclum merely of 

 alte; -e pieces; Irrtelalum, or qnailratoriiim, 



'. teiirra, a die constituted real mosaic of 

 if glass or marble; and the pnvimentitm 



VOL. XIV. FART U. 



vermiculalum, consisting of the same, received that name Mosaic, 

 only from its peculiar figure. Learned foreigners re- s "~ ""Y~~~' 

 mark, that it is only in Britain that the correct desig- 

 nation of mosaic is preserved in tessctnted pavement. 

 The art of colouring glass practised in the age of Au- 

 gustus, greatly promoted the use of mosaic ; it became 

 so common that at length Seneca, reproaching the lux- 

 ury of his cotemporaries, complains, that they scented 

 unwilling to tread, unless upon precious stones. Eo deli- 

 ciarum perven'unus ut nisi gemmas calcare iiolimus, Ep.SG. 



From the Romans it spread into their provinces, and 

 as they had the sovereignty of Europe, there are few 

 countries where relics of Mosaic are not now discover- 

 ed. Justinian also decorated the cliurch of St. Sophia, 

 in Constantinople, during the sixth century, with works 

 of the same kind, which are partly doublets or pieces 

 of glass united horizontally with a coloured foil inter- 

 posed, as may be seen at this day. Some of the earliest 

 popes decorated the churches of Italy with Mosaic, but 

 the art declining there from the fifth or sixth century, 

 is believed to have been almost totally lost, until An- 

 drea Taffi learned it from a Greek artist Apollonius, 

 who was employed on the church of St. Mark at Venice, 

 in the thirteenth century. This is to be viewed as the 

 source of the modern Mosaic, which, as we have observ- 

 ed, has attained an infinitely greater perfection in some 

 res]>ects than that of the ancients, and has been carried 

 to a great extent. The names of few of the ancient 

 artists have come down to us, but among others those 

 of Dioscoridcs a Samian, and Archimedes a Syracusan, 

 are preserved. Many of the modems are celebrated, 

 from Giotto in the fourteenth century down to Tucca 

 in the sixteenth ; Mancini, Calandra, Lafranc, in the 

 seventeenth ; Cristotbri, Brughi, Calendrelli, Camucci, 

 and many more in the eighteenth and nineteenth. 



The price of Mosaic depends on the quality and ex- 

 tent of the work, in which there is as great a difference 

 as in any paintings. Pictures of large size have cost 

 L.5000, L.6'000 or more. Small personal ornaments or 

 toys can be obtained for a few shillings. There are 

 masters in Mosaic as well as in painting. 



The greater Mosaic works of the ancients probably 

 were devoted to their halls and baths, while that of the 

 moderns is employed in churches. None of the for- 

 mer are found entire, or with the r;ire.-,t exception.*, 

 but portions are frequently disclosed in the course of 

 excavation, which enable us to judge sufficiently of the 

 extent, design, and execution of them. Some persons 

 erroneously suppose that the colour of stones and marble 

 i- pt-nnanent, but it fades in both, almost without ex- 

 ception, on long continued exposure in the air. 



One of the finest ancient Mosaic pavements extant, .Mosaic at 

 was discovered at a village near Seville in Spain in the Seville. 

 year 17!)i), at the depth of three feet and a half from 

 the surface, from a brief description of which the na- 

 ture of others may be comprehended. It extends above 

 40 feet in length, by nearly 30 in breadth, and contains 

 a representation of the circus games in a parallelogram 

 in the centre, three sides of which are surrounded by 

 circular compartments, containing portraits of the Mu- 

 -cs, interspersed with the figures of animals, and some 

 imaginary subjects. In the racecourse are seen a cha- 

 riot overturned, the charioteer thrown out of his seat, 

 horsemen dismounted, fractious steed.-, and broken 

 harness. The charioteer, having been injured by his 

 fall, is supported by two men belonging to a different 

 faction or party, us may be ascertained by their cos- 

 tume, which, in all the figures, is well represented ; the 

 horses are of a deep bn.wu colour ; they have a cut 

 tail like our modern fashion, and are apparently full of 



