Roman Mosaics

Over 60 Full-Color Images from the 4th Through the 13th Centuries

Joseph Wilpert

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9780486139630
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art religieux

In many of the Italian Christian churches in the vicinity of Rome, mosaics were an important aspect of decoration. This full-color collection includes some of the finest examples of those mosaics.
Filled with scenes taken directly from biblical myth and literature, the book spotlights more than sixty mosaic masterpieces created by Italian craftsmen from the fourth through the thirteenth centuries. A third of the images are from the Old Testament, illustrating such stories as Abraham and the angels, Jacob and Rachel, Moses and the burning bush, Pharaoh's army drowning in the Red Sea, and Joshua and the battle of Jericho. Most of the remaining mosaics feature New Testament themes or characters: the birth of Jesus, calling for apostles, multiplying the loaves and fishes, and more. Roman Mosaics is a magnificent book for browsing through, and will appeal to art historians, mosaic artists, and religious scholars.

NOTE

The mosaics featured in this book are all early Christian and originated in various Italian cities, although the vast majority are from Rome. Derived from an influential early work on the subject, Die römischen Mosaiken und Malereien der kirchlichen Bauten vom IV.—XIII. Jahrhundert (1916) by Joseph Wilpert, all works shown here may be considered among the most significant examples of the genre. Many of the exhibited mosaics are extant and open to visitors.

Christian mosaic art grew out of Roman pagan practice, which could be decorative or religious. While earlier Roman work prominently featured floor designs (with some wall and vault mosaics appearing in the early centuries A.D.), Christians made the first use of mosaics for large-scale murals, and were also the first to master color effects using glass tesserae (the individual pieces of a mosaic).¹ Glass brought intense color to the art but was better suited for walls than floors because it was more fragile than the marble or stone of prior mosaic styles.

Early mosaics were usually executed on site. In some cases, a layer of plaster was placed over the usual cement base and a drawing was made on the plaster. As the mosaic progressed, the plaster was slowly replaced with tesserae and binding cement. In other cases, a drawing was made directly on the cement.² The amount of cement used was significant: too much of it would cause a mosaic to prematurely deteriorate. Placement of individual pieces was important, as much of the beauty of mosaic art is dependent on the proper reflection of light against its respective tesserae—therefore these were carefully placed, usually tilted at an angle depending on the amount...