Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/885

MOSAIC 853 decoration. 1 In many cases vaulted ceilings were covered Avith these mosaics, as the tomb of Galla Placidia, 450 A.D., and the two baptisteries at Ravenna, 5th and Gth centuries. For exteriors, the large use of mosaic was usually confined to the west facade, as at S. Miniato, Florence, S. Maria Maggiore, Rome, and S. Mark s, Venice. In almost all cases the figures are represented on a gold ground, and gold is freely used in the dresses and ornaments rich jewels and embroidery being represented in gold, silver, sparkling reds, blues, and other colours, so as to give the utmost splendour of effect to the figures and tlieir drapery. The revival of the art of painting in Italy and the FIG. S. Mosaic of Theodora and attendants, from S. Yitale, Ravenna; over life-size. introduction of fresco work in the 14th century gave the deathblow to the true art of wall-mosaics. Though at first the simple and archaic style of Cimabue and his 1 Unfortunately the world- wide fame of S. Mark s and the other great churches of Italy has subjected these extraordinary works to the fatal process of "restoration," and wherever any sign of decay in the cement hacking (the tesserae themselves are quite indestructible) has given the least excuse the "restorers " have destroyed whole masses of ancient work, and supplied its place with worthless modern copies. The mosaics of the S. Mark s baptistery, and of the apses at S. Miniato, at Pisa, and many other places have in this way been wantonly renewed within the last i ew years. pupils Jacopo da Turrita, Giotto, and Taddeo Gaddi was equally applicable to painting or mosaic, yet soon the development of art into greater realism and complexity required a method of expression unfettered by the necessi ties and canons of mosaic-work. Pietro Cavallini, a Roman artist, was one of the last who worked according to the old traditions. His mosaic of the birth of the Virgin in S. Maria in Cosmedin, Rome, executed about the middle of the 14th century, is not without merit, though his superior knowledge of form has only caused his composi tion to be somewhat feeble and insipid compared with the works of the earlier artists. Even in the 15th century a few good mosaics were produced at Venice and elsewhere. Since then many large pictures have been copied in glass mosaic, generally attempts to imitate oil paintings, executed with great skill and wonderful patience, but all utterly worthless as works of art, merely costly monuments of human folly and misapplied labour. The mosaics from Titian s pictures on the west end of S. Mark s at Venice, Raphael s in the Chigi Chapel in S. Maria del Popolo, and many large pictures in S. Peter s in Rome, are the most striking examples of these. The following list, in chronological order, comprises a selection from among the most important mediaeval glass wall-mosaics during the period when mosaic-working was a real art : Ravenna,. Rome. Milan. Fitndi. Nola. Ravenna. Rome. Milan. Constantinople. Thessalonica. Trebizond. Rome. Jerusalem. Rome. Jerusalem. Mount Sinai. Rome. Milan. Cordova. Jerusalem. Constantinople. Venice. Capua. Torcello. Murano. Salerno. Palermo. Monreale. 5th Century. Orthodox Baptistery vault. Tomb of Galla Placidia -vault, 450. Archbishop s Chapel vault. S. Paolo fuori le mura triumphal arch. S. Maria Maggiore square pictures over nave columns, and triumphal arch. S. Ambrogio, Chapel of S. Satire vault. Cathedral apse. Cathedral apse. Cffalu. Home. Florence. Rome. entury. Arian Baptistery -vault. S. Apollinare Nuovo apse and nave, vrith 9th century additions. S. Vitale apse and whole sanctuary, circa 547. S. Apollinare in Classe apse and nave, 549. 88. Cosmas and Damian apse. 8. Lorenzo, Chapel of S. Aquilinus vault. S. Sophia walls and vault, circa 550. Church of St George apse, <Szc. ; and S. Sophia-dome and apse. 8. Sophia apse. 7th Century. 8. Agnese fuori le mura- apse, 626. S. Teodoro. " Dome of the Rock "arches of ambulatory, 688. 8th Century. Baptistery of S. Giovanni in Laterano. SS. Nereus and Achilles. Mosque of Al-Aksa on dome. Chapel of the Transfiguration. . 9//i Century. 8. Cecilia in Trastevere apse 8. Marco apse. 8. Maria della Navicella apse, and "Chapel of the Column. S. Prassede- -triumphal arch. 8. Pudenziana, 884. 8. Ambrogio-apse, 832. IWh Century. Mihrab (sanctuary) of Mosque. llth Century. " Dome of the Rock "base of cupola, 1027. Church of S. Saviour walls and domes. llth Century. 8. Mark s narthex, apse, and walls of nave and aisles. Cathedral apse. Cathedral apse. Cathedral apse. Cathedral apse. Capella Palatina, begun 1132 the whole walls. Church of La Martarana vault. Cathedral the whole walls, 1170-90. Church of the Nativity, 1169. Cathedral apse, 1148. S. Clementc apse. 8. Francesca Romana apse. 8. Maria in Trastevere apse. 13th Century. Baptistery vault, begun c. 1225 by Fra Jacopo. 8. Miniato apse and west front. 8. Paolo fuori le mura apse. 8. Clemente triumphal arch, 12f>7. 8. Giovanni in Laterano apse by Jacopo da Turnta, 1290. 8. Maria Maggiore apse and west end by Jacopo da Turrita,

1202-1299, and Taddeo Gaddi.