Dichromatic Mosaic Panel – Caracalla’s Baths, Rome
The Early Roots of the Mosaic Craft
The technique of making mosaics has very ancient roots. Mankind has always had a fascination with arranging natural materials to form interesting patterns. Pebbles embedded in beach sand to amuse children were probably the earliest precursors of the craft of mosaics. Although not truly mosaics in the modern sense, in the ancient Near East and Egypt, walls were sometimes adorned with pieces of embedded coloured stone, tiles and other materials. The ancient Greeks created floors of permanent material, with implanted pebbles arranged in them to form pleasing patterns – some still remain today.
Roman Mosaic: Portrait of a god or hero?
The First True Mosaics Came from Ancient Rome
Although they were not first to experiment with the technique, it was the Romans who perfected the use of marble, glass and cut stone blocks, which they called tesserae, to form the first true mosaic panels and made this art form their own in every sense of the word. Besides being attractive, correctly laid mosaic tiles rendered floors waterproof, hygienic, easy to clean and equally importantly, also reflected light – essential properties for the bathhouses of a people obsessed with bathing. Moreover Roman innovation in the development of good quality cements and mortars, was an essential factor for waterproofing, providing the durable bedding and grouting media that would give their mosaics such impressive longevity.
Heroic Themes were Popular in Rome
Romans Make Mosaics Their Chosen Art Form
Roman mosaic designs are very distinctive and display worthy examples of both abstract and representative art. Although always immediately recognisable as Roman, many different style and themes are used. Black and white (monochromatic) highly stylized mosaic representations of dolphins and sea monsters adorned the floors of public baths, whilst in the seclusion of their villas, the rich favoured more colourful realistic mosaic representations of gods, gladiators and gracious ladies at leisure. However a great deal of purely geometric mosaic decoration and highly styalised bordering was used in repetitive patterns.
The Twisted Rope Pattern
The twisted rope pattern was a favorite technique for borders and was used in continuous braids to frame and emphasise the main features of the chosen theme.
The Twisted Rope Border - Bold and Simple
The Mosaic panel to the left, illustrates how the technique of laying out repetitive braids can add depth and distinction to a featured object or motif. Yet, it is simple, clean and uses a very limited pallet of tesserae colours. The twisted rope pattern was a great favorite with the Roman craftsmen and there are many fine examples from all over the Empire. This striking floor panel was found under the excavations for the Bank of England.
The Good Things of Life
Wealthy Romans always enjoyed the good things of life and there are many mosaics devoted to simple pastoral or culinary themes. Often wall or floor panels featured somewhat random, but pleasing assemblies of favorite dishes, familiar homely objects or peaceful farmyard animals in the fields.
Realism – Romans Loved their Food
Roman Pastoral Scene
Mosaic Floors on a Vast Scale
The scale of Roman mosaics on both the walls and floors of some of their public buildings, particularly in the huge bath complexes called thermae, could be very impressive; each individual mosaic panel representing literally thousands of manhours of work by highly skilled mosaic artists and craftsmen. In the emperor Caracalla’s huge bath complex in Rome, the entire floor was originally covered in mosaic work – the equivalent area of several football fields.
Vast Mosaic Floor – Public Bath House, Ostia
Today there are many examples of fine Roman mosaic panels still in existence all over the far reaches of their vast empire. It is profoundly moving, after the passage of some twenty centuries, to still be able to admire wonderful Roman mosaic art in the brilliant original aspect from a variety of country villas, palaces, baths and temples in countries as far apart as Britain, France, North Africa, Sicily, Turkey, Jordan, Greece and of course in Italy itself. Many of these examples are in almost pristine condition. This is indeed a lasting tribute to the permanence of the medium of mosaics and is entirely due to the durability of the materials that mosaic art employs.
Geometric Pattern – Private Bathroom, Britain
Mosaic Art After the Fall of Rome
The heir to the tradition of Roman mosaic artwork was the Christian church, in both the Catholic West and also in the Orthodox (Byzantine) East. The limited use, in early church mosaic work, of tiny brightly coloured glass tesserae, with each glass piece (tessera) deliberately angled to throw around reflected light in highlighted portions of an art work, gave a remarkable luminous brilliance to the religious themes represented in mosaic art, entirely appropriate to depictions of saints, martyrs and various holy scenes.
The Byzantine churches stylized their depiction of saints and martyrs into a tradition of somewhat stiff-looking mosaic icons, which were given more sophistication and freedom of expression in the finely executed mosaic icons of the later orthodox churches of Greece and Russia. The Islamic expansion in the 8th and 9th century brought Roman mosaic techniques directly into contact with Eastern artistic influences; the magnificent Alhambra palace in Spain is the crowning glory of this benign merging of artistic expression. In the medieval and Renaissance era the floors and walls of cathedrals, Italian palaces and the private homes of the wealthy were made resplendent with the development of new mosaic techniques and materials, such as the development in Italy of specially fired glass tesserae called Smalti, using metal oxides to add to the brilliance of the mosaic tiles. In the modern era, innovative techniques, imaginative applications and the development of specific adhesives and mosaic materials have taken us far beyond the scope of Roman mosaic work, but in essence, there is much in the art form that still remains the same.
A modern work, executed in traditional style, at Ain Karim
