Mosaic art and design principles

¶ … history of mosaic art: A brief overview of an ancient art form

Mosaic art seems so simple, yet is so compelling when executed well. Almost every child has attempted to excel in the medium by pasting stones to a piece of cardboard. But this vehicle of artistic expression has existed since the beginning of artistic craftsmanship. It has been used by some of the greatest artists who ever lived. Extant mosaics suggest that the technique extends as far back as 4,000 years in human history, "with the use of terracotta cones pushed point-first into a background to give decoration" ("History of mosaic art," Joy of Shards, 2008). The Greeks began to craft more artistically and technically complex mosaics around 400 BCE, usually on floors, either in abstract patterns or depicting scenes of the gods.

Around 200 BCE, small stones that came to be known as tesserae made from marble or other durable materials were created to give added depth, expression, shading, and color to mosaics. These enabled the creation of images and designs equally as elaborate as paintings. Glass was sometimes used for ceiling or wall mosaics (Gascoigne 2001). Many Greek artisans eventually gravitated to Rome, as Rome's empire began to spread across the globe. Historically, Roman and Greek craftsmen began by duplicating Greek mosaics on Roman buildings, but gradually more innovation began to be shown, including the depiction of rulers and wealthy families in the personal quarters of prominent Romans. While Rome is usually seen as creating inferior copies of Greek art (and many of the famous preserved mosaics in the city of Pompeii are copies of Greek works), in the art of the mosaic, Rome took the medium to a new level. A Roman villa near Piazza Armerina in Sicily has a floor over 4200 square yards, all of which are covered with elaborate mosaics (Gascoigne 2001).

When Christianity came to dominate the formerly pagan Roman Empire, many customs and practices were abandoned: but not the use of the mosaic in art. One of the earliest Christian mosaics can be found on the apse (semicircular depression) of the Santa Pudenziana. A depiction of Jesus in kingly fashion, surrounded by his apostles, is depicted in mosaic form. Rather than the humble vision of Christ, this splendid, lordly display of divine is given brightness and color through the use of colorful stones. The basilica-style Santa Maria Maggiore Church (435 CE) is almost entirely covered in mosaics. Most controversially, it features the Virgin Mary as a kind of queen of heaven, as well as many prominently displayed pictures of the Virgin and the infant Christ (Gascoigne 2001).

Byzantium and Roman Christianity began to manifest different belief systems, creating the first great schism in Christianity. Elaborate mosaics became particularly characteristic of Eastern Orthodoxy. Byzantine Churches tended to have mosaics on walls and ceilings. Pieces of colored glass or enamel known as smalti were "ungrouted, allowing light to reflect and refract within the glass. Also, they were set at slight angles to the wall, so that they caught the light in different ways," allowing the gold tesserae to "sparkle as the viewer moves around within the building" ("History of mosaic art," Joy of Shards, 2008).

Eastern mosaic technique gives depictions of saints a kind of eerily human, almost living quality, as reflected in the elaborate, wide-eyed iconography manifest in Byzantium-era churches. Roman mosaics were more frequently used to adorn the floors, and thus used less glass, gold, and elaborate materials. Perhaps the most famous Byzantine mosaics are those found in the Hagia Sophia, the most famous church in Eastern Christianity. On the South Gallery or Catechumena is displayed a depiction of Christ, Mary, and St. John the Baptist known as the Deesis. Christ's "face is strikingly realistic and expressive…All [figures] are set against a golden background" ("Byzantine art," Art Lex, 2010). Of almost equal fame are the glittering, gold mosaics of Ravenna's holy buildings. "Ravenna's most famous Byzantine mosaics are of an emperor, his empress and their retinues. On one wall of the choir of San Vitale in Ravenna, built for Justinian and consecrated in AD 547, the emperor stands with crown and a golden halo" (Gascoigne 2001). Although the ostensible purpose of the structure is a holy one, the Emperor Justinian chose to parallel his image with that of a king-like Christ, also often found in glittering mosaics. Christ as ruler of heaven was a very popular design in mosaics, given the brilliant jewel-like tesserae used so often in Byzantium works. Images of rulers in mosaics of the same materials often intentionally or unintentionally resembled the images of the divine.