Rome in Technicolor: Mosaics

Before I begin this week's blog, I'd like to congratulate Tawney Miller for winning my Summer Giveaway. Tawney won both of my books, Son of Rome & Second in Command! I will be having another giveaway this fall, to celebrate the launch of my upcoming and final book in the Antonius Trilogy! From there, I'm looking forward to introducing my new project. Fortunately, there's never a shortage of fabulous history in our wide world!

In my last blog, we looked pretty deeply at the four different styles of Roman wall-painting, as differentiated within discoveries  near Mt. Vesuvius. It never ceases to amaze me how these pieces survived over twenty or more centuries. 

The same can be said of mosaics, though due to their composition, vivid colors and delightful artistry are preserved even more so than wall-paintings. Mosaics are my favorite medium of Roman art. The intricacy and bold designs that artists from so long ago employed, boggle my mind and ever make me yearn for more. 

Roman families used mosaic art in both decorative and utilitarian ways. At right, is a lovely mosaic featuring a typical layout. Black and white geometric designs surround a vibrant polychrome (multi-colored) center, depicting fruit, fish, and fowl. In many Roman households, this particular type of theme would be popular in triclinia--dining spaces--since they suggested food sources/meals. Such a highly detailed piece likely came from an opulent household. 
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Early mosaics in Greece could be highly detailed too, but the stonework was composed of actual pebbles. In Roman mosaics differed, for a tessura (tiny stone/glass piece) was cut into a cube like a tiny cobblestone. The phenomenal hunting scene below is from Pella. Look carefully at the bottom of the mosaic, and you'll see that the stonework was not cut to size, but instead are natural pebbles. Since this sample comes from the Macedonian kingdom of Pella and dates from around 300 BC, some scholars believe it depicts Alexander the Great (at right) and Hephaestion, along with Alexander's dog, Peritas. Regardless, it's a stunning example of a Hellenistic mosaic.

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Now let's return to Roman mosaics and take a careful look at real tessurae, cut specifically for the intended design. Below is a utilitarian mosaic. It's from Pompeii and was located at the front entry of a domus, sending an important message: CAVE CANEM--"Beward of the dog"! This mosaic is a personal favorite of mine, since I'm a dog-lover, and what's incredible, is that we STILL post warnings like this in yards. This sample was more permanant,of course--built into the floor-space of a home's entry. Yet, one wonders whether this was what the household dog really looked like? And my dog today wears a similar red color to show off his sleek, black coat.

​Earlier mosaics were simpler and usually geometrical. One excellent example (below, right) is on the Palatine--inside the House of the Griffins. Note that the artist used a sort of early tromp l'oeil, which truly creates an illusion of geometrical, stair-step depth among the cubes. No lush scenes of maenads chasing Bacchus here, but instead a sombre, refined sense of order, which certainly rings true for the height of the Republican Period, the era from which this house  comes. Though the surrounding tiles are all black/white, the central design still introduces an additional color, staying true to the Roman love for varied hues.

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​​The simplicity of the outer design speaks for itself. In fact, the central geometric piece draws the eye in, leaving the simple and sometimes haphazard tile order on the outside as trivial... almost unimportant.

A famous mosaic (below left) is that of a human skull, resting precariously atop wings and a wheel. To either side are garments. One is colorful and rich, while the other is simply a bedraggled tunic made of rags. 

Used in the HBO series ROME as part of the intro sequence, this mosaic represents the fragility of fortune and the ever changing balance of wealth versus poverty... success vs. failure.

The miniscule tessurae indicate phenomenal artistry, and when one backs away from the piece, it almost looks like a painting.

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As time passed, artistic styles changed, and usually that change was subtle, as in the wall-paintings. However, with mosaics, it's a little more obvious. Suddenly, the use of fine, tiny tessurae, used previously, were discontinued in favor of larger pieces of stonework, more colorful marble pieces, instead of tessurae, and themes that varied from mythological to (later in the Empire) Christian themes--especially in basilicas and Churches.

​One example of this form from the Late Empire is pictured below, from Ostia Antica. Note how the inlaid stonework is larger and more expansive in layout. These geometric designs are so encompassing, they no longer include outer surroundings in black/white. They speak for themselves.​

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Just like wall-paintings discussed two weeks ago, Roman mosaics were bursts of color. They were refined, elegant, sometimes playful or used for specific purposes to send a message. Much of my information on mosaics, is referenced from Roman Art by Eve D'Ambra. All of the photos, except the one from Pella are my own.

​Read ON, everybody!

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