MOSAIC PAINTING.
Mosaic is a representation of painting by means of small pebbles, or shells of sundry colours, and, of late years, with pieces of glass coloured at pleasure; it is an ornament of much beauty, and lasts for ages, and is mostly used in pavements and floors.
The termMosaicis derived from the latinmusivum, and ought to be pronouncedmusaic. It is odd enough that many persons have really fancied they could trace the etymology of this word to the name of the great Jewish legislator.It is well observed by Wotton that Mosaic has “long life;” and we have much to lament that, the art was not practised in ancient Rome with the perfection it has attained in modern Rome. Had Mosaic been applied to exact imitations of the pictures of Apelles, Zeuxis, and the great artists of ancient times, we should still have been the contemporaries of every fine genius, and a new polish had renewed their fading beauties, and restored them to immortal youth.
Pliny has proved that the Greeks first practised Mosaic, and notices a curious work of the kind which was called “the unswept piece.” This singular performance exhibited to the eye, crumbs of bread and other things which fall from a table, so naturally imitated, that the eye was perfectly deceived, and it looked as if the pavement had never been swept; it was formed of small shells, painted of different colours.
There were several pieces of Mosaic found in Herculaneum; one much resembled a Turkey carpet. The ancients probably gave in Mosaic some historical subjects, for there was also discovered the Rape of Europa, composed of small flints.
Mosaic has been practised in Italy two thousand years; the manner of working it in that country is by copying in very small pieces of marble of different colours, every thing which a picture can be expected to imitate. Instead ofcommon stones, too difficult to collect for so great a work, or which would require too much time to prepare and polish, the Italian artists sometimes have recourse to paste, that is to a composition of glass and enamel, which after passing through a crucible takes a brilliant colour. All these pieces are inlaid, and very thin, and their length is proportioned to their slenderness. They sometimes inlay a piece not thicker than a hair, and the artist afterwards arranges these pieces according to the colours and design of the picture before him. They are easily fixed in the stucco or plaster of Paris placed to receive them which soon hardens and dries. Such works are so solid that they are capable of resisting the assaults of time through ages. The Mosaic ofSt.Mark at Venice has existed above 900 years in perfect splendour and beauty.
Several fine pieces of Roman Mosaic work have been discovered in England in the last and preceding centuries, particularly at Woodchester in Gloucestershire, and at Horkstow, in Lincolnshire, both of which have been elaborately described and engraved by the late Samuel Lysons,Esq.Others have been found at Winterton, Roxby, Scampton, and Denton, in the county of Lincoln; in Yorkshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, &c. &c.
Sir Christopher Wren intended to have beautifiedthe inside of the Cupola ofSt.Paul’s Cathedral, instead of painting it in the manner in which it now appears, with the more durable ornament of Mosaic work, as is nobly executed in the Cupola ofSt.Peter’s at Rome. For this purpose he intended to have procured from Italy four of the most eminent artists in that profession; but as this art was a great novelty in England, and not generally understood, the plan did not receive the encouragement it deserved. It was thought also that the expense would prove too great, and the time very long in the execution; but though these and all other objections were fully answered, yet this excellent design was no further pursued.