PRICELESS MOSAICS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 88, 15 April 1933, Page 7 (Supplement)

PRICELESS MOSAICS.

NEW HOME IN THE VATICAN.

treasures or fourth CENTURY.

ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL ART.

£it is oTder than civilisation. Before ®an learned a spoken or a written language ho drew crude sketches upon the vails of his cave or carved pictures upon the antlers of the prehistoric reindeer. •JJO talked only through pictures then; pictures which were his sole medium of expression. As he learned to till the soil, built homes, and congregate in cities, he developed a new sort of art, which, in the following centuries, came to be known as mosaic work He fitted together bits of marble, coloured rocks, lardened clay, or other substances so as to form a pattern. As he grew skilful in this art the patterns took the form of pictures, and down through the ages he improved upon the pictures until the fourteenth century, when the revival of painting placed mosaics in a secondary position in r.he grand scheme of art- ( But the creation of fine mosaics did not stop with the fourteenth century, for even to-day there are men who are expert at decorating the walls of fine buildings with marvellous mosaics and patterns. Some of the noblest buildings of modern times are rich in splendid mosaics. When Nineveh Flourished. The earliest existing specimens of mosaic belong to the less important branches of the art, namely, the ornamentation of small pieces of jewellery and furniture. The Tuins of ancient Nineveh and the tombs of the long-dead kings of ancient Egypt have, yielded splendid examples of mosaic in which ivory was used as a base. The Greeks who lived 500 years before the time of Christ designed imposing temples with huge columns ornamented with mosaics. They used pieces of coloured glass in working out their intricate patterns. Pliny said that the Greeks, also decorated their pavements with mosaics "after the fashion of paintings," The Romans developed their own style of mosaics, in which marble, varicoloured stones and opaque glass were used. Many of the ruins of ancient Roman cities bear evidence of the skill of the Roman mosaic workers, and even in England there are left to-day a few examples of Roman mosaics implanted there by the invaders in the early centuries of the Christian era. The mosaics of Carthage were excellent in design and rich in beauty of their material. Medieval mosaics are divided'into four main groups Those used to decorate walls end vaults, and employing mostly cubes of glass; those used for pavements, and using marble and coloured stones; glass in small pieces, either rectangular or triangular, and used to enrich marble pulpits, columns, and other architectural features; and wood mosaics. In the Byzantine period the glass cube mosaic was employed exclusively in mural decorations. Italian And Moslem Mosaics. Nearly all the fine cathedrals and churches of Italy, many of which date back hundreds of years, contain marvellous examples of mosaics. The Mohammedans had a peculiar style of mosaic work with which they ornamented their mosques. The followers of the prophet were particularly skilful in mosaics from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century, and throughout the realms of Islam there remains a wealth of fine, examples of their art. The mosaics of the famous Taj Mahal, although done 111 the Mohammedan fashion, actually were the work of Italian artists. Much of the most artistic portraiture of early times was done in mosaics, though the renewed interest in painting in oils in the fourteenth century had a tendency to lessen interest in that sort of art. Among art collectors, students of architecture and historians, however, interest in mosaics never has waned. For those who still consider _ mosaics among the expressive arts it will be of interest to know that one of the greatest collections of mosaics in the world is being transferred to a new museum in Vatican city, the capital of the Roman Catholic world. The famous and pricelees mosaic library which for 106 years las been housed in the historic galleiy of Saint Damaso soon,will be completely installed in a new building which is known as the Vatican Mosaic laboratory. The gallery of Saint Damaso is supposed to have contained some rare pieces of mosaic work that dated back to _ the time of Pope Damaeus 1., who was head of the Catholic Church for a period m the fourth century and whose religious zeal led him to order the ornamentation of the tombs of the early Christian martyrs. In the mosaic collection being transferred to the Vatican building are a number of Tich enamels collected by 1 ope Gregorio XIH. in 1585.