Mosaic art todayĬharacterized by a constant search to experiment new artistic media, Modern Art, in its evolution, has a tendency to look back at the past: it often re-uses old and once widespread techniques neglected today, in order to apply them to the most up-to-date expressions of contemporary art. For this reason a famous Italian artist of the XV century considered it “la vera pittura per l’eternità” that is to say a real eternal painting. Mosaic art is durable, it is not subjected to corrosion or atmospheric alterations, it always preserves its fresh lively brilliant splendor. If compared to painting, mosaic art offers the advantage of inalterability of color and resistance: therefore it is suitable for decorations on surfaces exposed to atmospheric agents as well as for decorations on hard surfaces like floors. This is the reason why these tesserae are more precious than the others. In fact for these kinds of tesserae the color is not obtained by using any particular oxides but by sandwiching a very thin metal leaf (of gold or silver) between two layers of transparent glass: one slightly thicker acting as a base, the other used as a protective glass film, commonly called “cartellina”. cobalt oxide for blue, copper oxide for green and red and manganese oxide for purple.įor golden and silver tesserae another procedure is adopted. The color is obtained by adding metal oxides to ordinary glass during fusion.Īccording to the type of oxides used we will obtain a different range of colored tesserae, i.e. In order to decorate the walls and the domes of the early Christian or Byzantine basilicas mosaicists used “tesserae” made of glass which, in comparison to stone and marble, have the advantage to be lighter and brighter. The surfaces covered with mosaic seem to generate such a shining splendor that in a 6-th century mosaic inscription housed in the Archiepiscopal Chapel in Ravenna we read these lines: Aut lux hic nata est Aut capta hic libera regnat Light was either born or captured here, and here reigned freely In fact even with the slightest movement of the observer the tesserae light up and turn off creating quickening reflections that give the impression of something that is alive, pulsating and changeable.

Tesserae are first set at different angles on the surface in order to create a fascinating play of light of great effect. Moreover, they are never perfectly cubic as they are hand cut by mosaicists with special tools such as the hardie and the mosaic hammer.

Tesserae can be of different materials: stone, marble, glass, mother of pearl, ceramic. Mosaics are made with several tiny little cubes of different shapes, called “ tesserae”, which are used to cover a surface previously treated with a binden, a particular kind of glue. Mosaic art is a very old decorative form which developed mainly within the cultural and geographical boundaries of the Greek-Roman world, therefore becoming a major pictorial art form in the Christian and Byzantine Era.