Late Antique and medieval mosaics in Italy

Italy has the richest concentration of

"Early Roman mosaics belonged to the floor";

• Neonian Baptistery
  ("Orthodox Baptistery") (c. 430)
• Mausoleum of Galla Placidia (c. 430)
• Arian Baptistry
  (c. 500)
• Archiepiscopal Chapel
  (c. 500)
• Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo (c. 500)
• Mausoleum of Theodoric (520)
• Basilica of San Vitale (548)
• Basilica of Sant' Apollinare in Classe
  (549)

Other Cities

Milan was the main military centre of Northern Italy, controlling the roads to the north, and the effective capital of Constantius II, Constantine's son. The large octagonal Chapel of San Aquilino in the Basilica of San Lorenzo, Milan was perhaps built as an Imperial mausoleum for Galla Placidia about 400. It has an apse mosaic of a Traditio Legis with a beardless Christ in white robes flanked by the apostles, as part of a much larger scheme, now remaining only in fragments. In one area the mosaic has fallen away to reveal the underdrawing.^[16] There are some figures of saints and a dome of about 470 in Sant'Ambrogio.^[17]

Other relatively modest mosaics are found in several places, including a 5th-century domed ceiling in the baptistery of

Rome

Four churches in Rome have mosaics of saints near where their relics were held; these all show an abandonment of classical illusionism for large-eyed figures floating in space. Rome had been in Byzantine hands from 536-545, which may explain the change. They are

By about the 10th century, the ability to produce high-quality mosaic work had been lost in Italy, and the best work was created by teams despatched by Byzantine Emperors as diplomatic favours. In the late 11th century local craftsmanship began to revive, no doubt with some initial Byzantine input. The important mosaics at

The Cathedral at Monreale was begun in 1174 and has the largest area of mosaic from before 1200 to survive in Italy. The Palazzo Reale and the castle at Zisa, Palermo have the only significant panels of secular mosaics to survive from the period, probably both of around 1170, both of which show considerable Islamic influence, though that may reflect the Byzantine style for such work. Confronted figures of birds, archers and lions are set around trees in geometric schemes.^[26]

Venice

The earliest remaining mosaics in the neighbourhood of

The present St Mark's Basilica in Venice was begun in 1061, and its walls have been entirely decorated with mosaic, often replaced, with work continuing until the 17th century. St Mark's is the largest of the remaining handful of buildings, in Ravenna, Sicily, Turkey and Greece, which retain the unique impact of a full mosaic interior. Some traces of mosaic from before a devastating fire in 1106 probably remain,^[28] but the majority of the original mosaics date from the following three centuries, though often heavily restored or entirely redone as copies. They move from a Byzantinesque style to a more Romanesque one. Later Renaissance additions are fortunately not over-prominent, as they are generally regarded as unhappy mistakes.

Otto Demus believes that the early mosaics were created by local workshops aware of recent Byzantine work, and perhaps including, or trained by, Greeks.^[29] Whatever there may once have been, hardly any other mosaic work remains in the city.

High Medieval period (1200-1400)

Rome

In the 1220s, the Pope needed to ask Venice for craftsmen to execute the apse mosaic of San Paolo Fuori le Mura, but towards the end of the 13th century Rome was once again able to produce fine mosaics with local teams. From this period, the artists responsible for their design begin to be known; they were primarily painters, and presumably mainly responsible for the design, working with specialist teams of mosaicists. The most significant of this first period are Pietro Cavallini, Jacopo Torriti and Giotto.^[30]

Notes