Sacred and secular

Technique

Sacred mosaics commonly use metal-leaf tiles, especially gold-leaf tiles that symbolize divine light and in the Islamic world are used in place of the figurative form, which is believed to be a vehicle for promoting idolatry. The highest expression of this type of mosaic was after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, when Byzantine mosaics arrived in Italy in the 6th century. In 540, General Belisarius entered Ravenna, the ancient capital of the Western Roman Empire and the people, who felt liberated from the Goths, decided to decorate a church with fabulous mosaics: thus began work on the Basilica of San Vitale. The two imperial cities, Ravenna and Constantinople, share the splendor of mosaic art. Tiles made of vitreous enamel and pure gold cover meters and meters of walls, up to the time of Theodoric’s commission of the well-known Basilicas of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo and Sant’Apollinare in Classe. Other majestic examples of Byzantine mosaics cover the cupola, transept and apsides of the Palatine Chapel in Palermo, a UNESCO world heritage site since 2015.

Production

1) Since these are generally large works, the sketch of the subject is divided into smaller sections.

2) A support is placed on each part making it easier to transport and handle, usually a net, on which the tiles are affixed. In other cases, they can be directly affixed on the sketch.

3) Once the adhesive is dry, the many pieces of the entire subject are assembled on site like a jigsaw puzzle.

4) The inclination of the tiles changes the effects that light produces on the work.