DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20658#0260
246
MOSAIC.
being incorporated in the substance of the die, reduced by fire nearly to the state of glass, are
never to be affected by the air, moisture, or any external accident; and they possess a lustre not to
be attained by any other branch of the art of painting. In Rome and its neighbourhood are many
curious specimens of this art, in which the colours are perfectly preserved; particularly the famous
piece representing three pigeons on the edge of a bason of water, which was described by Pliny.
The finest pieces of modern art are to be seen in St. Peter's church where, as paintings, either
from humidity, smoke of tapers and lamps, or other causes, were liable to be damaged, copies
executed in Mosaic of this description have been substituted, in which the design, the colours,
the delicate gradation of tints, have been so closely and so skilfully imitated, that, at a proper
distance, the eye cannot discover whether what it sees be a painting or a piece of mosaic,
Adjoining St. Peter's was the place where the operation was carried on, and greatly encouraged
by the late Pope Pius the Sixth. One of the niceties of the art is to compose the dies of such
substances as shall, after being exposed to a violent heat, produce precisely the tints required :
an operation demanding great skill and attention in those employed to perform it.
When mosaic is executed with marble the manner of working is different. The ground is
usually a large slab of solid marble, white or black, on which the design is traced, and then cut
out with a chissel to the depth of an inch or more. These cavities are then filled up with pieces
of marble of the proper colours shaped agreeabl}7 to the design, and just thick enough to fill the
cavities. These pieces are made to retain their places by means of a cement composed of lime
and marble dust, or in any other way more agreeable to the choice of the artist. When the figures
are thus marked out, the artist draws with a pencil the colours not determined by the ground itself,
which strokes being likewise hollowed out with the chissel, the cavities are filled up with a black
cement, composed of Burgundy pitch poured on while hot. What is superfluous is then scraped off
with a piece of soft stone or brick and water; and the surface of the work polished until it assumes
the appearance of one solid piece of marble. Admirable examples of this species of mosaic were to
be seen in the chapel of the hospital of Invalids at Paris, and in that of the palace of Versailles.
Mosaic works are also executed with precious stonescut into very thin leaves,and fixed on a stone
ground : the operation is performed much in the same manner with the former kinds of mosaic.
In France a sort of imitation of mosaic has been executed by means of gypsum or plaster of
Paris. This is well calcined in a kiln, beaten in a mortar and sifted; with this the ground is
formed, either entirely or onlv laid on a surface of stone. When the ground is to be made
entirely of this plaster, it is poured to the depth of five or six inches into a frame, so made as to
be easily taken in pieces ; and the bottom of it covered with a linen cloth tightly stretched.
When the plaster is nearly dry the frame is set up on its edge, and the plaster is left to harden,
having been previously mixed and boiled up with fine glue and the colour intended for the ground.
The design or figure is then traced on this surface, and hollowed out as in marble, being little
less hard, and the cavities filled up with other gypsum or plaster, boiled and prepared as the
former, of different colours, to suit those of the design. When this operation is finished the work
is polished with soft stone, sand and water, then with pumice, and lastly with emery; and the
fine lustre is given to it b}7 rubbing it with oil and the palm of the hand.
We are told by the historians of Mexico, that the natives of that country had arrived at
wonderful perfection in a sort of mosaic painting, executed with the natural feathers of the great
variety of birds with which that region abounds. The same thing has been done in Europe, as
well as with wool and other similar materials, SECTION
MOSAIC.
being incorporated in the substance of the die, reduced by fire nearly to the state of glass, are
never to be affected by the air, moisture, or any external accident; and they possess a lustre not to
be attained by any other branch of the art of painting. In Rome and its neighbourhood are many
curious specimens of this art, in which the colours are perfectly preserved; particularly the famous
piece representing three pigeons on the edge of a bason of water, which was described by Pliny.
The finest pieces of modern art are to be seen in St. Peter's church where, as paintings, either
from humidity, smoke of tapers and lamps, or other causes, were liable to be damaged, copies
executed in Mosaic of this description have been substituted, in which the design, the colours,
the delicate gradation of tints, have been so closely and so skilfully imitated, that, at a proper
distance, the eye cannot discover whether what it sees be a painting or a piece of mosaic,
Adjoining St. Peter's was the place where the operation was carried on, and greatly encouraged
by the late Pope Pius the Sixth. One of the niceties of the art is to compose the dies of such
substances as shall, after being exposed to a violent heat, produce precisely the tints required :
an operation demanding great skill and attention in those employed to perform it.
When mosaic is executed with marble the manner of working is different. The ground is
usually a large slab of solid marble, white or black, on which the design is traced, and then cut
out with a chissel to the depth of an inch or more. These cavities are then filled up with pieces
of marble of the proper colours shaped agreeabl}7 to the design, and just thick enough to fill the
cavities. These pieces are made to retain their places by means of a cement composed of lime
and marble dust, or in any other way more agreeable to the choice of the artist. When the figures
are thus marked out, the artist draws with a pencil the colours not determined by the ground itself,
which strokes being likewise hollowed out with the chissel, the cavities are filled up with a black
cement, composed of Burgundy pitch poured on while hot. What is superfluous is then scraped off
with a piece of soft stone or brick and water; and the surface of the work polished until it assumes
the appearance of one solid piece of marble. Admirable examples of this species of mosaic were to
be seen in the chapel of the hospital of Invalids at Paris, and in that of the palace of Versailles.
Mosaic works are also executed with precious stonescut into very thin leaves,and fixed on a stone
ground : the operation is performed much in the same manner with the former kinds of mosaic.
In France a sort of imitation of mosaic has been executed by means of gypsum or plaster of
Paris. This is well calcined in a kiln, beaten in a mortar and sifted; with this the ground is
formed, either entirely or onlv laid on a surface of stone. When the ground is to be made
entirely of this plaster, it is poured to the depth of five or six inches into a frame, so made as to
be easily taken in pieces ; and the bottom of it covered with a linen cloth tightly stretched.
When the plaster is nearly dry the frame is set up on its edge, and the plaster is left to harden,
having been previously mixed and boiled up with fine glue and the colour intended for the ground.
The design or figure is then traced on this surface, and hollowed out as in marble, being little
less hard, and the cavities filled up with other gypsum or plaster, boiled and prepared as the
former, of different colours, to suit those of the design. When this operation is finished the work
is polished with soft stone, sand and water, then with pumice, and lastly with emery; and the
fine lustre is given to it b}7 rubbing it with oil and the palm of the hand.
We are told by the historians of Mexico, that the natives of that country had arrived at
wonderful perfection in a sort of mosaic painting, executed with the natural feathers of the great
variety of birds with which that region abounds. The same thing has been done in Europe, as
well as with wool and other similar materials, SECTION