at Pompeii, and the celebrated pavement at Palestrina, with a bird's-eye view of the Nile and its surroundings, is the finest, as well as the latest, example of the class. The conclusion to be drawn is that the Roman mosaic-workers of the early Empire owed much to Alexandrian models. Their finer works, however, were restricted in size, and formed small pictures isolated in geometrical pavements. Such mosaic-pictures were called emblemata, and were often transported from the great centres of production to distant provinces, where pavements were prepared for their reception. The subjects of these emblemata, like those of the wall-paintings of Pompeii, were, for the most part, taken from Greek mythology, and it is not easy to determine what degree of originality is to be assigned to Roman artists. We note a certain interest in the great figures of literature and philosophy. A subject of which two somewhat different versions have been preserved, commonly known as “The Academy of Plato,” shows us a group of Greek philosophers engaged in discussion. In provincial pavements it is not uncommon to find portraits of poets or philosophers used to fill ornamental schemes of decoration, as in the famous mosaic at Trier signed by Monnus. And it is possible to trace the growth of interest in Roman literature at the expense of that of Greece. Fig. 31 (Plate VI.) shows a mosaic discovered in the tablinum of a villa at Sousse (Susa) in Tunis (the ancient Hadrumetum). It represents the poet Virgil seated, with a scroll on his knee, upon which is written Aen. i. 8; beside him stand the muses of tragedy and history. In one of the side-wings (alae) of the atrium was a mosaic representing the parting of Aeneas from Dido, and this was no doubt balanced by another scene from the Aeneid. It has also been shown that the mythological scenes depicted by the mosaic-workers of the later imperial period are frequently inspired, not by Greek poetry or even Greek artistic tradition, but by the works of Ovid; and the popularity of the legend of Cupid and Psyche is doubtless to be traced to its literary treatment by Apuleius.
The mosaic shown in fig. 31 is notable for the simplicity of its composition; and it may be laid down as a general rule that the later workers in this field preferred such subjects, consisting of few figures on a neutral background, which lend themselves to broad treatment, and are best suited to the genius of mosaic. The finer pavements discovered in the villas of the landed proprietors of the African provinces, Gaul, and even Britain, are distinguished by the excellent taste with which ornament and subject are adapted to the space at the disposal of the artist. Beside a well-chosen repertory of geometrical patterns, the mosaic-workers make use of vegetable motives taken from the vine, the olive, the acanthus or the ivy, as well as conventional figures, such as the seasons,[1] the winds, the months and allegorical figures of all kinds, forming elements in a scheme of decoration which, though often of great richness, is never lacking in symmetry and sobriety.
It is much to be regretted that the destruction, partial or complete, of the great thermae and palaces of the early Empire has deprived us of the means of passing judgment on the opus musivum proper (see Mosaic), i.e. the decoration of vaults and wall-surfaces with mosaics in glass, enamel or precious materials. Effective as are the pavements constructed with tesserae of marble or coloured stone, they must have been eclipsed by the brilliant hues of the wall-mosaics. We can form but little idea of these from the decoration of fountains at Pompeii and elsewhere, and must depend chiefly on the compositions which adorn the walls and apses of early Christian basilicas. An attempt has, indeed, been made to prove that one of these—the church of S. Maria Maggiore—is nothing else than a private basilica once belonging to a Roman palace, and that its mosaics date from the period of Septimius Severus;[2] but it is impossible to accept this theory. The earliest monument of the class which we are now considering is the baptistery of S. Costanza at Rome, built by Constantine in the early years of the 4th century A.D. Unfortunately the mosaics of the cupola were destroyed in the 16th century, and we derive our knowledge of them from drawings made by Francesco d'Olanda. The tambour was decorated with a maritime landscape diversified with islands and filled with a crowd of putti fishing; and the cupola itself was divided into twelve compartments, containing figure-subjects, by acanthus motives and caryatids. The mosaics of the annular vault which surrounds the baptistery are extant, though much restored, and purely pagan in design, showing that the decorative schemes (Eros and Psyche, vine-patterns, medallions, &c.), commonly found in pavements were also used by the musivarii. The mosaic-panels of the nave of S. Maria Maggiore already mentioned are (in the absence of earlier examples) very instructive as to the artistic quality of Roman opus musivum. Richter and Taylor's publication of some of the unrestored portions, which unfortunately form but a small fraction of the whole, serve to show that the musivarii had an accurate conception of the true function of mosaic destined to be seen at a distance. Their effects are produced by a bold use of simple means; a few large cubes of irregular shape serve to give just the broad impression of a human face or figure which suits the monumental surroundings and subdued light. Very remarkable is the success with which the atmospheric backgrounds are treated. To seek delicate gradations of tint by elaborate means would be waste of labour for the mosaic-worker, but the artists of S. Maria Maggiore are able to produce sky and cloud effects (cf. Plate V. fig. 25) of great beauty, when seen from the floor of the church, with the aid of broad masses of colour. Their gamut of tones is of the richest; and it is to be remarked that no gold is used except in the restored parts. Doubtless gold was employed in decorative wall-mosaics before the Constantinian period; but the Roman musivarius knew the secret of making a true mosaic picture with natural tints alone.
(4) Work in Precious Metals.—In the article Plate the history of this branch of art in ancient times is treated, and it is there shown that it continued to be a living art, capable of producing works of the highest merit, in Roman times. The sections of Pliny's Natural History (xxxiii. 154 sqq.) which treat of caelatura deal only with the works of Greek artists, and Pliny ends with the statement that, as silver-chasing was in his time a lost art, specimens of embossed plate were valued according to their antiquity; but the extant remains of Roman plate suffice to disprove his statement, and in a previous passage (xxxiii. 139) he names the principal ateliers where such works were produced. The famous treasure of Bosco Reale (see Plate) comprises specimens of silver-work belonging to various dates, many of which bear the inscription “Maximae”; this doubtless gives the name of the owner of the objects, whose skeleton was found near the treasure. But some of them had passed through other hands; for example, four “salt-cellars,” probably of pre-Roman date, are also inscribed with the name of “Pamphilus, the freedman of Caesar.” Certain pieces, too, seem older and more worn than others; two ewers, decorated with Victories sacrificing to Athena, are probably of Alexandrian origin—the lotus-flower on their handles most probably points to their Egyptian provenance. On the other hand, the various decorative styles characteristic of Augustan art are well represented,—not merely the elaborate and conventional plant-systems of the Ara Pacis Augustae, teeming with animal life, which adorn two splendid canthari, but also the naturalistic treatment of vegetable forms, of which a cup decorated with sprays of olive furnishes a good example (Plate VII. fig. 32). But the most important pieces in the collection are those which show the silversmith at work on specifically Roman subjects. Amongst the cups with emblemata (for the meaning of the term see Plate) were two which originally contained small portrait busts of the master and mistress of the house to which the collection belonged. One of these became detached, and is now in the British Museum; the other is in the Louvre in its original setting. The lady's coiffure resembles that of the empresses of the later Julio-Claudian period; but this is not
