Roman Marble Mosaic Table
by Weston Westmoreland
Title
Roman Marble Mosaic Table
Artist
Weston Westmoreland
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
Mosaic table of Roman marble, Vatican city.
Policrome Mosaic table with a geometric pattern, crafted around the 17th century from a staggering amount of samples of ancient Imperial Roman marbles. It can be found in the SIstine Hall of the Vatican Museums.
The technique used for this tabletop is known as "opus sectile", a mosaic technique that uses big marble pieces conveniently shaped instead of the usual small squarish tesserae of the more extended "opus tesselatum" modality. The table is not three feet in diameter.
We are used to a white stone and marble idea of Imperial Rome, just the way we are used to rough stone pyramids in Egypt or a white Parthenon in Greece. This could not be more different from the truth. The Roman cities, and Rome n particular, were richly colorful places. Frescoes covered walls in- and outdoors, decorated rooms and ceilings, and a myriad marbles covered the walls and floors of the temples and Imperial buildings. Even statues were painted over.
All these different marbles, methodically sought and brought from even the furthest reaches of the empire, were looted after Rome's downfall to be reused in all sorts of palaces churches and castles. It is known that much of the marble that covered the Colosseum now dresses the walls of Saint Peters Basilica itself.
Thus, when you visit Rome, you will find all these splendid marble columns, panels and statues anywhere but in the Roman ruins. You will find them covering the great buildings of the Renaissance and the Baroque, where you will often feel unexpectedly overwhelmed by the quantity, variety and richness of the marbles in almost any little church or palace you visit.
More amazing mosaics, paintings, statues and carvings at https://weston-westmoreland.pixels.com/collections/statues+sculptures+carvings
Weston Westmoreland.
Uploaded
April 3rd, 2019
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