In this site, we will guide you in the ancient art
of
mosaic
Mosaics
(The art and the technique to make, with small natural colour
stonrs, impressive and inalterable - in the passage of time -
pictures. )
The mosaic emanated from the need of replacement of costly
marble flooring, with other material, durable but also luxurious.
It was devised by the Mediterranean population and is
known in ancient Greece from the 5th b.c. century.
In the beginning, crude gravels ware used , white or blacks,
that slowly -slowly were enriched with colours, while shortly they
advance also in the manufacture of tessera, which were made either by stone,
that were broken away technically from items of marbles or other natural rocks,
or techniques, from glass or seldom with semi-valuable stones.
The mosaics of Olynthos, Pergamon, Delos, the Pompia
etc are exceptional samples of acne of mosaic in the antiquity.
In the Romanic period the use of mosaic is almost
generalised in the manufacture of the floorings. Decorative
subjects, mythological scenes, as well as corresponding from the daily
life, cover the floorings of the public and private buildings.
In the first period of Christianity the subjects of the mosaic are the same,
but they now they have different
symbolism.
As we mentioned, tessera are made with small
natural stones. The tessera are square or rectangle, with
area 1 or 2 cm or even smaller for the naked parts, especially the face. For
the floor, they first manufactured a mesh of crossed walls in the ground
in order not to have
subsidence. Above them, they placed a surface of broken
standing tiles, and above that a thick and powerful mortar, in which
the mosaic craftsman put the tessera.
For an wall in mosaic, they used for preparation three
layers.
The first layer was thick mortar with admixture other
materials that were placed in the wall and were fixed with
flat-headed nails while the surface was engraved with trowel.
In this was placed later a new layer of thinner mortar and finally
a third, thin grain, in which
the mosaic craftsman put the tessera.
The craftsmen that manufactured the mosaic were named
"psifodetes"(mosaic craftsman) from the Greek signs and tesselarius from Latin.
The Oldest mosaic that we know is Gnosis, from the mosaic
of Pella in the 4th b.c. century. From the newer seasons are rescued
many names of mosaic craftsmen. From the signs of mosaics we know the
collaboration of mosaic craftsman and painters in the process of the construction,
not of course in all the produced work, but probably in the most important
of these. Although the art of mosaic required big ability in
the preparation, the choice and the placement of mosaic, the profession
of mosaic craftsman was not included between the well paid
specialities of craftsmen.
With the mosaics we can decorate with the most
impressive ways the walls, floorings, swimming-pools, exterior spaces
etc.
In the mosaic pictures, the bas-relief in connection
with the inalterable and naturalness of the soft colours
constitute a trap for the eye of your visitor, where it might not
resist in the temptation to approach and admire them. If its placement is combined
with suitable lighting or in recess of the wall etc. the aesthetics of space
reaches the perfect.
Enjoy your visit in our web site.
LOUKAS PEINIRIS
MOSAIC CRAFTSMAN
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