Mosaic is an art of being in touch with Nature. It is the Art of Stones, Marble, Glass, Wood, Clay and everything that Mother Nature can offer. Mosaic is an Art associated more with Antiquity than with the Modern Age. Mosaic started due to the human need of understanding and Transferring Divine Nature into a living Art.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

 

Mosaic is one of the oldest-known decorative arts. Floor mosaics in which broken bowls of different colors were used as tiles are known to have been created in Mesopotamia in 3000 B.C. Greek have provided evidence of mosaic designs created from pre-cut tiles dating back to the Fourth Century B.C.

 

 

 

Mosaic from Alexandria, late third century AD

 

 

Long ago a single mosaic work was done by an entire group of artists, each of whom had a specific task: the creative artist made the drawing on papyrus, the wall painter transferred the sketch to the wall or floor, and a team of mosaic workers applied the tiles. The glue base was lime and sand mixed with water. Another layer of pulverized lime went on top, and the tiles were inserted into the mixture.

Mosaics first decorated the houses of the wealthy, public baths and municipal buildings and then, later, in more modest abodes. In Byzantine-Christian times, Rome embraced the mosaic technique from the Middle East, and the walls and ceilings of its churches were made to shine with millions of tiny gold tiles.

 

Nevertheless, with the development of painting in the 14th century the interest in mosaic suffered and slowly technical knowledge was lost and also the idea to use it as a form of decoration. All that was left were the little mosaic designs that showed religious themes and were icons made with pieces so small that you could not tell whether it was a mosaic or a painting. From the end of the eighteenth century neoclassic culture rediscovered mosaic, not as a wall decoration but rather as a way to embellish furniture or make jewellery.

 

        

 

Mosaic became the subject of architects again on walls and floors at the end of the nineteenth century nonetheless having lost so much of its richness. The recent return to mosaic as a form of arts and crafts is thanks to technology in building materials which shortens the preparation and pre-assembly phase.