This tag was created by Margaret McCracken.  The last update was by Jeffrey Forgeng.

OLD Art in an Early Global World at WAM: A WAM/College of the Holy Cross Collaboration

How was the Floor Mosaic made?

Maggie McCracken, Class of 2025, College of the Holy Cross

Mosaics are made of hundreds or thousands of small pieces laid into a bed of mortar. Step up close to the piece to see these small cubes of stone. 
The small pieces are called tesserae. They can be made of a variety of materials, but because this one was a surface people walked on, it is made of durable stone. The stone could be from a local supply or acquired through trade. The artist can make the small tiles into specific sizes and shapes by lightly hammering a larger piece against a chisel.

Floor mosaics have a four-layer foundation according to Vitruvius, a Roman architect from the first century BCE. Each layer contains lime mortar and pieces of brick of different consistencies. Each layer gets progressively finer, so the top layer is fine-grained and tesserae are easily placed into it (see videos below). The artist could plan the image before placing the tesserae using techniques such as taut lines and compasses to make neat lines and curves. Following colors and shapes provided by a designer, the artist evidently laid the outline of the forms first, and then working with graduated shades, filled in the shapes of the design and the background. Look how the figures were outlined and how the cream background follows those curves, instead of following a grid pattern. 

The Art Institute of Chicago Videos:

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