MODERN. With the rise of the Ciottesque school early in the fourteenth century the golden age of mosaic painting ended, frescoes taking its place. Such works as appear on the facades of I trvieto and Siena eathedrals by Orearont and his emitemporaries in the four teenth century are purely decorative. Hence forth mosaic loses its individuality, and seeks to imitate the delicate soft tones of fresco and then of oil. Croat artists like Raphael (Santa del Popolo, Rome). Titian, and Tintoretto (San Marco, Venice) furnished cartoons to he carried nit by niosakists, who are no longer artists. but mechanics. The atelier of the Vati can, busy producing altar pieces for Saint Peter in exact imitation of masterpieces in oils, multi plying shades and minimizing the size of the mosaic cubes, has perfected this ineehanical method. The atelier at Venice is the only other modern centre of importance. These modern artisans, in their restorations of itaedbyval mo saics, lia3e done immense damage 1,y trying to Improve' on the originals, setting the cubes closer together and with greater regularity and smoothness, thus ruining their art. They have long since abandoned the method of working directly on the wall, which had previously been universal, and they either set the cubes. face up. in portable compartments. which when tilled
are coNered with linen prepared w ith gine .111,1 then transferred to the wall. the linen or paper being then wet and removed, or else they set the cubes, face down, directly on the adhesive paper or linen, 1111 which the design is marked. with similar frames, and then effect the transfer to the prepared wall.
lituouutt.‘ellY. The subject of mosaics is well treated in 1Voltmann and 1Voermann, //istory of l'aintiny (Eng. trans. New York, ISSO) a good general monograph is Gerspaeh, Lu mosaique I Paris, 18851. The technique is carefully described by E. :\Iiintz in La mosaic/tie ehrOienne ( Paris, 1593). All the mosaics of the llonian churches are reproduced in largo colored plates and de scribed by 1)e Rossi, .11usoini cristiani di leorna (Rome, 1570-94). The same has been done for those of Saint :\lark's in Venice by Organia in La basilica di S. Marco (Venice, for :\lonreale by Gravina, 11 duorno di (Pa lcrmo, 1559). :\ II the figured mosaics earlier than A.D. 900 are manned and deseribed in (1-trrileci. ,Turbo den' a,./e cii-di://ia (Prato. 1873-81).
Consult also: Pohl. /tic und llosaiktnalerei (Leipzig, 1858), and Kurth, Die .11 oat i ken. der christlichen Jura (ib., 1902 et seq.).