From dramatic athletic contests to tender portraits of local wildlife, mosaics provide a glimpse at who the Romans were, what they valued, and where they walked.
The exhibition Roman Mosaics across the Empire features examples from Italy, France, North Africa, and Syria, some dating back 2,100 years. Large assemblages of mosaics aren’t usually on display at the Getty Villa—no wonder, given that the largest group in the collection is over 600 square feet and weighs 16,000 pounds!
Exhibition curator Alexis Belis, author of the accompanying digital publication Roman Mosaics in the J. Paul Getty Museum, walked me through some of her favorite facts about mosaics, as well as a few can’t-miss objects in the exhibition.
1. Roman mosaics were meant to be walked on.
Paintings covered the interior walls of Roman villas, but weren’t practical for decorating floors. Enter mosaics: a durable and lavish way to spruce up a room and support foot traffic at the same time.
2. They’re interactive.
Mosaics are designed to be seen from different angles and to change as your perspective moves. A mosaic from LACMA’s collection, on view in the exhibition, sports a hunting scene around the border, encouraging you to walk around and look again.
3. The Romans perfected mosaics as an art form.
The Greeks refined the art of figural mosaics by embedding pebbles in mortar. The Romans took the art form to the next level by using tesserae (cubes of stone, ceramic, or glass) to form intricate, colorful designs.
4. Mosaics are full of drama and violence.
Action scenes, violent hunts, exotic creatures, and angsty mythological episodes are all frequent subjects on mosaics. The dramatic scene below, for example, shows a lion sinking its fangs into the haunch of a fleeing bull.
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