Mosaic Art History

Mosaics have a long history starting in Mesopotamian in the 3rd millennium BC

What is Mosaic Art?
Mosaic is a form of art that is similar to collage in the fact that it is putting different materials together to make a picture or pattern. These materials are often tiles, types of rocks or pebbles.

When was Mosaic introduced?
Mosaics have been around for about 4000 years starting with the use of terracotta cones pushed point-first into a background for a bit of decoration. It was first introduced in Mesopotamia in the 3rd millennium By the eighth century BC people started using different coloured pebbles and stones to make patterns. It was the Greeks in the fourth century BC that raised the use of Pebble Pavements as an art form. By 200 BC, people started using tesserae to make a more colour detailed effect to there art. They used tesserae that were sometimes smaller then a millimetre to make replicas of paintings.

The expansion of the Roman Empire took Mosaics to the next level. If you compare Mosaics from Roman Britain and Italian you can tell that the British examples are simpler and had less technique. Roman subjects were scenes celebrating their gods as well as domestic themes and geometric designs.

Who made the first Mosaic?
The Greeks. They elevated pebble mosaic to an art of great refinement, and created the "Tesserae Technique"