* * * * *
ART OF MOSAIC.
At Rome are many minor fine arts practised, which are wholly unknown in
England. The most remarkable of them is the _Mosaic Manufactory_,
carried on at the cost of government: and its fruits are theirs. The
workmen are constantly occupied in copying paintings for altarpieces,
though the works of the first masters are fast mouldering away on the
walls of forgotten churches. They will soon be lost forever; it is yet
possible to render them imperishable by means of Mosaic copies; and why
is it not done? The French, at Milan, set an example of this, by
copying, in mosaic, the _Last Supper_ of Leonardo da Vinci; but it was
their plan to do much for Milan, and nothing for Rome; and the
invaluable frescos of Michael Angelo, Raphael, Domenichino, and Guido,
were left to perish.
It takes about seven or eight years to finish a mosaic copy of a
painting of the ordinary historical size, two men being constantly
employed. It generally costs from eight to ten thousand crowns, but the
time and expense are of course regulated by the intricacy of the subject
and quantity of work.
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