Fare mosaici al tempo di Pasquale I. L'oratorio di San Zenone in Santa Prassede a Roma

Abstract

The mosaics of Pasquale I (817-824) transform the architectural surfaces that hold them in pieces of exceptional colourism. Each mosaic maintains a uniform general tone haracterized by the repetition of common elements that do not reveal the activity of the various workers certainly engaged on the scaffolding. These are mosaicists who have nourished themselves with specific modalities that oscillate between the reference to early Christian models and solutions borrowed from Byzantium. The latter are explicitly stated in the mosaics of the Saint Zenone chapel in Saint Prassede. It is here that the laboratory of investigation of the techniques of execution of the mosaics took place. The work carried out through the close analysis of the mosaic surfaces has made it possible to highlight the coexistence of different modality of execution and a skilful use of the materials that will be read in relation to the great mosaic work sites of the time of Pasquale I.