Mosaics

Hercules serves as the slave of Queen Omphale, mosaic pavement, 26 CE, National Archeological Museum of Spain, Madrid (discussed in next part, but pretty nice for a banner) I cannot think of any other Ancient Greek character more of a draw for trouble than Hercules. Beside Hercules, Odysseus is a slacker; Theseus and Perseus--choirboys. In the many stories where he is the hero, he is mortal (though a demigod--one of the earliest Marvel Universe-style heroes in Greece perhaps

13th c. capital of a sinner being devoured, Saint Pierre, Chauvigny, France A nasty case of Covid pretty much bankrupted my energy for...

Baptism changed both in its practice and its artistic representation from its introduction in the Gospels to its depictions across...

For such a small patch of excavated floor, the mosaic pavement in the abbey at Bobbio (under the current basilica) has a number of...

The lovely town of Bobbio has always been small and out of the way, but in the early 600s, this was exactly what the Irish abbot St....

In the 6th century, Emperor Justinian and Bishop Maximian wanted to take back the body (land) and soul (religion) of Ravenna, which for...

The mostly 13th century palace is a studied combination of science, statecraft, and mysticism. The Alhambra began its life on the ruins...

Here, I continue to point out some features of church architecture, generally before 1100. Please see Part 1 post for more on this...

What follows here are some features of churches from roughly 350-1100 in Rome. Most of my photo studies are of Romanesque and Gothic,...