Andamento, a mosaic workshop in Ravenna — explore the wall
Hold and drag to move
across the wallBack to the whole wall
Esc
Chapter I · Stars set first, sky set round them
Il Cielo
The vault of stars
The top of our wall is a night of lapis-blue smalti, two gold rosettes and rings of eight-pointed stars. Every star is set first; the blue rows are then laid around it, rippling outward like water round a stone.
2,912 tesserae in this figure
Open the chapterChapter II · Outline first, then fill
La Vite
The vine scroll
Two stems rise out of a silver kantharos and curl into scrolls heavy with grapes. Each leaf is outlined in its darkest green before a single piece of the leaf is filled.
5,379 tesserae in this figure
Open the chapterChapter III · Opus vermiculatum: rows that follow the figure
Il Pavone
The peacock
Two peacocks face the cup across the gold. Their bodies are cobalt with a black outline row; the eyes of the tail are nested rings — bronze, turquoise, cobalt — set in smaller pieces.
4,924 tesserae in this figure
Open the chapterChapter IV · Gold set at angles
L’Oro
The gold ground
Inside the laurel wreath there is nothing but gold. Each piece is set at its own slight angle, so the ground never reads flat: move the light and a different handful of pieces catches it.
2,925 tesserae in this figure
Open the chapterChapter V · Rows that run with the water
Le Onde
The sea
Below the gold, the sea: two dolphins, seven fish and an octopus with eight curling arms. The water runs in long wavering rows that only break to flow round a creature.
4,206 tesserae in this figure
Open the chapterChapter VI · Letters in tesserae
La Tabula
The workshop’s signature
A tabula ansata — a tablet with dovetail handles — is how Roman craftsmen framed an inscription. Ours carries the workshop’s name, set in red and black on white marble.
4,347 tesserae in this figure
Open the chapter