Around 4,000 years ago, the first mosaics were created. They were originally made of terra cotta cones that were depressed into a background to serve as decorations. Mosaics were later elevated to an art form the Greeks, who created geometric patterns and intricate scenes depicting animals and people using colored stones and glass. Byzantine mosaics were created between the fifth and fifteenth centuries, and they elevated the art form to new heights. These Byzantine mosaics were the first to use gold and silver to create a glittering effect, as well as a new type of tesserae known as smalti.
Tesserae were usually made of rock or ceramic and were used in mosaics. The smalti tesserae used in Byzantine mosaics were made in Ravenna, Italy, from opaque colored glass panels. To reflect the light, these smalti were sometimes backed with silver or gold. Mosaics were originally created on panels, but Byzantine artists combined mosaics with architecture using small tiles to cover the walls and ceilings of Byzantine churches.
Marble, colored stones, terra cotta, and semiprecious gemstones were used in Byzantine mosaics in addition to smalti. The mosaics were made in a variety of sizes and shapes. Faces were created using the tiniest tesserae.
The surface was plastered before the mosaics were applied, followed a layer of mortar to create a setting bed for the mosaic tiles. The mosaic pieces were then pressed into the mortar and positioned at oblique angles to allow light to catch their glassy surfaces. Halos, which seemed to glow with an unearthly radiance, were frequently depicted with smalti backed with gold foil.
After the church decreed that icons violated the Ten Commandments, most of the artwork created with early Byzantine mosaics was destroyed in the eighth century. During the iconoclastic destruction period, intricate mosaics in Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity and Constantinople’s Hagia Sophia were destroyed. Remnants from the floor of Constantinople’s Great Palace and a piece hidden behind the mortar in the apse of the Church of Santa Maria Formosa are two notable early Byzantine mosaic fragments that have survived.
Artwork incorporating Byzantine mosaics became even more intricate and beautiful after the church reversed its position against the use of icons. Western countries began to practice the art form as well, but they were never able to reach the same level of perfection. The Byzantine Empire could no longer afford the high costs of mosaics after the sacking of Constantinople in the early 13th century, so it began using paintings to decorate its churches instead.