, were
usually red, yellow, black, and white--more rarely blue and green.
Sometimes the entire decoration consisted of these small, variously
colored spaces, divided by some graceful little border, with a very small
figure, plant, or other object in the centre of each space.

[Illustration: FIG. 12.--NEST OF CUPIDS. _From a Pompeian
wall-painting._]

Fig. 10, of Demeter, or Ceres, enthroned is an example of such devotional
paintings as were placed above the altars and shrines for private worship
in the houses of Pompeii, or at the street corners, just as we now see
pictures and sacred figures in street shrines in Roman Catholic countries.
In ancient days, as now, these pictures were often done in a coarse and
careless manner, as if religious use, and not art, was the object in the
mind of the artist.

Fig. 12, of a Nest of Cupids is a very interesting example of Pompeian
painting, and to my mind it more nearly resembles pictures of later times
than does any other ancient painting of which I know.

MOSAICS.

The pictures known as mosaics are made by fitting together bits of marble,
stone, or glass of different colors and so arranging them as to represent
figures and objects of various kinds, so that at a distance they have much
the same effect as that of pictures painted with brush and colors. The art
of making mosaics is very ancient, and was probably invented in the East,
where it was used for borders and other decorations in regular set
patterns. It was not until after the time of Alexander the Great that the
Greeks used this process for making pictures. At first, too, mosaics were
used for floors or pavements only, and the designs in them were somewhat
like those of the tile pavements of our own time.

This picture of doves will give you a good idea of a mosaic; this subject
is a very interesting one, because it is said to have been first made by
Sosos in Pergamos. It was often repeated in later days, and that from
which our cut is taken was found in the ruins of Hadrian's villa at
Tivoli, near Rome; it is known as the Capitoline Doves, from the fact that
it is now in the Capitoline Museum in Rome. Few works of ancient art are
more admired and as frequently copied as this mosaic: it is not unusual to
see ladies wear brooches with this design in fine mosaic work.

[Illustration: FIG. 13.--DOVES SEATED ON A BOWL. _From a mosaic picture in
the Capitol, Rome._]

A few examples of ancient mosaics which were use