n trivial and meretricious accessories. Thus, in the busts,
the hair and the beard luxuriate in an exaggerated profusion of curls,
the careful expression of features of the countenance being at the
same time frequently neglected. This age was remarkable also for its
recurrence to the style of a primitive and imperfect art in the
reproduction of Egyptian statues.

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MOSAIC.

Mosaic, opus musivum, is a kind of painting made with minute pieces of
colored substances, generally either marble or natural stones, or else
glass, more or less opaque, and of every variety of hue which the
subject may require, set in very fine cement, and which thus form
pictures of different kinds, rivaling in color and hue those painted
by the brush.

Early nations knew the art of mosaic, and it is supposed to derive its
origin from Asia, where paintings of this kind were composed, in
imitation of the beautiful carpets manufactured at all periods in
those countries. The Egyptians employed it very probably for different
purposes; no traces of it have, however, been found in the temples or
palaces the ruins of which remain. There is in the Egyptian collection
at Turin a fragment of a mummy case, the paintings of which are
executed in mosaic with wonderful precision and truth. The material is
enamel, the colors are of different hues, and their variety renders
with perfect truth the plumage of birds. It is believed to be the only
example of Egyptian mosaic.

The Greeks carried the art of mosaic to the highest perfection,
assuming after the time of Alexander an importance which entitled it
to be ranked as an independent art. Skillfully managing the hues, and
giving to the figures in their compositions an exquisite harmony, they
resembled at a slight distance real paintings. Different names were
given to the mosaics, according as they were executed in pieces of
marble of a certain size; it was then _lithostroton_, opus sectile; or
in small cubes, in this case it was called _opus tessellatum_, or
_vermiculatum_. The name of _asaroton_ was given to a mosaic destined
to adorn the pavement of a dining hall. It was supposed to represent
an unswept hall, on the pavement of which the crumbs and remains of
the repast which fell from the table still remained. It was said to be
introduced by Sosus of Pergamus, the first mosaic artist of
consequence of whom we hear.

[Illustration: MOSAIC FLOOR.]