"Mosaic in Lomonosov's Heritage"

Kseniya Zaitseva
An English teacher Belovitskaya O.F.
School № 6

pictures of Lomonosov
5.The Battle of Poltava
6.The portrait of Lomonosov made

by Andrew Mangeos.
7.Conclusion

in our life that we even don`t think over what

great sense they make, what gigantic human work is beyond them. Looking back some centuries ago, we see creators of new thoughts, enthusiasts and devicers who had to discover new ways in science among superstitions and prejudices. One of them is a great Russian scientist, enlightener, and painter M. V. Lomonosov. On November 19, 2011 all progressive mankind marked the 300th anniversary of his birth.

as the first Russian mosaicist who brought the foundations of

mosaic-marking in our country. He was a great mosaic admirer. Over the last seventeen years of his life he was working at mosaics with a self-forgetful inspiration and exceptional persistence till his death.

“The history of mosaic seems to begin in ancient times

with some of the earliest known piece made with pebbles of contrasting colours coming from Greece .It was the Romans however who really developed the art of mosaic.”

The History of Mosaic

word mosaic translates from Italian as combined from slices. Special

glass tesserae called smalti were manufactured in Italy. Smalti are so firm that the samples dated IV century BC have remained up to nowadays .Mosaic as the way of decorating interior is known from III century BC.

of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials

.

It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral. Small pieces, normally roughly cubic, of stone or glass of different colors, known as tesserae , are used to create a pattern or picture.

have a rough surface and contain tiny air bubbles. They

are sometimes backed with reflective silver or gold leaf.
The mosaic below is from the ceiling of the baptistery in Florence, Italy.

were decorated with multicoloured stones. In Greece the mosaic was

made from pebbles. Whereas Romans mosaics were mostly used for decorating floors, the Byzentines specialized in covering walls and ceilings. The gold tessarae sparkled as the viewer moved around the building.

the Madaba Map, made between 542 and 570 as the

floor of the church of St. George. It is the oldest surviving cartographic depiction of the Holly Land.

and early Christian mosaic art. Islamic architecture used mosaic technique

for decorating religious buildings and palaces.

appeared in the XI century with the beginning of the

first Christian temples and monasteries. Russian masters studied in Byzantium and smalti were brought from there. But later painting substituted smalti were forgotten almost for six centuries. Interest to this material was revived only in the middle of the 18 century thanks to M.V. Lomonosov.

his real talent as a painter opened in mosaic art.
In

1746 the Duke M.I.Vorontsov brought some mosaic pictures from Rome. Lomonosov saw these samples of Italian mosaic and they made great impression on him. He was encouraged by the idea to revive this ancient art in Russia. The Italians closely guarded the secrets. So, Lomonosov decided to develop his own technology of manufacturing of coloured glass.

up of quartz sand with adding of oxides of different

metals and minerals .Using scientific methods and doing a lot of experiments Lomonosov created the richest palette of paints. From his “Laboratory Register’’ (1751) we learnt that “copper gave real emerald, mercury gave purple glass, iron gave yellow glass, and gold gave ruby.”

invented tools for cutting glass, metal forms for casting and

also a device to divide smalti to smaller prisms.

arches were lit up with fire’s reflections of several furnaces,

which smoked very much .In August 1750 Lomonosov sent a letter to Shuvalov in which he wrote:

«Воспомяни, что мой покоя дух не знает, Воспомяни мое раченье и труды.
Меж стен и при огне лишь только обращаюсь.

difficulties couldn’t stop him. He made over 4000 experiments and

at last created the way of manufacturing smalti of various colours , deep and bright tones. Scientific results of his researches made a great impression abroad. Lomonosov’s smalti sparkling like semi-precious stones, were richer, brighter than Italian. Finishing successfully his experiments he began doing mosaic of big size. So, Lomonosov was mosaic’s inventor in Russia .For his technology he was elected a member of the Bolon Academy of Science in 1764 .He also got a title of a nobleman and an estate 64 km from St. Petersburg, where he set up a glass factory.

of palette gave him opportunity to make mosaic, which surpassed

even painting.

mosaic image of Madonna of Italian painter Solimena. He was

making it for 6 months and then presented it to the Empress Elizaveta Petrovna.

the Great. So he created one of the most expressive

and exalted image of Peter. Nowadays this picture is housed in the Hermitage.

which could glorify grandeur of Russia and brave deeds of

Russian people. In 1764 he created a grand mosaic picture in honour of Peter the First "The Battle of Poltava“.

6,4m, height is 4,8m and it was made of about

900,000 smalti. Now it decorates the wall of the Academy of Sience in St. Petersburg.

in Moscow .
This work of art is the only Lomonosov`s

portrait made not simply in mosaic but of baking enamel.13,650 fragments were used, each of them had been baked like a separate piece of juwellery.
The subject of mosaic is symbolic .Great Russian scientist, painter and enlightener M.V. Lomonosov is depicted on the background of his famous mosaic – the Battle of Poltava.
The size of this precious portrait is only 31x41.5 cm but its creation has become a significant event in the history of world science and culture.
This mosaic portrait is a part of the enamel mosaic collection and it is a new art which has no counterparts in the history of the world culture. It was made by mosaicist Andrew Mangeos.

popular craft and art and not limited to professionals. Nowadays

masters work with stone, ceramics, shells, art glass, mirror and even odd items like doll parts, pears or photos. While ancient mosaics tended to be architectural, modern ones are found covering everything from park benches and flowerpots to guitars and bicycles. Items can be as small as an earing or as large as a house. Modern examples of mosaic can be seen on the walls of high buildings at the station of underground.

1997 г.
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