The mosaics of the Santa Maria Maggiore

There are mosaics in the nave, on the tribune, and on the triumphal arch. They have been repeatedly restored. There were 42 mosaics, but now there are only 27 mosaics left. The restored mosaics still resemble the originals. Because of a letter to Pope Adrianus the first we know that the mosaics were made by Sixtus.

The mosaics depict periods of the Old Testament and are divided into 4 cycles.

Each mosaic is a complete story. The mosaics clearly correspond with the Hellenistic tradition of the late emperor-period. You can see that many artists made those mosaics because of the difference in artistic levels.

The first cycle consist of 3 mosaics. These mosaics shows us a few events of Abraham’s life. Especially the mosaic of the separation of Abraham and Lot is made by an excellent artist. You can see that Lot is leaving because of his lightly flowing clothes while the tunica of Abraham doesn’t move and is immobile.

The second cycle consists of 9 mosaics which represent the story of Jacob. The most beautiful mosaic of those is the mosaic of the blessing of Jacob, because many colours are used in the mosaic. The first two cycles of mosaics depict stories of the book Genesis. You can see them on the left side of the nave. On the right side there are 15 mosaics. They depict stories of the book Exodus and Joshua. The third cycle consists of stories about Moses. The most striking of the 42 mosaics is the first, which represents on the youth of Moses, because they used in the mosaic the so-called turned perspective, that means that the people at the top of the mosaic, Moses with the court, are projected bigger than the people at the bottom of the mosaic.

The last cycle is the one of Jozua. The mosaic with the archangel is a beautiful one. The archangel holds a lance in his hand. In the Latin translation of the Bible the archangel holds a sword in his hand, so you can see that the artist follows the Greek version.

The mosaics in the nave show great differences with the mosaics on the triumphal arch, because the mosaics on the triumphal arch have got a propaganda purpose. The artist doesn’t use the original order of the stories and the artist used not recognised gospels, which is remarkable for his time, because the people thought that religion is something that doesn’t change. The episodes of the triumphal arch are connected with eachother and through that you can see the influence of Byzantium. At first glance, such a picture of Christ looks rather stiff and rigid. There is nothing of the mastery of movement and expression wich was the pride of Greek art, and wich persisted until Roman times. The way in wich the figures are planted in strict frontal view may almost remind us of certain children’s drawings. And yet the artist must have been very well acquainted with Greek art. He knew exactly how to drape a cloak round the body so that the main joints should remain visible through the fold. He knew how to mix stones of differing shades in his mosaic to convey the colours of flesh or of the rocks. He marked the shadows on the ground, and had no difficulty in represending foreshortening. If the picture looks rather primtive to us, it must be because the artist wanted to be simple. The Egyptian ideas about the importance of clarity in the representation of all objects had returned with great force Because of the stress which the church laid on clarity. But the forms in wich the artists used in this new attempt were not the simple forms of primitive art, but the developed forms of Greek painting. Thus Christian art of the Middle ages became a curious mixture of primitive and sophisticated methods. The power of observation of nature which we saw awakening in Greece about 500 BC, was put to sleep again about AD 500. Artists no longer checked their formulae against reality. They no longer set out to make discoveries about how to represent a body, or how to create the illusion of depth. But the discoveries which had been made were never lost.

The mosaics are divided into four horizontal strips. In the middle of the strip at the top you can see a shield on which a throne decorated with precious stones. On the throne lies a crown, a cross and the book with the seven seals. These are signs of the expectation of the return of Christ. On the left and the right side of the throne stand the apostles Peter and Paul. Their feet are covered with the motto "XYSTUS EPI SCOPUS PLEBI DEI" which means "bishop Sixtus to the people of God". This motto was added later. On the left side of the strip is the Holy . You can see a white dove, that’s the symbol of the holy spirit.

The mosaic where you can see Maria, is a Maria-Message. Next to the mosaic you can see the vision of Joseph that he is predestined to marry the Holy .

On the second strip left below the Maria-Message is depicted the devotion of the kings. To the left of the Divine Child sits Maria. The woman in the dark gown, on the right, is probably a personification of the " Ecclesia ex circumci sione "

(the from church Judaism proceeded). Right of the shield are depicted two scenes. Below those is a really unique mosaic, inspired by a rather unknown apocryphal story : In the Egyptian town of Sotine the holy family can find no accommodation for the night. Out of necessity they went to the local temple of Jupiter with 365 statues. All the 365 statues fall into pieces when the Divine Child arrived. The governor Afrodisius hears this and adored the Divined Child. The whole population followed his example.

The mosaic shows the meeting, outside the temple, of Afrodisius and the Divine child.

The mosaics in the third strip tell something about king Herod. On the fourth strip you can see the towns of Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

The lambs crowd round the gates of the towns. Some people say they symbolise the twelve apostles, other people say they symbolise the religious people.

The first drastic rebuilding took place in the thirteenth century. Pope Nicolas the fourth was especially interested in the apses (an annexe by the choir). The apses were an offence to the popes for centuries. He had the old apses pulled down and rebuilt more spacious apses. The order-brother Jacopo Torriti got the commission to make mosaics for the apses. The Holy Mary is the central theme in the mosaics. In the space between the two pointed arches are five mosaics. From the left to the right you can see the Maria-Message, the birth of Christ ( the casual story), the death of Maria, the offer of the gifts by the three kings and the mission in the temple. The angel proclaims the birth of Christ with the words: "Natus est vobis salvator". The large mosaic in the basin of the apses depicts the coronation of Mary by Christ. The left side is filled by nine angels, Paul, Peter and Francis. The little praying figure is pope Nicolas the fourth, who ordered the works of art.

On the right side again nine angels, John the Baptist, John the Evangelist and Antony, the praying figure is Jacopo Torriti.