Chapter XVI (Xxx.)
Concerning the Compositions and Figures made in Inlaid Work on Pavements in imitation of objects in monochrome.
§ 97 Pavements in Marble Mosaic and Monochrome
To the mosaic in small pieces our modern masters have added another kind of mosaic, that of marbles fitted together to counterfeit painted groups in monochrome. This art takes its origin from the very ardent desire that there should remain in the world to those who come after, even if other kinds of painting were to be destroyed, a light that may keep alive the memory of modern painters. Hence they have produced with wondrous skill very large compositions that can be placed not only on the pavements, where one walks, but also on the face of walls and palaces, with such beautiful and marvellous art that there can be no danger lest time should waste away the design of those who excel in this profession. Examples of these works can be seen in the Duomo at Siena begun first by Duccio of Siena, then added to by Domenico Beccafumi, and continued by others even to our own day.256
This art possesses so much that is good, new, and durable, that for pictorial work made up of black and white greater excellence and beauty can hardly be desired. It is composed of three sorts of marble, which come from the Carrara mountains:257 one of these is the finest pure white marble; another is not white but inclines to a livid tint, which furnishes a middle shade; and the third is grey marble that inclines towards a silvery hue, and this serves for dark. When the artist wishes to compose a figure from these marbles he first prepares a cartoon in light and shade with the same tints, and that done, following the outlines of those medium and dark and pale tints, he fits together with great care in their proper places first of all in the middle, the light of that pure white marble, and then the half-tones and the darks beside them, according to the actual outlines that the artist has drawn in the cartoon. When all the pieces of marble, the light pieces as well as the darks and half tints, are joined together and are laid quite flat, the artist who has prepared the cartoon takes a fine brush dipped in moist black, and, with all the work fitted together before him on the ground, traces in lines the contours and where the shadows come, in the same manner in which one would prepare an outlined drawing for monochrome. That done the carver proceeds to cut in with chisels all those lines and contours that the painter has made, and he hollows out all that part which the brush has marked with black. Having finished this, the pieces are built in on the flat bit by bit, and then with a mixture of boiled black pitch, or asphalt, or black earth, all the hollows which the chisel has made are filled up. When the material is cold and has set, the worker proceeds to remove and rub away the projecting parts with pieces of soft stone, and to smooth and polish with sand, bricks, and water, till all that remains is brought to a true surface, that is, the marble itself and the substance put in to fill up the hollows. When that is done the work remains in aspect exactly like a flat picture, and possesses great force combined with art and masterly skill. This kind of work has come much into use on account of its beauty.