Le talent discret des mosaïstes antiques. Une étude de cas relative aux méandres de svastikas

Abstract

The Discreet Talent of Ancient Mosaicists. A Case Study Relating to Swastika-Meanders The talent of the ancient mosaicists who carried out pavements with geometrical patterns is often unsung, and to some extent underestimated, with regard to the skills of those who created scenes with figures, or even vegetal décors. The issue of this article, based on the example of a pavement with a relatively commonplace and widespread pattern (swastika-meander), is to make explicit how some of the pictores challenged themselves (here, by carrying out swastika-meanders on a grid of bands with swastikas at the crossings) and be able to succeed (here, imagining a repetitive modular pattern to be replicated throughout the pavement). This was indeed a kind of gratuitous tour de force which, although remaining unseen for centuries, shows that such mosaicists also deserve our esteem, provided that their work is given enough attention.

Keywords

• geometric pattern
• grid of bands
• swastika-meander
• construction process
• generator module