''The Parting of Lot and Abraham'' is one in a series of
mosaic scenes, probably dating to the 430s, that decorate the nave wall of
Santa Maria Maggiore
The Basilica of Saint Mary Major ( it, Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, ; la, Basilica Sanctae Mariae Maioris), or church of Santa Maria Maggiore, is a Major papal basilica as well as one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome and the larges ...
, one of the most prominent
basilican churches in
Rome. The mosaic shows the story in the biblical
Book of Genesis of the parting of
Abraham from his nephew,
Lot
Lot or LOT or The Lot or ''similar'' may refer to:
Common meanings Areas
* Land lot, an area of land
* Parking lot, for automobiles
*Backlot, in movie production
Sets of items
*Lot number, in batch production
*Lot, a set of goods for sale togethe ...
, as they choose opposing paths. Abraham (on the left) with
Isaac and the rest of his family, chooses the road to
Canaan, as God intends him to, and Lot chooses to take his followers to
Sodom
Sodom may refer to:
Places Historic
* Sodom and Gomorrah, cities mentioned in the Book of Genesis
United States
* Sodom, Kentucky, a ghost town
* Sodom, New York, a hamlet
* Sodom, Ohio, an unincorporated community
* Sodom, West Virginia, an ...
.
The work is a
tessera mosaic, tessera describing the material making up the surface of the work. Most tessera works during this time would be made up of small pieces of limestone or marble, cut to shape, and arranged by the artist.
The artist uses several conventions of the time. The grouping of the characters is varied, meant to create the illusion of space. This "shorthand" way of depicting a crowd is sometimes called a "head cluster". There is a hieratic abandonment of consistent and realistic proportions, booty, and scale, allowing the artist to put emphasis on the characters of his choosing using attributes like size. The main characters we are intended to focus on are made extremely clear through this method, and the picture itself becomes less illustrative and more symbolic. Eventually, this style comes to refined maturity during the Middle Ages. The move towards completely two-dimensional representative images has already started, and although this mosaic implements the use of lights and darks, with shadows corresponding to the figures, there is a good indication as to what direction religious art is heading.
[Kleiner, Fred S. Gardner's Art Through the Ages : A Global History. 13th ed. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2008.]
Notes
Mosaics
Art depicting Hebrew Bible people
Early Christian art
Cultural depictions of Abraham
{{Italy-art-stub