Roman Mosaics in Britain. An Introduction to Their Schemes and a Catalogue of Paintings

Abstract

In 1970 the journal Britannia was launched for publications on Romano-British material, which were becoming too numerous to be accommodated in the Journal of Roman Studies. The monographs reviewed here represent the expansion of this venture to a series of specialist studies under the aegis of a now well established journal. The announcement of the project aroused high expectations, which, in the case of these two books at least, have been fully realized. At the outset, the similarities and differences between the two works should be noted. One is written entirely, the other in part, by authors who would consider themselves primarily conservators rather than academics in the narrow sense of the word. The arrangement of introduction, catalogue and plates in each case is almost identical. Yet these similarities, as well as the titles used, are somewhat deceptive. Neal's book, it must be emphasized, makes no claim to being a general treatment of the subject, which is a vast one. It deals exclusively with those mosaic floors that he has painted in water color over the last twenty years, much of it as an archaeological illustrator for the British Department of the Environment. These floors certainly represent an excellent cross-section of the material available, but by no means constitute the complete picture: some of the most familiar British examples, such as the splendid scenes from Bignor Villa or the Virgilian scenes in the Low Ham Villa, to name but two, are not represented. The kernel of the other book is the corpus of Romano-British wall paintings restored by Davey, also associated with the Department of the Environment. Since, however, the study of Roman wall painting in Britain is still very much in its infancy, and the total amount of material recovered much more limited, Davey, in collaboration with Ling, an authority on ancient art, has been able to attempt a general and comprehensive treatment of the whole subject. The tradition of British mosaic-illustration goes back to the 18th c., to the work of men such as Samuel Lysons and William Fowler. In recent times, of course, much more emphasis has been laid on photography in recording mosaics, but since the pavements are invariably dirty or covered by lime, the results are often in fact much less satisfactory. As an illustrator, Neal can discuss his material with the eye of a craftsman. He demonstrates, for example, that in setting the mosaics, the craftsman laid the motifs first and added the background tesserae afterward. This procedure is illustrated clearly at Brantingham (no. 12), where the motifs actually break into the surrounds of the panel and were thus demonstrably set first. Neal's skilful account of how mosaic patterns evolved is especially fascinating. A scheme of nets was laid out first as a guide to the design, which could be changed radically by an expansion or contraction of the network. He concludes that there is no evidence that mosaics