MOSAIC ARTIST, Italian
(active 1080-1100 in Venice)

Main portal (detail)

1080-1100
Mosaic
Basilica di San Marco, Venice

On the main portal of San Marco only the figures of the Virgin and Child, the eight apostles, and the four evangelists have survived from the earliest mosaics, dating from the late eleventh century. They are arranged in two registers and enclosed in slender niches; the upper ones were probably intended to house statues rather than mosaics.