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There was a major mosaic flowering in Rome during the pontificate of Pope Nicholas IV (1288-1292). This renewal was indebted to the mosaic commissions by popes of the early thirteenth century. Nicholas IV first had the Early Christian apse mosaic at the Lateran completely redone between 1288 and 1291. The bust of the Saviour from the earlier mosaic was transferred into the new one. In addition, the gem-studded cross atop the hill of paradise with its rivers and drinking stags may also have been saved from the older work. Distinctly thirteenth-century elements are the figures of saints on either side of the cross - on the left the Virgin recommending the donor pope, who kneels at her feet, along with Sts Francis, Peter, and Paul, on the right John the Baptist, Anthony, John the Evangelist, and Andrew. The rest of the apostles are pictured between the windows below the apse calotte.
Jacopo Torriti was responsible for the design of the mosaic. He signed it and indicated his role with the tools that serve as his attributes.
The apse mosaic was removed during the expansion of the choir in 1883-84 and subsequently replaced; it is essentially only a re-creation from the late nineteenth century.
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