MOSAIC ARTIST, Italian
(active 430s in Rome)

Rachel returning from the fields

432-40
Mosaic
Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome

The decoration of the Early Christian churches, and particularly of the basilicas, was mostly with mosaics. The largest series of early mosaic decorations in Rome are the panels on the triumphal arch and the nave walls of Santa Maria Maggiore of c. 432-40.

The picture shows an Old Testament scene on the north wall of the nave: the shepherdess Rachel returning from the fields to report the arrival of Abraham to her father Laban.




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