MOSAIC ARTIST, Italian
(active mid-3rd century in Rome)

Mosaic decoration (detail)

c. 250
Mosaic
Vatican Necropolis, Rome

This is a detail of the ceiling mosaic of the mausoleum of the Julii, with Christ as the sun-god, Helios. The appropriation of the pagan motif of the chariot-driving god, which was also used to portray the apotheosis of kings, was intended to symbolise the triumph of the resurrected Saviour over death.




© Web Gallery of Art, created by Emil Krén and Daniel Marx.