MOSAIC ARTIST, Italian
(active 1215-1235 in Venice)

South cupola, west narthex (detail)

1215-35
Mosaic
Basilica di San Marco, Venice

The cupola of the narthex of the Basilica of San Marco, called the Genesis cupola, is sheathed in fine mosaics from the early 13th century, ranged on three levels and depicting episodes of the Book of Genesis, from the Creation of the Heavens and Earth to the Expulsion from Eden. On the spandrels and lunettes are figures of cherubim and Stories of Cain and Abel. The singular energy and strongly naturalistic and descriptive force of the these works are typical of Romanesque art in Northern Italy.




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