Roman Mosaic Art - Andromeda & Perseus.

The Myth of Andromeda and Perseus has been the subject of numerous ancient and modern works of art, which typically show the moment when Perseus rescues her from the Monster Cetos.

Andromeda & Perseus - Fresco, Pompeii

When her mother Queen Cassiopeia  boasted that  Andromeda was more beautiful than the Nereids,  Poseidon sent the sea monster Cetus to ravage the coast of Ethiopia. An Oracle announced that to save his kingdom the King would have to sacrifice his daughter to the monster. And so Andromeda was chained naked to a rock on the coast.

Perseus, who was passing by on his way back from slaying Medusa came to rescue the Maiden. Sneaking upon Cetus under a cloak of invisibility, he killed him, set Andromeda free, and married her.

On this 3rd century mosaic from Gaziantep, Turkey, Perseus is still holding the head of Medusa slained earlier in the story. 

The names on the mosaics are written in Greek characters as People from that part of the empire were generally speaking Greek rather than latin. 

Mosaic borders were expertly used by Roman mosaicists to create the same effect wooden frames have on paintings. The relatively simple design of this one contrasts with the intricacies of the mythological scene and pulls our eyes and attention toward the main scene. 

Here is this pattern : 

Andromeda - Perseus Mosaic border pattern.

I am currently building a library of Roman Mosaic borders to be used in modern mosaics. 

Meander border on Carola Quinta Mosaic (Work in Progress)

Would you be interested in using some of those patterns for your own art ? Please contact me at frederic.lecut@mosaicblues.com.

I am a French mosaicist

living in Headland, Alabama, USA.

My Art is about inspiring people.

You can see some of my work 

at www.mosaicblues.com

You can contact me either by phone 

at (334) 798 1639 or by email at 

frederic.lecut@mosaicblues.com

You can also subscribe to my

MosaicBlues Newsletter

A mosaic portrait of Mugen, Border Collie extraordinaire.

About 12 years ago, I fell in love with Tosca, my sister’s Border Collie !

Tosca in Saint Valery sur Somme, France.

About a year later, a friend of mine having located a breeder with puppies not to far from home,  I went there to look at them. I wanted a black and white female like Tosca. I ended up with a Red Male...

Mugen, 3 month old.

I named him Mugen – a Japanese words meaning Endless or Infinity.

A loving and cheerful companion, Mugen had an endless creativity. Life never was boring around him ! 

Mugen loved water and destroyed a few water hoses...

Extremely loving and sociable, he knew everyone in the neighborhood and everybody knew him, cooked for him, invited him to play, drive, spend the night and they would drive him home. I was just known as Mugen’s Dad...

Mugen, 5 years old

When Mugen accidentally died in 2014 I was heartbroken...

Since I have this year created several mosaic models of beloved pets for their owners, I decided to build a mosaic to celebrate Mugen’s memory, based on the above picture of him.

This is the picture I worked from :

Mugen's Eyes.

Using my Opus Pixellatum technique to realize this project, I created a model and had it printed.

Opus Pixellatum model for the Mugen Mosaic.

I installed the model under a sheet of transparent vinyl on a bench in my studio. 

The model under its vinyl sheet.

I cut a piece of fiberglass mesh to be glued on top of it (the dark rectangle on the bench above the model)

And started to glue my tesserae on top of the mesh. 

The Mugen Mosaic, first tesserae laid.

I first lay every other tesserae, because it helps the glue set faster, and also because it allows me to later use - if I decide to do so -  colors different from what is called by the model. This is one of the many variations allowed by Opus Pixellatum. 

Mugen Mosaic, 50 % of tesserae laid. 

At this stage, I have to lay the remaining tesserae, I will use some iridescent tiles in lieu of the regular ones to complete the piece. Once everything is set, I will remove the enmeshed mosaic from the model, glue it to its support, and grout it. That will happen in the next article...

Tiles used for this mosaic are 8 mm recycled glass tiles from Mosaic Art Supply

If you would like to build yourself a mosaic portrait of your pet, I will create a model of it from your picture. This printed model comes with a list and quantities of the tiles needed and instructions to carry out the work. 

Beside the fact that such mosaic will end up costing you a fraction of the cost of a regular piece, you will have the great joy and satisfaction of building yourself a faithful and long lasting portrait of the beloved creature who faithfully shares or shared your life ! 

I am a French mosaicist

living in Headland, Alabama, USA.

My Art is about inspiring people.

You can see some of my work at www.mosaicblues.com

You can contact me either by phone 

at (334) 798 1639 or by email at 

frederic.lecut@mosaicblues.com

You can also subscribe to my

MosaicBlues Newsletter

Carole's Eyes Series

Every morning begins with the animals, group hug with Tomoe and Itto.

​

Then we go together feed the chickens (the ones you hear in my videos) and pick up the eggs. 

As I have to walk through my studio to get to the chickens coops, I generally stop for a while to lay a few tesserae...

I'm presently working on an other pair of eyes. The same eyes, with variations, Variations on Carole's eyes !  I realized I like working on series; you take a design, a beautiful one, and then you create several pieces based on it to express different feelings, moods, or ideas. 

 

I completed the first Carole's Eyes last December, but it fell from its wall while I was gone and got damaged. This kind of stupid things happen, it was my fault. I am restoring her now, she will look just as good as before. She'll look great, the greatest ever, believe me...

​

Blue Carole, the second of this series, is almost complete, I still have to grout and frame her. She will be there by the end of the month...

And presently, I am working on 2 more variations. I played with colors, and added borders to them, the same kind of borders the Romans loved to use.  Why do you think I'm traveling all around the countries that were once part of the Roman Empire ?

​

This is Greek Carole Sepia. On the bench. I am building her reverse method like I do 98 % of my pieces. She is a mix of Opus Pixellatum and Opus Tessellatum. 

The frame is a very important enhancement for a painting. It attracts and focus the eyes of the amateur. Unfortunately you cannot frame a mosaic with a painting kind of frame. For the past 4 years I have been using 3/16" steel welded frames. They are an excellent way to structurally reinforce my mosaics, but aesthetically they bring nothing like a frame does to a painting. So I decided to follow the Masters by incorporating the frame in the mosaic itself !

Fish mosaic from Pompeii, 1st century AD

So here you have the model of Greek Carole Sepia...

And here is a Bluesier Carole. The original idea, it will be different. Opus Pixellatum allows me to improvise, and I am going to fully take advantage of this fantastic opportunity.

This one will incorporate more vegetal patterns, Acanthus leaves, possibly  wisteria cascades...

I am currently experimenting with layered models. Instead of creating one very complicated model I create several of them and use them as layers, just like you can in a program create an image by combining several graphic layers. Some layers pixellatum, some tessellatum...

So you see, I am very inspired by modern technology to realize my pieces. 

• The theme or subject is always shrouded in a mysterious aura !  What's behind the Eyes? What's behind the Mirror of the Soul ? What's behind the Scouts of the Heart ? 
• The Aesthetic is enhanced by 2nd century AD border patterns and ,
• Techniques based on 21st century graphic softwares allow for a dreamatic new type of mosaics. (Yes, "dreamatic", it's new, its great, it's dreamlike, it's dreamatic ! believe me...)
•  

Frederic Lecut is a French mosaicist.

In 1992 he made Alabama his home.

His Art is about inspiring People.

You can contact him either 

by phone at (334) 798 1639 or email at 

frederic.lecut@mosaicblues.com

You can also subscribe to his

NEWSLETTER