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Hindustan Times
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Roman mosaic art on display at Humayun's Tomb Museum in Delhi
Two fishermen carefully withdraw their nets from a river. The sunlight gleams on their bodies, and their sinewy arms appear tense, completely employed in their task. Their stance is wide, so as to not slip, and their jaws alert, eyes intensely focused on the task at hand; one of them appears to be instructing the other. This detailed image is not a photograph, but a 1,900-year-old mosaic tile made entirely of rocks not larger than a few millimetres. This is one of the five original pieces of art from Rome's Capitoline Museum, which are currently displayed at the Humayun's Tomb Museum as part of ongoing Mosaico exhibition. These pieces are roughly 1,700 to 1,900-year-old, and are on display till August 30. This is the first time that an international exhibition is being hosted at the museum located near Sunder Nursery. The exhibition follows the history of mosaics across Italy, spanning over 2,000 years. It is divided into seven areas, each depicting mosaics from an Italian city or town. The mosaics, seen through videos projected onto the walls, depict a variety of scenes from Italian history. These range from the famous wars of Alexander the Great and religious Christian imagery that adorn the ceilings of 5th century churches, to the daily habits and customs of Roman people at the time. 'The exhibition is articulated in two parts,' says Andrea Anastasio, director of the Italian Embassy Cultural Centre in Delhi, one of the organisers of the exhibition. 'It is a visual journey to take the viewer through the history of mosaics in Italy, and to make them understand the technique of Mosaic.' The five mosaics constituting the centrepiece of the exhibition are placed in a near-pitch black room. One is drawn to the tiles illuminated with yellow — the only lights in the room. One of the mosaics, visualising peacocks, originated from Roman emperor Hadrian's villa built around 120 AD, says Anastasio. The piece showcasing the fishermen is special for two reasons, he says. First, the colour shading is achieved using a sophisticated technique involving micro tesserae (small blocks of material used in mosaics), and second, the piece was excavated almost entirely intact. 'The original Roman cement that holds the entire mosaic is intact, whereas the other mosaics have been reconstructed on a new cemented base,' he added. Other pieces include a checkerboard pattern of alternating colours which the museum describes as a floor mosaic that originally decorated two rooms of Piazza d'Oro, a complex within Hadrian's villa. Another, stated to be 'probably a wall mosaic', depicts multiple motifs running across the design, and stands out due to its heavy usage of glass tiles. The description of a mosaic featuring the bust of a muscular male athlete states that it was originally part of a bath complex built by Roman emperor Septimius Severus in the late first century or early second century. A mosaic depicting two peacocks discusses themes of life, death, and resurrection. In it, one peacock is pecking a small bird on the ground, which is next to a poppy and other small plants. The description states that the peacock was a bird sacred to Dionysus, and symbolised immortality and resurrection beyond death. 'The beauty of this exhibition is in making the viewer understand the fascination of humans to reproduce reality in all forms,' said Anastasio. The second part of the exhibition will be held from October 2025 to March 2026, displaying 120 art pieces procured from the Museum of Civilization in Quebec. The main focus of the exhibition, Anastasio said, will be on floral motifs shared by different civilisations, from the Mediterranean to the Indus Valley. Aside from the Mosaico exhibition, the Humayun's Tomb Museum is currently also displaying a collection of antiquities and historical artefacts and models showing the history of Delhi, the focus being the emperor the tomb is dedicated to.
Indian Express
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
Caravaggio in India: 5 novels about art to read today
'Mary Magdalen in Ecstasy', a painting believed to have been lost for centuries until its rediscovery in a private collection in 2014, is one of the most famous pieces in the art world. It depicts one of Jesus's most faithful disciples being transported to God's presence by angels where she listens to heavenly choirs. Caravaggio's interpretation of the Biblical story confines the supernatural experience entirely to Mary's facial expression, as opposed to previous artists who had depicted her as physically ascending to heaven with angels at her side. With the piece on display at Delhi 's Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, in collaboration with the Italian Embassy Cultural Centre, up until May 18, we look at novels that may enhance your appreciation of art, painters and the contested world of commerce and criticism they operate in today. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt is the winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It tells the story of 13-year-old Theodore Decker and how his life changes when he steals a painting, The Goldfinch, by 17th century Dutch painter Carel Fabritius, after a bomb explosion at The Metropolitan Museum of Art kills his mother. The Collector by John Fowles is the story of a lonely young man, Frederick Clegg, who kidnaps an art student he is obsessed with and locks her up in his farmhouse's cellar. He plays all sorts of games with her — sexual, psychological and otherwise — to make her fall in love with him. When that doesn't work, he takes it up a notch. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier is about the famous painting by 17th century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer of the same name. It fictionalises the story of the girl who may have modeled for the painter after becoming employed in his house as a servant. It explores themes of class, feminism and appreciation of art. The Raphael Affair by Ian Pears is the story of an art historian arrested for breaking into a church so that he can find a hidden painting by Italian Renaissance painter Raphael. Before he can lay his hands on it, however, it lands up with a famous art dealer, thickening the plot — is the painting an original? Who is the dealer acting for? Moreover, as more and more lives get put in jeopardy, is this artwork worth killing for? Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut is the story of a fictional expressionist painter who calls himself a 'museum guard' and gives tours of his house to interested visitors but keeps a barn off-limits, raising suspicions that he has hidden innumerable masterpieces inside that are original or stolen. One day, a woman arrives on his property and gets the tour, but also forces him to give up his reclusivity and reflect on the art of his lifetime.
