Opus sectile in Rome

On a free afternoon in Rome, I visited the Palazzo Massimo alle Terme (Largo di Villa Peretti 67; phone 06 3996 7700 — open 9-7:45 Tuesday-Sunday; admission, €7), part of the Museo Nazionale Romano. I knew it contained a fourth-century stone artwork of a type called opus sectile. Opus sectile is a technique similar to mosaic except that the stones are large sheets of various kinds of marble, ground thin and precisely cut.

Unfortunately, after an interesting but long cross-town walk to the palazzo, I found that the work I wanted to see was “out for repairs”; however, there were many other objects there from this early Roman period that made the trip worthwhile.

On another day, inside the Capitoline Museum (Piazza del Campidoglio, Rome; phone 06 6710 2071 — open 9-8 Tuesday-Sunday; admission €7.80), I was surprised to find, just outside the picture gallery, two pieces of opus sectile depicting a tiger attacking a calf. Both works, as well as the one I had failed to find at Palazzo Massimo, originally had been panels in the walls of the fourth-century basilica of Junius Bassus, which is no longer standing.

Originally, the technique was used to produce paving stones with simple geometric patterns similar to those found in linoleum floors and tiles today. The artisans often were slaves or criminals, since this was very dirty and hazardous work. As time passed, some artisans began producing pictures rather than geometric patterns, and some of these were used as decorative wall panels in the homes of the nobility, among them Junius Bassus.

PAT BLAKESLEE

Carpinteria, CA