# Decoration of the nave [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [MOSAIC ARTIST, Italian]() - Date: 0401-0450 - Technique: Mosaic ## Commentary The decoration of the Early Christian churches, and particularly of the basilicas, was mostly with mosaics. The largest series of early mosaic decorations in Rome are the panels on the triumphal arch and the nave walls of Santa Maria Maggiore of c. 432-40. The nave mosaics depict Old Testament stories of heroes and patriarchs beginning with Abraham, taken mainly from the Books of Exodus and Joshua. Only 27 of the original 42 mosaic scenes remain. These mosaics are notable because they are somewhat realistic representations, often of miraculous events, with landscapes, blue skies, architecture in a kind of perspective, and modelled figures. The picture shows the mosaics along the nave of the church. ## Related artworks - [Apse calotte mosaic \(detail\)]() - [Apse calotte mosaic \(detail\)]() - [Apse calotte mosaic \(detail\)]() - [Apse calotte mosaic \(detail\)]() - [Apse decoration \(detail\)]() - [Apse decoration]() - [Apse decoration]() - [Apse decoration]() - [Apse mosaic \(detail\)]() - [Apse mosaic \(detail\)]() - [Apse mosaic \(detail\)]() - [Apse mosaic \(detail\)]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()