# Hospitality of Abraham [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 picture shows an Old Testament scene on the north wall of the nave: the Hospitality of Abraham. It depicts the apparition of three angels to Abraham, and Abraham's hospitality towards them. Abraham, as the chief protagonist in these two episodes, is portrayed three times in order to generate a sense of narrative continuity. ## 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]()