Mosaic Depicting the Triumph of Amphitrite

The piece "Mosaic Depicting the Triumph of Amphitrite" appeals to me most because of the large amount of time and patience it must have taken the artist to create this piece. From far away, it appears to the observer that it is merely an oil painting of some sort showing an extensive amount of texture. But up close we can see that it is not in fact an oil painting, but a mosaic piece containing hundreds upon hundreds of tiles to help make up the mosaic. The color scheme is very important to the overall appearance because without this monochromatic blue color scheme, I do not think that this piece would have been successful at all. The grouping of blue tiles to show the subjects laid upon a white background help the aspect of the mosaic come together as a whole and helps show that this image is in fact of something from the ocean rather than elsewhere. Without a monochromatic color scheme, I think that the piece would become to complex to comprehend and the mixing of several colors would make the mosaic unclear and you wouldnÐ''t be able to see what the actual image is..

I also like this piece because not only because of the time it must have taken to complete it, but because of how surreal it seems. In the center you have the main subject, Amphitrite, riding two horse but as well as fish swimming in two other areas and another horse swimming. The fact that these other animals are in this piece does not make it seem surreal, but the fact that these images are almost as big as the main subject. When you think of gods or warriors, you think of them as being these massive beings with an enormous amount of power. But the artist here shows Amphitrite as being about the same size, which may lead us to believe that Amphitrite may have not considered himself better than others, but as an equal.

When we look back at Ancient Greek art, we see that artist during that time period showed an enormous amount of respect towards their gods and this may be why the artist took careful time in assembling this piece. The tiles are not thrown on hastily, but are carefully arranged as to not direct attention away from the subject matter, but to draw attention to the subject. Up close we can that when the tiles get close to the subjects, they almost seem to swirl and curve around them, not so much as to make the observer become dizzy, but to make sure that their eyes are focused on the subject.

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