Journal

Floors at Sant’Anna dei Lombardi, Naples

Never am I more aware of my textile obsession than when I am going around churches and my photo roll fills up with images of mosaic floors, squirrelled away as inspiration for patchwork, stitching or knitting.

These ones - in the Piccolomini Chapel in the Church of Sant’Anna dei Lombardi in Naples - are particularly good.

They are made in the opus sectile mosaic technique where shapes are cut from marble rather than designs being made from small regular blocks.

That makes them - I feel - very easy to imagine as patchwork quilts.

This in particular - dating from 1570s - looks like a traditional American patch design.

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