CLIL ACTIVITY

                                                        MOSAIC: JUSTINIAN AND HIS COURT 

                                            

This kind of mosaic comes from a " renovation" of the Byzantine art. It's made up of more 1000 tesserae and it was probably created in the second part of the VI century , but we don't know who is its creator ( as other Medieval mosaics). It's placed in the Church of San Vitale in Ravenna and it represents the Emperor that pays homage to the church ( with a piece of bread in his hands). This composition is characterised by a strong presence of lines that allow us to describe each particularity as clothes , faces and physical appearance. The background in gold creates a strong and typical Byzantine effect but could also represent an abstract place. As we can see , in this mosaic, there's a very important attention on the physical aspect of each character ; for example we can distinguishJustinian the Emperor by his soldiers and officers (and vice versa) thanks to what they wear as : red shoes ( Justinian), different tunics (Justinian's one with gold ornaments)  , some gold decorations on them and the  presence of swords and shields. Finally, we can say that in this composition the Emperor  is glorified using an aureole.