MOSAIC FROM PALESTRINA, C2 CE. VATICAN MUSEUMS This is just a detail of the much larger mosaic that lies at the centre of the Sala degli Animali in the Vatican Museums. It comes from a building near the Forum of Præneste, today's Palestrina, east of Rome, and was installed here in about 1780. The majority of the mosaic floor is made of delicate floral designs interspersed with tiny theatrical masks, but at centre is a highly-skilled scene, in black tesseræ on white, of a bird of prey, perhaps a hawk, which is standing atop a dead rabbit and tearing at its flesh. The rabbit is lying on its back with its legs in the air. It is an ex-rabbit. Around it, shrubs and plants are sketched in, and to the left is a tall bush on which a little bird is perched, watching the scene with probable relief.
A difficult #mosaic to photograph for #MosaicMonday, because every visitor to the #VaticanMuseums walks across it: a C2 CE black and white mosaic from #Palestrina with a central #emblema of a bird of prey with a very dead #rabbit, in the Sala degli Animali. #AncientBluesky 🏺
