The interior of this church is richly decorated on the vaults and upper parts of the walls with mosaics on grounds of gold, the other parts are covered with various rich marbles, and the floor is mosaic designed in the Byzantine style. In the twelfth century the principal apse, the cupola of the choir, and some of the chapels were decorated in mosaic. The great central cupola has mosaics of the eleventh century representing the _Virtues_, and twelfth-century work with the subjects of the “Virgin with Angels and Apostles,” the “Evangelists,” &c. To the same century belong the mosaics in the cupola of the choir, consisting of the figures of Christ, the Virgin, David and Solomon, and symbols of the Evangelists; the figure of St. Clement in the vault of the terminal chapel of St. Clement is ascribed to the twelfth century, and the mosaics of this chapel representing the life of the saint are thirteenth-century work. The most important mosaic of the latter century in St. Mark’s is that which decorates the façade, the subject being “The Dedication of the Church.” From the remains of the original mosaics which have not been remodelled by the restorers of later times, it has been seen that the work of the above centuries at St. Mark’s kept to the spirit and traditions of the Byzantine school. The work of restoration, however, has been so great in modern times that nearly all the mosaics belonging to a date prior to the sixteenth century have been executed afresh, so it can hardly be said there are any perfect or genuine Byzantine mosaics left. Those of the sixteenth century in St. Mark’s are more like paintings in their general effect than monumental works for the decoration of the fabric. Pictorial effect and an appeal to the emotional faculties were aimed at by the artists and governing body of the church, rather than simplicity or a feeling for the decorative fitness of the material. The painters Titian, Pordenone, Tintoret, Paul Veronese, and the sculptor and architect Sansovino made designs for the mosaics, and their cartoons were interpreted by mosaicists, the principal of whom were Vicenzo and Domenico Bianchini, the brothers Zuccati, Bozza, Rizzo, Gaëtano, &c. In this century, at Rome, in the cupola of the Chigi Chapel in S. Maria del Popolo, a celebrated mosaic was executed by the Venetian mosaicist Luigi da Pace, from a design by the great painter Raphael. It bears the date 1516, and has for its subject the Creation of the World. The Almighty is represented surrounded by seraphim, and in eight compartments are mythological figures representing the planets. Angel figures of great beauty are seated on the signs of the Zodiac, which occupy the lower parts of the mosaic.