Santa Maria Maggiore

The largest Marian basilica in Rome. The bell tower is the tallest in the city, seventy-five metres of Romanesque brick that survived the medieval centuries when most of Rome did not. Inside, the mosaics on the nave walls and the triumphal arch are older than almost anything else still in use: fifth century, gold tesserae catching the light from the clerestory windows. The Cosmatesque floor has been walked since the twelfth century. The coffered ceiling above it was reportedly gilded with the first gold brought back from the Americas. Pope Francis is buried here.

Slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, in our family studio in Knoxville, Tennessee.