Une grande famille de décors géométriques

The present study is based on the premise that, when designing a geometrical pattern for a mosaic (opus tessellatum or opus sectile), the pictor referred to a theoretical model derived from Euclidean geometry. One of the aims of this research is, through identifying the model and studying its geometrical properties, to find a possible procedure (i.e. a ruler-and-compass construction) which could have been used by the craftsman to set up the mosaic. It has been possible to reveal a family of patterns based on a square grid to which a very simple basic idea was applied (the knight’s diagonal, hence the “knight’s family’’). (Excerpt from the author’s abstract.)