The Gloucester Candlestick is an elaborately decorated English Romanesque gilt-bronze candlestick, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. It was made for Gloucester Cathedral between 1104 and 1113, and is one of the outstanding survivals of English Romanesque metalwork.
The candlestick was first modelled in wax, then cast in the "lost wax" technique in three sections. The metal is bronze in an unusual mixture of copper, zinc, tin, lead, nickel, iron, antimony, and arsenic with an unusually large amount of silver—between 22.5% in the base and 5.76% in the pan below the candle. The proportions of this mixture may suggest that the candlestick was made from a hoard of old coins. The candlestick was gilded by fire-gilding, with elements in niellod silver added, engraving, and tiny dark glass eyes inset on some of the figures. [1]
The candlestick is densely decorated with an openwork composition of human figures, apes and fabulous beasts interspersed between thick intertwined shoots of foliage. Three long-eared dragons with outspread wings form the supporting feet; the symbols of the Four Evangelists are in medallions on the knop. This type of decoration was common to northern European art of this date but the style here is closely related to contemporary English illuminated manuscripts, indicating that, despite German influences, this piece was made in England, possibly in Canterbury, or by a craftsman who travelled to perform commissions. He may not have worked exclusively in metal, and may well have been a layman. [2] It has similarities to a pair of Ottonian candlesticks at Hildesheim which were commissioned by Bishop Bernward of Hildesheim, bishop from 993 until his death in 1022. [3]
The decoration has been interpreted as a struggle between the forces of good and evil, and has speech and silence as a theme, with some of the figures placing hands over the mouths of others. [4] An inscription round the outside of the drip pan reads "+ lvcis.on[us] virtvtis opvs doctrina refvlgens / predicat vt vicio non tenebretvr homo" ("This flood of light, this work of virtue, bright with holy doctrine instructs us, so that Man shall not be benighted in vice"), and some figures are crawling up through the decoration, towards the light, while others are making away from it downwards. [3]
There are three inscriptions in Latin. The one on the stem, above and below the central knop (or knob) refers to the donation of the candlestick and reads: 'The gentle devotion of abbot Peter and his gentle flock gave me to the church of St Peter at Gloucester' ("+ abbatis.petri.gregis / et:devotio.mitis/ + me dedit:ecclesie: / sci:petri:gloecestre"). Peter was Abbot of the Benedictine monastery of St Peter, now Gloucester Cathedral, from 1104 until his death in 1113. By perhaps the late 12th century, the candlestick was in Le Mans, where an inscription added round the inside of the drip pan records its donation to Le Mans Cathedral: "hoc cenomannensis res ecclesie pociensis / thomas ditavit cvm sol annvm renovavit" ("Thomas of Poché gave this object to the church of Le Mans when the sun renewed the year"). [3] It is next recorded in a private collection there in 1856. The Candlestick was acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum at an auction in Paris of the collection of Prince Pierre Soltikoff in 1861. [5]
The Gloucester candlestick, as well as the Victoria and Albert Museum, are prominently featured in the novel The Children's Book (2009) by A. S. Byatt.
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe that was predominant in the 11th and 12th centuries. The style eventually developed into the Gothic style with the shape of the arches providing a simple distinction: the Romanesque is characterized by semicircular arches, while the Gothic is marked by the pointed arches. The Romanesque emerged nearly simultaneously in multiple countries ; its examples can be found across the continent, making it the first pan-European architectural style since Imperial Roman architecture. Similarly to Gothic, the name of the style was transferred onto the contemporary Romanesque art.
Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as well as bronze elements to be fitted to other objects such as furniture. It is often gilded to give gilt-bronze or ormolu.
A chandelier is an ornamental lighting device, typically with spreading branched supports for multiple lights, designed to be hung from the ceiling. Chandeliers are often ornate, and they were originally designed to hold candles, but now incandescent light bulbs are commonly used, as well as fluorescent lamps and LEDs.
An archivolt is an ornamental moulding or band following the curve on the underside of an arch. It is composed of bands of ornamental mouldings surrounding an arched opening, corresponding to the architrave in the case of a rectangular opening. The word is sometimes used to refer to the under-side or inner curve of the arch itself. Most commonly archivolts are found as a feature of the arches of church portals. The mouldings and sculptures on these archivolts are used to convey a theological story or depict religious figures and ideologies of the church in order to represent the gateway between the holy space of the church and the external world. The presence of archivolts on churches is seen throughout history, although their design, both architecturally and artistically, is heavily influenced by the period they were built in and the churches they were designed for.
Gislebertus, Giselbertus or Ghiselbertus, sometimes "of Autun", was a French Romanesque sculptor, whose decoration of the Cathedral of Saint Lazare at Autun, France – consisting of numerous doorways, tympanums and capitals – represents some of the most original work of the period.
Niello is a black mixture, usually of sulphur, copper, silver, and lead, used as an inlay on engraved or etched metal, especially silver. It is added as a powder or paste, then fired until it melts or at least softens, and flows or is pushed into the engraved lines in the metal. It hardens and blackens when cool, and the niello on the flat surface is polished off to show the filled lines in black, contrasting with the polished metal around it. It may also be used with other metalworking techniques to cover larger areas, as seen in the sky in the diptych illustrated here. The metal where niello is to be placed is often roughened to provide a key. In many cases, especially in objects that have been buried underground, where the niello is now lost, the roughened surface indicates that it was once there.
Anglo-Saxon art covers art produced within the Anglo-Saxon period of English history, beginning with the Migration period style that the Anglo-Saxons brought with them from the continent in the 5th century, and ending in 1066 with the Norman Conquest of England, whose sophisticated art was influential in much of northern Europe. The two periods of outstanding achievement were the 7th and 8th centuries, with the metalwork and jewellery from Sutton Hoo and a series of magnificent illuminated manuscripts, and the final period after about 950, when there was a revival of English culture after the end of the Viking invasions. By the time of the Conquest the move to the Romanesque style is nearly complete. The important artistic centres, in so far as these can be established, were concentrated in the extremities of England, in Northumbria, especially in the early period, and Wessex and Kent near the south coast.
Ottonian art is a style in pre-romanesque German art, covering also some works from the Low Countries, northern Italy and eastern France. It was named by the art historian Hubert Janitschek after the Ottonian dynasty which ruled Germany and Northern Italy between 919 and 1024 under the kings Henry I, Otto I, Otto II, Otto III and Henry II. With Ottonian architecture, it is a key component of the Ottonian Renaissance. However, the style neither began nor ended to neatly coincide with the rule of the dynasty. It emerged some decades into their rule and persisted past the Ottonian emperors into the reigns of the early Salian dynasty, which lacks an artistic "style label" of its own. In the traditional scheme of art history, Ottonian art follows Carolingian art and precedes Romanesque art, though the transitions at both ends of the period are gradual rather than sudden. Like the former and unlike the latter, it was very largely a style restricted to a few of the small cities of the period, and important monasteries, as well as the court circles of the emperor and his leading vassals.
Romanesque art is the art of Europe from approximately 1000 AD to the rise of the Gothic style in the 12th century, or later depending on region. The preceding period is known as the Pre-Romanesque period. The term was invented by 19th-century art historians, especially for Romanesque architecture, which retained many basic features of Roman architectural style – most notably round-headed arches, but also barrel vaults, apses, and acanthus-leaf decoration – but had also developed many very different characteristics. In Southern France, Spain, and Italy there was an architectural continuity with the Late Antique, but the Romanesque style was the first style to spread across the whole of Catholic Europe, from Sicily to Scandinavia. Romanesque art was also greatly influenced by Byzantine art, especially in painting, and by the anti-classical energy of the decoration of the Insular art of the British Isles. From these elements was forged a highly innovative and coherent style.
The Gniezno Doors are a pair of bronze doors placed at the entrance to Gniezno Cathedral in Gniezno, Poland. They are decorated with eighteen bas-relief scenes from the life of St. Adalbert, whose remains had been purchased for their weight in gold and brought back to, and enshrined in, the cathedral. The cathedral is a Gothic building which the doors predate, having been carried over from an earlier temple. The doors were made around 1175, in the reign of Mieszko III the Old, and are one of the most important works of Romanesque art in Poland.
The Bow porcelain factory was an emulative rival of the Chelsea porcelain factory in the manufacture of early soft-paste porcelain in Great Britain. The two London factories were the first in England. It was originally located near Bow, in what is now the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, but by 1749 it had moved to "New Canton", sited east of the River Lea, and then in Essex, now in the London Borough of Newham.
The Eadwine Psalter or Eadwin Psalter is a heavily illuminated 12th-century psalter named after the scribe Eadwine, a monk of Christ Church, Canterbury, who was perhaps the "project manager" for the large and exceptional book. The manuscript belongs to Trinity College, Cambridge and is kept in the Wren Library. It contains the Book of Psalms in three languages: three versions in Latin, with Old English and Anglo-Norman translations, and has been called the most ambitious manuscript produced in England in the twelfth century. As far as the images are concerned, most of the book is an adapted copy, using a more contemporary style, of the Carolingian Utrecht Psalter, which was at Canterbury for a period in the Middle Ages. There is also a very famous full-page miniature showing Eadwine at work, which is highly unusual and possibly a self-portrait.
The Cross of Lothair or Lothair Cross is a crux gemmata processional cross dating from about 1000 AD, though its base dates from the 14th century. It was made in Germany, probably at Cologne. It is an outstanding example of medieval goldsmith's work, and "an important monument of imperial ideology", forming part of the Aachen Cathedral Treasury, which includes several other masterpieces of sacral Ottonian art. The measurements of the original portion are 50 cm height, 38.5 cm width, 2.3 cm depth.
The Apse of Santa María d'Àneu is a romanesque apse of the church of Santa Maria, Àneu, created in the late 11th century or early 12th century, the transferred frescos from which are now exhibited at Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, in Barcelona. The decoration of the apse of the church of Santa María d’Àneu combines themes and motifs from the Old and New Testaments. Originally painted at the Church of Santa María d’Àneu
Art in bronze and brass dates from remote antiquity. These important metals are alloys, bronze composed of copper and tin and brass of copper and zinc.
The Bernward Doors are the two leaves of a pair of Ottonian or Romanesque bronze doors, made c. 1015 for Hildesheim Cathedral in Germany. They were commissioned by Bishop Bernward of Hildesheim (938–1022). The doors show relief images from the Bible, scenes from the Book of Genesis on the left door and from the life of Jesus on the right door. They are considered a masterpiece of Ottonian art, and feature the oldest known monumental image cycle in German sculpture, and also the oldest cycle of images cast in metal in Germany.
The Bronze baptismal font in the Hildesheim Cathedral is a late Romanesque baptismal font which was probably made in Hildesheim in the first third of the thirteenth century. It is noted for its pictorial decoration which is of the highest quality and for its perfect proportions and is considered among the most outstanding works of its type. For centuries the baptismal font stood in the western part of the nave, until it was moved to the last of the northern side-chapels in 1653. During the ongoing renovations of the cathedral (2010–2014) it is being displayed in the Bode Museum in Berlin. After the completion of the renovation work, it will be placed in the centre of the nave under the Hezilo chandelier.
Neil Stratford FSA, a London born medievalist and Keeper Emeritus of Medieval and Later Antiquities at the British Museum, is recognised as a leading authority on Romanesque and Gothic art and sculpture. He was one of the founding members of the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland and is the Herbert Franke Chair at the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres where he is an elected foreign member.
An Insular crozier is a type of processional bishop's staff (crozier) produced in Ireland and Scotland between 800 and 1200. Such items can be distinguished from mainland European types by their curved and open crooks, and drop. By the end of the 12th century, production of Irish croziers had largely ended, but examples continued to be reworked and added to throughout the Romanesque and Gothic periods. Although many of the croziers are associated with 5th- and 6th-century saints, the objects were not made until long after the saints had died. A majority originate from around the 9th century, with a number further embellished between the 11th and 13th centuries.
The Lismore Crozier is an Irish Insular-type crozier dated to between 1100 and 1113 AD. It consists of a wooden tubular staff lined with copper-alloy plates; embellished with silver, gold, niello and glass; and capped by a crook with a decorative openwork crest. The inscriptions on the upper knope record that it was built by "Nechtain the craftsman" and commissioned by Niall mac Meic Aeducain, bishop of Lismore. This makes it the only extant insular crozier to be inscribed, and the only one whose date of origin can be closely approximated. It was rediscovered in 1814, along with the 15th-century Book of Lismore, in a walled-up doorway in Lismore Castle, County Waterford, where it was probably hidden in the late Middle Ages during a period of either religious persecution or raids.
