| Contents |
Volume 1. The Pavements. -- 1. The cosmatesque pavements and monuments: introduction and context -- 2. Historiography and the antiquarian record -- 3. The sanctuary and high altar pavements: past interventions, damage and repair -- 4. Description of the sanctuary pavement -- 5. Surveying, analyzing and evaluating the sanctuary and high altar pavements -- 6. Conservation and repair of the sanctuary pavement by Vanessa Simeoni -- 7. St Edward the Confessor's chapel pavement -- 8. Materials employed in the pavements and monuments -- Volume 2. The Royal Tombs -- 9. St Edward's chapel and the context of the shrine -- 10. The shrine-tomb of St Edward the Confessor, I: description and primary fabric -- 11. The shrine-tomb of St Edward the Confessor, II: Tudor reconstruction and later history -- 12. Tomb of King Henry III -- 13. Child's tomb in the south ambulatory -- 14. Related monuments and furnishings -- 15. The Westminster mosaic assemblage: summary, assessment and dating -- Appendix 1. The shrine in the records by Matthew Payne: Archival references ; Chronicles -- Appendix 2. Quantification of tesserae in the mosaic pavements and monuments. |
| Summary |
Westminster Abbey contains the only surviving medieval Cosmatesque mosaics outside Italy. They comprise: the 'Great Pavement' in the sanctuary; the pavement around the shrine of Edward the Confessor; the saint's tomb and shrine; Henry III's tomb; the tomb of a royal child, and some other pieces. Surprisingly, the mosaics have never before received detailed recording and analysis, either individually or as an assemblage. These two volumes present a holistic study of this outstanding group of monuments in their historical architectural and archaeological context. The shrine of St Edward is a remarkable survival, having been dismantled at the Dissolution and re-erected (incorrectly) in 1557 under Queen Mary. Large areas of missing mosaic were replaced with plaster on to which mosaic designs were carefully painted. This 16th-century fictive mosaic is unique in Britain. Conservation of the sanctuary pavement was accompanied by full archaeological recording with every piece of mosaic decoration drawn and coloured by David Neal, phase plans have been prepared, and stone-by-stone examination undertaken, petrologically identifying and recording the locations of all the materials present. It has revealed that both the pavements and tombs include a range of exotic stone types. The Cosmati study has shed fresh light on every aspect of the unique series of monuments in Westminster Abbey; this work will fill a major lacuna in our knowledge of 13th-century English art of the first rank, and will command international interest. |
| General note | Four leaves of colored illustrations tipped in. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 661-668) and index. |
| Access restriction | Available only to authorized users. |
| Technical details | Mode of access: World Wide Web |
| Issued in other form | Electronic version: Rodwell, Warwick. Cosmatesque mosaics of Westminster abbey. Oxford ; Philadelphia : Oxbow, 2019 9781789252354 |
| Genre/form | Electronic books. |
| LCCN | 2019939193 |
| ISBN | 9781789252347 (2 volume set hardback) |
| ISBN | 1789252342 (2 volume set hardback) |
