Alabaster


The sculpture industry evolved to produce two main forms, panels and statues. Many statues were smaller than this, but there are a number of larger ones.

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An example of a much larger statue, three feet high and free-standing but flat-backed, is Our Lady of Westminster , now in London but found by the art trade in France. The discovery in of a headless but stylistically almost identical alabaster image, buried in the churchyard of All Saints, Broughton, Craven , suggests that, as was apparently usually the case, the statue was a standard model repeated several times by the workshop, and probably produced for stock rather than upon receipt of a particular commission.

ADDITIONAL MEDIA

Exports, as of the better documented contemporary export trade in icons of the Cretan school , were usually made in bulk for sale to dealers, who then found buyers locally. Most surviving examples have lost much of their paintwork, but the colouring of the carvings was an integral part of the production. Colouring was usually very vivid, with robes being painted in scarlets and blues, hair and accoutrements such as crowns and sceptres were often gilded, and landscapes were decorated with distinctive daisy patterns often against a dark-green ground. Moulded and gilded gesso was also used to give extra richness to the carvings which would need to be brightly coloured, as mostly they would only be seen at a distance by candlelight.

The subjects of the sculptors were the usual content of altarpieces, most often scenes from the Life of Christ or Life of the Virgin.

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There is a subject apparently unique to English alabasters, the Bosom of Abraham Trinity , a variant of the Throne of Mercy which is more often found, and with the Madonna and Child, is often a larger free-standing statue — such as the Westminster example. A rare iconography apparently unique to English alabaster is the " Bosom of Abraham Trinity ", where in a composition of the "Throne of Mercy" type, a group of tiny figures are seen in a napkin held or supported between the hands of God the Father.

The theme combines elements of the Western Virgin of Mercy and the Russian Pokrov icons, though these are not necessarily direct influences, and was probably associated with the dedication of All Saints. The Spanish were the other main medieval carvers of alabaster in medieval Europe. This Trinity is either English or Spanish. An unusually refined statue of Saint George and the Dragon.

Related Words

The alabaster sculptors were so successful that it developed into an important export trade. Work is still to be found in churches and museums across Europe, and appears in such far flung locations as Croatia, Iceland and Poland.

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Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving, and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the. Alabaster, fine-grained, massive gypsum that has been used for centuries for statuary, carvings, and other ornaments. Alabaster (gypsum), also a sedimentary rock, is a chemical deposit. The fine-grained massive variety called alabaster is carved and polished for statuary and.

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Florence, Livorno , and Milan, in Italy , and Berlin are important centres of the alabaster trade. The alabaster of the ancients was a brown or yellow onyx marble. We welcome suggested improvements to any of our articles. You can make it easier for us to review and, hopefully, publish your contribution by keeping a few points in mind. Your contribution may be further edited by our staff, and its publication is subject to our final approval.

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The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Learn More in these related Britannica articles: Alabaster gypsum , also a sedimentary rock, is a chemical deposit. Many varieties of sandstone and limestone, which vary greatly in quality and suitability for carving, are used for sculpture. See our privacy policy.

Nottingham alabaster

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