30:
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630:, London, whence it was installed after being bought at the Paris Exhibition of 1954. This image still carries numerous traces of its original polychromy, such as the characteristic "daisy pattern" against a dark green ground on the base, red and blue in the garment folds and gilding on the crown and mantle fastenings. This image is very similar stylistically to one found buried in the churchyard of Broughton-in-Craven and may have been from the same workshop. Over a dozen English alabaster statues of the Madonna and Child have been traced, mostly recovered from France; the smallest is 16 inches high up to size of the Westminster statue.
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about 20 inches or 50 cm high, from sets for altarpieces, which could be transported relatively easily, and fitted into a locally-made architectural surround of stone or wood on arrival at their destination. These were attractive for less wealthy churches, and for the private chapels of the nobility. Some complete ensembles survive, showing varied numbers of panels; the dimensions of the
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retain in situ their
English alabaster altarpieces, unlike England, where survivals are extremely rare. The sculptures were normally brightly painted, sometimes all over, sometimes partially, but much of the paint has often been lost, and many pieces have had the rest completely removed by dealers, collectors or museums in the past. Most alabaster altarpieces and religious carvings other than
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ordering the destruction of all images. Indeed, eight months after this act, in
January 1550 the English Ambassador to France reported the arrival of three English ships laden with alabaster images to be sold at Paris, Rouen and elsewhere. Whether these were new images, or ones removed from English
90:
Throughout the period of their production
Nottingham alabaster images were hugely popular in Europe and were exported in large quantities, some ending up as far afield as Iceland, Croatia and Poland. But by far the greatest export market for these images was in France, where even today some churches
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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
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and various impurities, is much softer and easier to work than marble and a good material for mass production, though not suitable for outdoors use. Carvings were made as single figures, assemblies for tomb monuments, including full length effigies, but the most common survivals are panels, up to
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The industry survived on a smaller scale supplying church monuments, increasingly produced by academically trained sculptors, until the falling price of marble and exhaustion of most
English quarries made alabaster increasingly rare as a material for English sculptors by the late 18th century.
303:, 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. Exports, as of the better documented contemporary export trade in
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The execution of this order cost £200 and required 10 carts, 80 horses, and 20 men to transport it to its destination. The journey occupied seventeen days in the autumn of 1367, and the expenses of transport amounted to £30. The church at
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hold the two principal collections of
Nottingham Alabaster in the United Kingdom. The collection in Nottingham includes three alabaster figures, representing The Virgin Mary, St. Peter, and a bishop. These were discovered on the site of
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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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is a term used to refer to the
English sculpture industry, mostly of relatively small religious carvings, which flourished from the fourteenth century until the early sixteenth century.
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which is more often found, and with the
Madonna and Child, is often a larger free-standing statue – such as the Westminster example. Other subjects include saint's lives, including
364:, the subject of a popular devotional cult from the second half of the 15th century right up to the Reformation, which involved fasting on Wednesdays to obtain specific graces.
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Spain had the next largest medieval alabaster industry, whose pieces are not always easily distinguished from
English work, but pieces were also produced in France, the
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Many statues were smaller than this, but there are a number of larger ones. An example of a much larger statue, three feet high and free-standing but flat-backed, is
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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.
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From the middle of the sixteenth century, workshops focused instead on sculpting alabaster tombs or church monuments, which were not affected by
Protestant
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of the balance of 300 marks for a table (altar piece) of alabaster made by him and placed upon the High Altar within the
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illustrated are typical. The subjects were the same as in painted altarpieces, often including short cycles of the
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in continental churches. There are complete altarpieces with a series of scenes in the museum of the Cathedral in
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icons, though these are not necessarily direct influences, and was probably associated with the dedication of
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contains an especially fine sequence of tombs of the Vernon family spanning the 15th and 16th centuries.
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Die englischen Alabastermadonnen des Späten Mittelalters, Karin Land, Düsseldorf University Press 2011,
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enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury from a Nottingham alabaster in the Victoria & Albert Museum
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were decorated with distinctive daisy patterns often against a dark-green ground. Moulded and gilded
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The sculpture industry evolved to produce two main forms, panels and statues. Thin panels carved in
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English Mediaeval Alabasters: With a catalogue of the collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum,
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English Medieval Alabasters: With a Catalogue of the Collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum,
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52:, and many probably worked very close to the rural mines, but the largest concentration was around
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Out of the Land of Ice and Fire: Icelandic Immigrants in the Midlands During the Fifteenth Century
99:, after which the many workshops had to change their products to concentrate on church monuments.
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The alabaster used in the industry was quarried largely in the area around South Derbyshire near
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The subjects of the sculptors were the usual content of altarpieces, most often scenes from the
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56:. This has led to all the English medieval output being referred to as "Nottingham alabaster".
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panel, ca 1400, using a composition previously found in French ivories. H. 37.5 cm (14
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The Alabaster Images of Medieval England (Museum of London Medieval Finds (1150–1450),
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The Records of the Borough of Nottingham, Nottingham, Thomas Forman & Sons, 1914
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Fifteenth-century altarpiece set, with contemporary frame and well-preserved paint
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and elsewhere, and nine panels. The theme combines elements of the Western
735:, Patrick Rogers, p. 37, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2003,
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in south-western France is an example of a five-panel set that remains
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Medieval English Alabaster Carvings in the Castle Museum Nottingham,
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Alabaster religious images in English churches may have survived the
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346:. There is a subject apparently unique to English alabasters, the
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695:, p. 514-515, Royal Academy/Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 1987
25:, panel from an altarpiece set, 1450–90, with remains of the paint
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The Spanish were the other main medieval carvers of alabaster in
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There are panels showing scenes from the life of Thomas Beckett:
384:. There are five examples of free-standing statues known, in the
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An exceptionally large Virgin & Child (36 in high) known as
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762:, City of Nottingham art Galleries and Museums Committee, 1973
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Nigel Ramsay in: Jonathan Alexander & Paul Binski (eds),
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and, exceptionally, the V&A has a fine detached head of
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The Alabaster Men: Sacred Images From Medieval England,
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Age of Chivalry, Art in Plantagenet England, 1200–1400
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in the 1530s, but most did not survive the reign of
146:. The craftsmen were known by various names such as
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The Martyrdom of St. Thomas from the British Museum
199:tomb monuments were the mainstay of the industry.
195:Monument to Edmund Brudenell, d.1590. After the
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422:The consecration of Thomas Becket as Archbishop
376:apparently unique to English alabaster is the "
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732:Westminster Cathedral: From Darkness to Light
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272:which were mounted in a wooden framework as
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124:in.), W. 26 cm (10 in.), D. 4.5 cm (1
95:remaining in England were destroyed in the
804:, Second Edition, The Boydell Press 2005,
213:Putting away of Books and Images Act 1549
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280:with closeable doors. The 15th-century
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721:, Scott C. Lomax, Midland History, 2023
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414:Scenes from the life of Thomas Beckett
179:free Chapel of Saint George of Windsor
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653:, pp. 582-583, 1999, Allen Lane,
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651:England's Thousand Best Churches
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205:Dissolution of the Monasteries
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670:Apollo and the Muses, V&A
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594:St. Peter's Church, Flawford
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554:Saint George and the Dragon
490:The Martyrdom of St. Thomas
435:The Martyrdom of St. Thomas
390:Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
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368:Bosom of Abraham Trinities
250:Detail of the tomb of Sir
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599:Some pieces, such as the
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589:Nottingham Castle Museum
496:Other panels and statues
378:Bosom of Abraham Trinity
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832:V&A feature on the
620:Our Lady of Westminster
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570:Our Lady of Westminster
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320:Nailloux Altarpiece
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885:English sculpture
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775:978-0-7148-8014-3
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252:Ralph Fitzherbert
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260:high relief
855:Gothic art
850:Nottingham
844:Categories
407:All Saints
144:Chellaston
54:Nottingham
880:Alabaster
297:alabaster
221:aniconism
81:, or the
60:Alabaster
42:Alabaster
278:triptych
158:marblers
112:Nativity
69:Nativity
750:Sources
605:in situ
603:remain
538:Trinity
536:. This
429:in 1164
372:A rare
307:of the
286:in situ
264:Passion
153:kervers
140:Tutbury
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103:History
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401:Pokrov
160:, and
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242:Forms
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587:and
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46:York
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