The Great PavementThe Divine Order of the Universe | Process | Setting | The Arts of Geometry | Text |
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The Divine Order of the Universe
In London, in 1259, the newly elected Abbot of Westminster, Richard de Ware, was sent to Rome for confirmation of his post. There he discovered the decorative marble work of the Roman Cosmati family. This made such an impression upon de Ware that he arranged for craftsmen and precious marbles to be brought to London from Italy, and thus was begun work on the sanctuary pavement before the high altar of Westminster Abbey. The Great Pavement was completed in 1268. It is the only work of its kind north of the alps, and the only known piece of Cosmati opus sectile work with text. I went to look for this pavement in London in the summer of 1998, although this search had actually begun many years ago during my years in Italy. At that time, lengthy stays in Rome admiring Baroque and Mannerist work also exposed me to the lovely Romanesque basilicas with their wonderful Cosmati opus sectile pavements and cloister columns. My working methods have always consisted of research and information-gathering on topics of interest, with materials sometimes being filed away for several years before actually being incorporated into a body of work. Documents and images collected over time formed a base on which to build when my interests at last shifted to the twelfth century. The forerunners of the Great Pavement were a set of four large nylon and net panels that made up part of the 1997 S.S. Giovanni e Giacomo exhibit held at the Gallery of Mississauga. These panels represent the incised patterns in the cloister columns of the Monreale Duomo, a twelfth-century Arab-Norman cathedral in Sicily that I visited subsequently to the exhibit. The net columns were the first geometric-based works of my career. The study of the patterning led me to much earlier research on Cosmati pavements and I came across a fabulous book, Patterns of Thought, by Richard Foster, in which the iconography of the Westminster Abbey sanctuary pavement was explored in detail. |
I begin a project because it draws me, and only after the initial commitment has been made do I then try to fathom its meaning and significance. The Norman rule in Sicily fascinated me with its political, artistic and cultural synthesis of Christian and Arab traditions. The Monreale Duomo was built under the rule of William II in 1174. At approximately the same time in England, such outstanding examples of Norman architecture as Durham Cathedral, Winchester, Malmsbury and the earlier parts of Westminster Abbey were taking form. The spirit of these strong, spare monuments travelled south with the Norman conquerors, and joined with pre-existing Arab traditions of architecture and design to create the distinctive Arab-Norman style. The ornamental marble work of the Roman Cosmati that had so impressed Richard de Ware, meanwhile, graced Norman structures throughout both their English and their Sicilian kingdoms. The artistic impulses of these wandering warriors created the link between the country of my birth and my adopted land. Who knows what it is that ultimately prompts one to pursue a particular artistic choice over so many others? In the case of the Great Pavement, I can only suggest the sheer beauty of this stone carpet, its unification of two important countries and the fascinating period in history to which it belongs. |