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Catalogue Details Sir Matthew Digby Wyatt 1820-1877 Marble Pulpit in Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Rome, 1845. Elevations and plan Pencil, watercolours, gouache and white highlights Signed & dated: Wyatt archt. 1845 22.5 x 35.5 cms Literature: Digby Wyatt, Specimens of the Geometrical Mosaic of the Middle Ages, plate 16. Digby Wyatt visited Rome in the Autumn and Spring of 1845. He found the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli a rich source of early Romanesque mosaic work and was particularly interested in the mosaics on this pulpit. This drawing is rendered in fine detail with the small pieces of mosaic being carefully coloured piece by piece Wyatt paints the contrast in materials between marble and mosaic most beautifully giving this image an exceptional quality. Wyatt chose this coloured study for inclusion in his highly claimed book "Specimens of the Geometrical Mosaic of the Middle Ages" 1848, where it is printed in full colour with gold overlay at plate 16. The following text accompanies the plate, "Plate no. 16 is a careful reproduction of one of the marble Pulpits remaining in the interesting church of Sta Maria in Aracoeli, Rome. Though not so elaborate as those of San Lorenzo, these ambones develop in considerable dignity and much beauty the primitive form of these essentials to Christian worship". Wyatt held that, "... mosaic has been made one of the most beautiful as well as the most enduring means of recording the graceful fancies of the architect that human ingenuity has yet devised" On his return home from Europe Digby Wyatt was straight away involved with preparations for the GREAT EXHIBITION of 1851, working with Prince Albert and Henry Cole. Digby Wyatt's drawings of Italian craftsmanship from the middle ages, such as mosaic and tile work, had a profound influence on the next generation of tile designers in Great Britain and his enthusiasm helped to regenerate British manufacturing within these industries He was "... most anxious to disabuse the public mind of the popular notion that there exist great practical difficulties in, and impediments to any attempt to establish this elegant ornament as a general work of British Art". |
