The Westminster Retable: a Study in English Gothic Panel Painting (Edward I).

The Westminster Retable is the most important surviving thirteenth-century panel painting in northern Europe. In both its paintings and its decorative elements the Retable is a superb example of the sophisticated Anglo-French style which dominated the second half of the century. From this especially fecund period the Westminster Retable alone remains to testify to the high level of achievement in panel painting in both Engl and and France, and to represent in this medium a style which was influential from Italy to Sc and inavia. However, largely because of its deteriorated condition, the Westminster Retable has received insufficient scholarly attention. Discovered in Westminster Abbey in 1725, this undocumented work, undoubtedly intended for the royal abbey, dates to the reign of Edward I. Iconographically unique, the Westminster Retable represents an important stage in the development of the image of Christ as Salvator Mundi. Rare narrative scenes of miracles from the Public Life of Christ reinforce the tone of hope and optimism evident in the central images of Christ, holding an orb painted with a miniature l and scape, and the palm-bearing figures of the Virgin and John the Evangelist. As complex in its technique as it is in its subject matter, the Westminster Retable incorporates imitation gems, cameos, and enamels (made of glass, paste, and paint) evoking the splendor of precious reliquaries to frame the delicate paintings done in an oil medium. The specific function of the panel has been questioned on the basis of these inexpensive materials and the iconography, but when the Retable is examined in the more comprehensive context of altarpiece design in western Europe, features of its style, technique, format, and subject matter can be better understood. Only then can the Westminster Retable's significant role in the development of panel painting in the North be fully appreciated.PhDArt historyUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/160992/1/8612575.pd