Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 3.djvu/230

202 of taste were irremediably checked, and never again appeared in their original strength; at the same time, remarkable examples of science or skill in the mechanism of Art were occasionally produced. The statue of the Black Prince in Canterbury cathedral is a splendid memorial of the ability of the age, and it is as successful a work of its character, in metal, as could have been produced. This statue was gilt, and some of the accessories were tastefully enamelled.

The statue of Edward III., in Westminster Abbey, is a very dignified specimen of Art, and, with the statue of Edward of Hatfield, in the same church, is worthy to be placed in rank with the productions of the best period of English Sculpture. I have not been able to discover the names of the artists who executed either of these works. Amongst those employed in St. Stephen's chapel, mention is made of Michael, a sculptor, and of the following painters, Master Walter, John de Sonnington, Roger de Winchester, and John de Carlisle. About the time of Henry VII., the prevalent character of Sculpture was vigorous, and, although rude in execution, it was by no means deficient in feeling or expression.

The effigies of bronze, representing Richard H. and Anne of Bohemia his consort, were fabricated, A.D. 1395, by Nicholas Broker and Godfrey Brest, citizens and coppersmiths of London, who also provided the enamelled scutcheons, and other decorative accessories. The fine altar-tomb of Corfe marble was sculptured by Henry Yevele and Stephen Lote, masons of London.

By a document published in Rymer's Fœdera, under the year 1408, we find that British artists had even acquired a character on the continent. Thomas Colyne, Thomas Holewell, and Thomas Poppehowe, obtained from Henry IV. a safe conduct, in order to carry over to Brittany an alabaster monument, which they had executed to the memory of John IV., duke of Brittany, deceased A.D. 1399, and they erected it in the cathedral at Nantes. This work was performed by direction of the queen, Joan of Navarre, who had been the consort of the duke of Brittany, previously to her marriage with Henry. A still more extraordinary fact has been noticed by the historian Henry, recorded in another document given by Rymer, that Richard II, granted to Cosmo Gentilis, the pope's collector in England, at a period even when Art was returning on Italy