View source for Cosmati

{{short description|Roman artists active in the 12th and 13th centuries}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=May 2022}}

The '''Cosmati''' were a [[Rome|Roman]] family, seven members of which, for four generations, were skilful [[architect]]s, [[sculpture|sculptors]] and workers in decorative geometric [[mosaic]], mostly for church floors.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Cosmati|volume=7|page=214}}</ref> Their name is commemorated in the genre of [[Cosmatesque]] work, often just called "Cosmati", a technique of ''[[opus sectile]]'' ("cut work") formed of elaborate [[inlay]]s of small triangles and rectangles of colored stones and glass [[mosaic]]s set into stone matrices or encrusted upon stone surfaces. Bands, panels and shaped reserves of intricate mosaic alternate with contrasting bands, [[guilloche]]s and simple geometric shapes of plain white marble. Pavements and revetments were executed in Cosmatesque technique, columns were inlaid with fillets and bands, and immovable church furnishings like [[cathedra]]s and ''[[Ambon (liturgy)|ambones]]'' were similarly treated. Initial inspiration for the technique was [[Byzantine art|Byzantine]], transmitted through [[Ravenna]] and [[Sicily]], while some of the minutely-figured tiling patterns are [[Islamic art|Islamic]] in origin, transmitted through [[Sicily]].

In addition, members of the Cosmati engaged in commerce in ancient sculptures, some unearthed in the course of excavating for marbles for reuse. More than one [[ancient Roman sculpture]] has survived with the name of one of these craftsmen incised in it.<ref>P. Fedele (1909). "Sul commercio delle antichità in Roma nel XII secolo". In: ''Archivio della Società Romana di Storia Patria'' 32, p. 465–70, as noted in Robert Weiss (1973). ''The Renaissance Discovery of Classical Antiquity''. Oxford: Blackwell, p. 9.</ref>

The following are the main known Cosmati:

#'''Lorenzo''' (dated works 1190–1210 but probably active earlier)
#'''Jacopo''' (dated works 1205 and 1210)
#'''Cosimo''' (1210–1235)
#'''Luca''' (1221–1240) 
#'''Jacopo'''  (1213–1293)
#'''Deodato''' (1225–1303)
#''' Giovanni''' (1231 and 1235)

[[File:Trono papale 1110759.JPG|thumb|Papal throne and choir-screen in [[San Lorenzo fuori le Mura]], c. 1254]]

The earliest recorded work was executed for a church at Fabieri in 1190 (Lorenzo) (''CE''). The  principal works of the Cosmati in [[Rome]] are: 
*''[[Ambon (liturgy)|ambones]]'' of [[Santa Maria in Aracoeli]] (Lorenzo)
* door at [[San Saba (Rome)|San Saba]], 1205
* door with mosaics at [[San Tommaso in Formis]] (Jacopo)
* [[Sancta Sanctorum (Lateran, Rome)|Chapel of the Sancta Sanctorum]] by the [[Lateran]] (Cosimo)
* pavement of [[San Giacomo alla Lungara]]
* the magnificent episcopal throne and choir-screen in [[San Lorenzo fuori le Mura]], of 1254 (probably Jacopo the younger)
* [[baldachin|''baldacchini'']] of the Lateran and of [[Santa Maria in Cosmedin]], c. 1294 (Deodato)
* [[tomb]]s in [[Santa Maria sopra Minerva]] (c. 1296), in [[Santa Maria Maggiore]], and in [[Santa Balbina]] (Giovanni). 
The chief signed works by Jacopo the younger and his brother Luca are at [[Anagni]] and [[Subiaco, Italy|Subiaco]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

A large number of other works by members and pupils of the same family, but unsigned, exist in Rome. These are mainly [[altar]]s and ''[[Baldachin|baldacchini]]'', [[choir-screen]]s, [[paschal candle|paschal]] [[candlestick]]s, ''ambones'', tombs and the like, all enriched with sculpture and glass mosaic of great brilliance and decorative effect.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Besides the more mechanical sort of work, such as mosaic patterns and architectural decoration, they also produced mosaic pictures and [[sculpture]] of very high merit, especially the recumbent [[effigies]], with [[angels]] standing at the head and foot, in the tombs of Aracoeli, S. Maria Maggiore and elsewhere. One of their finest works is in S. Cesareo; this is a [[marble]] altar richly decorated with mosaic in sculptured panels, and (below) two angels drawing back a curtain (all in marble) so as to expose the open grating of the ''confessio''. The magnificent [[cloister]]s of [[Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls]], built about 1285 by '''Giovanni''', the youngest of the Cosmati, are one of the most beautiful works of this school. The ''baldacchino'' of the same [[basilica]] is a signed work of the Florentine [[Arnolfo di Cambio]], 1285, ''cum suo socio Petro'', probably a pupil of the Cosmati. Other works of Arnolfo, such as the {{Interlanguage link multi|Mausoleum of Cardinal de Braye|it|3=Mausoleo del cardinale De Braye|lt=Braye tomb}} at [[Orvieto]], show an intimate artistic alliance between him and the Cosmati. The equally magnificent cloisters of the Lateran, of about the same date, are very similar in design; both these triumphs of the sculptor-architects and mosaicists work have slender marble columns, twisted or straight, richly inlaid with bands of glass mosaic in delicate and brilliant patterns.<ref name="EB1911"/> In the crypt at [[Anagni]] is the largest section of undisturbed Cosmatesque flooring.

Cosmatesque decoration is not entirely confined to Rome, or even to Italy. At [[Westminster Abbey]] there are two Cosmatesque pavements, the finest north of the Alps<ref>About the [http://www.westminster-abbey.org/visitor/conservation/cosmati.htm "Westminster Abbey: Protecting the ‘End of the World’ Pavement"] on homepage of Westminster Abbey.</ref> set in [[Purbeck Marble]]: one is the Great Pavement before the high altar, the other the paving and decor associated with the shrine of [[Edward the Confessor]] in the Sanctuary, both works executed about 1268 for the connoisseur-king [[Henry III of England|Henry III]]. They are extremely unusual in England: more characteristic luxury flooring in England consisted of lead-glazed ceramic tiles painted in patterns. This mosaic is depicted in [[Hans Holbein the Younger|Hans Holbein]]'s ''[[The Ambassadors (Holbein)|The Ambassadors]]''.

The general style of works of the Cosmati school is more closely related to [[Romanesque art]], even though some of the buildings they worked in are [[Gothic architecture|Gothic]], as in their main lines are their larger structures, especially in the elaborate altar-canopies, with their pierced geometrical tracery. In detail, however, they differ widely from the purer Gothic of northern countries. The richness of effect which the English or French architect obtained by elaborate and carefully worked mouldings was produced in Italy by the beauty of polished marbles and jewel-like mosaics; the details being mostly rather coarse and often carelessly executed.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Ecclesiastical patronage in Rome dried up with the removal of the [[Avignon Papacy|Papacy to Avignon]] in 1305, and by the time the curial court had returned and the ensuing schism had been settled [[Council of Constance|a hundred years later]], the craft tradition had lapsed. The differential resistance of the stones used in Cosmati work, marbles, [[Porphyry (geology)|porphyry]] and other coloured stones has resulted in uneven wear on pavements, which have been periodically repaired, whether finely or coarsely, since the late Middle Ages, with the result that modern assessments of the quality of individual works may be compromised by overlooking later repairs.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Cattedrale di Anagni - 4211OP7186.jpg|Largest surviving floor by the Cosmati in the crypt of [[Anagni Cathedral]]
Mosaic on Church of San Tommaso in Formis.jpg|Mosaic by Lorenzo Cosmati depicting [[Jesus|Christ]] between two freed slaves with the symbol of the [[Trinitarians|Trinitarian Order]], over the portal of [[San Tommaso in Formis]], 1210
Lugnano in Teverina, Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta, interno, veduta della schola cantorum 2.jpg|Cosmati [[pulpit]] and floor in Santa Maria Assunta in [[Lugnano in Teverina]]
TerracinaDuomoInternoPavimentoCosmatesco1.jpg|Uneven worn pavement, central nave of the [[Terracina Cathedral|Duomo di San Cesareo]] in [[Terracina]], southeast of [[Rome]]
Gaeta, Basilica Cattedrale - Prospetto del presbiterio.jpg|[[Presbyterium]] of Cathedral in [[Gaeta]]
Original mosacics and coronation circle Westminster Abbey London England.jpg|Original mosaics and coronation circle of [[Westminster Abbey]], London
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Literature==
{{Commons category|Cosmatesque pavements|Cosmati floor}}
*[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04405b.htm "Cosmati Mosaic"] in the ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (1908).
*Dorothy Glass (1984).<sup>?</sup>
*Linda Grant and Richard Mortimer (2002). ''Westminster Abbey: The Cosmati Pavements''. [[The Courtauld Institute of Art|Courtauld Institute]] Research Papers, No. 3. [https://web.archive.org/web/20051217194347/http://www.nexusjournal.com/reviews_v5n2-Sharp.html Online review] 
*Paloma Pajarez-Ayuela (2001). ''Cosmatesque Ornament: Flat Polychrome Geometric Patterns in Architecture''. London and New York: WW Norton. [https://web.archive.org/web/20051228085311/http://www.nexusjournal.com/reviews_v5n2-Williams.html Online review]

[[Category:12th-century Italian sculptors]]
[[Category:13th-century Italian sculptors]]
[[Category:Medieval Rome]]
[[Category:Mosaic artists]]