Cosmats

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Typical Cosmaten floor in Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome

As Cosmati a group of marble decorators active between the 12th and 14th centuries are called. The cosmats were mainly active in the interior decoration of churches in Rome . With their incrustations they adorned floors, choir screens , pulpits , altars and bishops' chairs.

Her art was influenced by ancient models and Arabic ornamental patterns in southern Italy. The art of inlay was often passed on from father to son within the family. The name "Kosmaten" goes back to Kosmas, the progenitor of the family, and eventually became the name of the entire art style. This also applies to the term cosmata work or "Cosmatesca" ("Cosmatesque") for the mosaic work.

In isolated cases the cosmats also worked outside Italy, for example some of the grave monuments in Westminster Abbey in London and a mosaic in the Romanesque cathedral at Gurk in Carinthia were made by them.

Examples of churches with cosmatic work in Rome:

Web links

Commons : Cosmata Mosaics  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • Dorothy F. Glass: Studies on cosmatesque Pavements (= British Archaeological Reports. International Series. Vol. 82). BAR, Oxford 1980, ISBN 0-86054-100-2 .
  • Peter Cornelius Claussen : Magistri Doctissimi Romani. The Roman marble artists of the Middle Ages (= Corpus Cosmatorum. Vol. 1 = Research on art history and Christian archeology. Vol. 14). Steiner, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-515-04242-3 .
  • Peter Cornelius Claussen: The churches of the city of Rome in the Middle Ages 1050-1300 , Stuttgart, Steiner 2002ff. (= Corpus Cosmatorum. Vol. 2, 1ff. = Research on art history and Christian archeology. Vol. 20ff.)