The Cosmati were a Roman family, seven members of which, for four generations, were skilful architects, sculptors and workers in mosaic. Their name is commemorated in the genre of Cosmatesque technique a form of opus sectile ("cut work") formed of elaborate inlays of small triangles and rectangles of colored stones and glass mosaics set into stone matrices or encrusted upon stone surfaces. Bands, panels and shaped reserves of intricate mosaic alternate with contrasting bands, guilloches 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 cathedras and ambones were similarly treated. City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC mythical, 1st millennium BC Region Latium Mayor Walter Veltroni (Left-Wing Democrats) Area  - City Proper  1285 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2. ... Architect at his drawing board, 1893 An architect is a person involved in the planning, designing and oversight of a buildings construction. ... A sculpture is a three-dimensional, man-made object selected for special recognition as art. ... Mosaic is the art of decoration with small pieces of colored glass, stone or other material. ... During Mediaeval ages, in the 12th and 13th centuries, many marble workers created their pieces taking their marble from ancient Roman ruins, and composing the fragments in geometrical decorations. ... Mosaic is the art of decoration with small pieces of colored glass, stone or other material. ... A Guilloché or engine turning pattern is an ornamental pattern formed of two or more curved bands that interlace to repeat a circular design, most commonly seen on banknotes. ... The cathedra of the Pope in the apse of St. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...

The following are the names and dates of Cosmati known from existing inscriptions:

1. Lorenzo (dated works 1190–1210)
2. Jacopo (dated works 1205 and 1210)
3. Cosimo (1210-1235)
4. Luca (1221-1240)
5. Jacopo (1213-1293)
6. Deodato (1225-1303)
7. Giovanni (1231 and 1235)

The earliest recorded work was executed for a church at Fabieri in 1190 (Lorenzo) (CE). The principal works of the Cosmati in Rome are: ambones of Santa Maria in Aracoeli (Lorenzo); door of Santa Saba, 1205, and door with mosaics of San Tommaso in Formis (Jacopo); chapel of the Sancta Sanctorum, by the Lateran (Cosimo); pavement of San Jacopo alla Lungara, and (probably) the magnificent episcopal throne and choir-screen in San Lorenzo fuori le Mura, of 1254 (Jacopo the younger); baldacchini of the Lateran and of S. Maria in Cosmedin, c. 1294 (Adeodato); tombs in Santa Maria sopra Minerva (c. 1296), in Santa Maria Maggiore, and in S. Balbina (Giovanni). The chief signed works by Jacopo the younger and his brother Luca are at Anagni and Subiaco. City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC mythical, 1st millennium BC Region Latium Mayor Walter Veltroni (Left-Wing Democrats) Area  - City Proper  1285 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2. ... Facade of Santa Maria in Aracoeli with the monumental ladder The basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli is on the Campidoglio, in Rome. ... Late Baroque façade of the Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano, completed after a competition for the design by Alessandro Galilei in 1735 Lateran and Laterano are the shared names of several architectural projects throughout Rome and Vatican City. ... The Basilica di San Lorenzo fuori le Mura is a shrine to the martyred Roman deacon, Saint Lawrence. ... A tomb is a small building (or vault) for the remains of the dead, with walls, a roof, and (if it is to be used for more than one corpse) a door. ... Facade of Santa maria sopra Minerva. ... Saint Mary Major, in Italian, Santa Maria Maggiore, is one of the five great ancient basilicas of Rome, Italy. ... Anagni, (Latin Anagnia) is an ancient town in Latium, Italy, in the hills east-southeast of Rome, famous for its connections with the papacy and for the picturesque monuments of its unspoiled historical center. ... Subiaco is a city in the Province of Rome, in Lazio, Italy, twenty-five miles from Tivoli alongside the river Aniene. ...

A large number of other works by members and pupils of the same family, but unsigned, exist in Rome. These are mainly altars and baldacchini, choir-screens, paschal candlesticks, ambones, tombs and the like, all enriched with sculpture and glass mosaic of great brilliance and decorative effect. An ancient Roman altar PROTESTANTISM RULES!!! An altar is any structure upon which sacrifices or other offerings are offered for religious purposes. ... The Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller at Rhodes under a canopy of estate, on a dais: there is a cushion under his feet A baldachin, baldachino or baldacchino is a canopy of state over an altar or throne, It had its beginnings as a cloth canopy, but in other... Paschal is the taken name of two popes and two antipopes: Antipope Paschal (687) Pope Paschal I (817-824) Pope Paschal II (1099-1118) Antipope Paschal III (1164-1168) Paschal may also be used as an adjective (from Pascha, Easter) to describe various Easter- and Passover-related observances and events... This article should be split into multiple articles accessible from a disambiguation page. ...

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 cloisters of S. Paolo fuori le Mura, 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 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. In the crypt at Anagni is the largest section of undisturbed Cosmatesque flooring. A sculpture is a three-dimensional, man-made object selected for special recognition as art. ... An effigy is a rough representation of a person, for example a George Bush or Guy Fawkes made of straw and old clothing. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Marble For the glass spheres, see marbles. ... Cloister of Saint Trophimus, in Arles, France A cloister (from latin claustrum) is part of cathedrals and abbeys architecture. ... The Basilica of Saint Peter is the largest church in Christianity and often used by the Pope. ... The tabernacle over the high altar of St. ... Braye can refer to: Braye River, a river in France Braye is also the name or part of the name of several communes in France: Braye, in the Aisne département Braye-en-Laonnois, in the Aisne département Braye-en-Thiérache, in the Aisne département Braye-sous-Faye, in the Indre... The site of Orvieto is an Etruscan acropolis. ... Anagni, (Latin Anagnia) is an ancient town in Latium, Italy, in the hills east-southeast of Rome, famous for its connections with the papacy and for the picturesque monuments of its unspoiled historical center. ...

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 [1] 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. They are extremely unusual in England: more characteristic luxury flooring in England consisted of lead-glazed ceramic tiles painted in patterns. The Abbeys western façade The Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster, which is almost always referred to as Westminster Abbey, is a mainly Gothic church, on the scale of a cathedral, in Westminster, London, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. ... Purbeck is a local government district in Dorset, England, named for the Isle of Purbeck. ... Edward the Confessor or Eadweard III (c. ... Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272) is one of the least-known British monarchs, considering the great length of his reign. ...

The general style of works of the Cosmati school is Gothic in its main lines, 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. See also Gothic art. ...

Initial inspiration for the technique was Byzantine, transmitted through Ravenna and Sicily, but some of the minutely-figured tiling patterns are Islamic in origin, transmitted through Sicily. Ravenna is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. ... Sicilian disambiguates here; see also Sicilian language or Sicilian Defence. ... Sicilian disambiguates here; see also Sicilian language or Sicilian Defence. ...

Ecclesiastical patronage in Rome dried up with the removal of the Papacy to Avignon in 1305, and by the time the curial court had returned and the ensuing schism had been settled, the craft tradition had lapsed. The differential resistance of the stones used in Cosmati work, marbles, porphyry and other colored 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. The Papal palace in Avignon In the history of the Roman Catholic Church, the Avignon Papacy was the period from 1305 to 1378 during which the Bishop of Rome, the Pope, lived in Avignon (now a part of France) rather than in Rome. ...

See also: Cosmatesque During Mediaeval ages, in the 12th and 13th centuries, many marble workers created their pieces taking their marble from ancient Roman ruins, and composing the fragments in geometrical decorations. ...

References

• Catholic Encyclopedia 1908: "Cosmati Mosaic"
• Dorothy Glass, 1984.
• Linda Grant and Richard Mortimer, 2002. Westminster Abbey: The Cosmati Pavements Courtauld Institute Research Papers, 3. On-line review
• Paloma Pajarez-Ayuela, 2001. Cosmatesque Ornament: Flat Polychrome Geometric Patterns in Architecture (london and New York: WW Norton) On-line review
• "Westminster Abbey: Protecting the ‘end of the world’ Pavement"

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