Work #70
Effigy of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of Henry II of England, from Fontevrault Abbey
Unknown Artists, Early 13th century, cast c.1852-4
Plaster cast with restored pigmentation
(On loan from the Victoria and Albert Museum, given by the Trustees of the Crystal Palace)
IN A DREAM YOU SAW A WAY TO SURVIVE AND YOU WERE FULL OF JOY, curated by Turner Prize winning artist Elizabeth Price, encompasses a wide range of works dealing with the reclining or recumbent body. The plaster cast copy of the effigy of Eleanor of Aquitaine dates to between 1852-4, and is one of a number of horizontal works that represent the act of mourning. It is currently on loan from the Victoria and Albert museum.
Full-length effigies, known as a ‘gisants’ (French for ‘recumbent’), were common in the high and later middle ages as funerary monuments for the nobility and royalty in churches. Lying on her deathbed with her head propped up and an open prayer book in her hands, the effigy of the deceased queen straddles the line between living and dead, and hints at the eternal life which she and her contemporaries would have hoped for. Indeed, as well as serving as a focal point of remembrance for high ranking individuals, effigies such as this would have served as shrines at which prayers could be offered to speed the soul of the deceased from Purgatory and into Heaven.
Despite being in her late eighties when she died, the style of the time was to present idealistic representations of individuals, hence why her features conform to standards of beauty and royalty at the time. The Queen is depicted wearing a dress that would have been painted in bright colours, and over the wimple that was a common accessory of the time, sits the crown that defined her. The original effigy was carved from alabaster and sits alongside an effigy to her second husband, King Henry II, and one of her sons, King Richard I (commonly known by his epithet, ‘the Lionheart’) in Fontevrault Abbey, France. The effigy of Eleanor shows traces of a bright blue pigment on her robes, whilst her dress underneath would have been carved with intricate patterns. This aim to recapture the vibrancy and colour of life - to make it appear as though the queen herself was lying recumbent - stems from earlier funerary practices, where the corpses of royalty and nobility would be dressed in splendour and put on public display. Despite attempts at preservation, the cadaver would inevitably start to putrefy, occasionally resulting in the body exploding in situ. Earlier stone effigies from the medieval period often included actual hair and teeth from the deceased. These effigies served as earthly reminders of the people they represented, their wealth and prestige, and of a society which had to confront death more frequently than our own.
The high quality of the sculpture hints at the status Eleanor had during her life. The heir to the vast holdings of Aquitaine in the west of France, Eleanor was married off to the future King of France, Louis VII. Eleanor accompanied her husband on the second Crusade, where tension between the married couple grew. Following a disastrous campaign, which resulted in the crusading forces being massacred by a Turkish army as they marched to relieve the siege of Acre, Eleanor returned home and procured an annulment, marrying Henry of Anjou only two months later. When her new husband ascended the English throne in 1154 as Henry II, Eleanor went from being Queen of France to Queen of England. In an often explosive marriage, Eleanor had to manage the ambitions of her sons with that of her husband, which culminated in Eleanor being imprisoned by her husband for fifteen years. Upon Henry’s death, Eleanor was released by her son, King Richard as one of his first acts in power. Still active late in life, she underwent an arduous journey to Castile in her late seventies in order to negotiate a marriage proposal, and was even briefly held captive by an ambitious lord. She retired to Fontevrault abbey, where she died in 1204.
The effigy to Eleanor of Aquitaine does little to hint at the incredible life she lived, but the nineteenth century plaster-cast copy of the original does underline the enduring fascination about her. The plaster cast has been hand painted in order to reproduce some of the qualities of the original. It is, in many ways, a monument to a monument; a celebration of the craftsmanship involved in carving the original alabaster effigy. The fact that the original craftsmen are nameless, as are the nineteenth century plasterers, hints at a connection between the two sets of artists who were working 600 years apart.
The effigy of Eleanor of Aquitaine can be seen in Elizabeth Price Curates: IN A DREAM YOU SAW A WAY TO SURVIVE AND YOU WERE FULL OF JOY until 31st October 2016
Matthew Mullen (Visitor Team Assistant)
Photos by Jack Makin (Visitor Team Assistant)
Further Reading:
Helen Castor – She-Wolves: The Women who Ruled England before Elizabeth (2010)
Mark Duffy – Royal Tombs of Medieval England (2011)
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