It is noticeable that even the earliest miniatures of Saint Thomas' death represent him in Mass vestments, officiating at the High Altar, whereas he was really killed late in the afternoon, and on the north side of the church.
See Vetusta Monumenta, Vol. VI. pp. 1 to 37, and Plates 26 to 39; illustrations are given here of "the Painted Chamber" and its decorations before the fire of 1834, and a number of interesting extracts are quoted from the accounts now preserved in the Record Office.
The Gestes of Antioch probably means the capture of Antioch in 1098 under the Crusader leaders Tancred and Godfrey of Bouillon. In the same way the "Jerusalem" and "Jericho chambers" in the house of the Abbot of Westminster were so called from the paintings on their walls. The curious "archaism" of these paintings, with figures of knights in the armour of the eleventh century, is explained below; see page [128].
See, for example, that wonderful frontal, covered with miniature paintings, from the High Altar of Westminster Abbey, which is now preserved in the south ambulatory of the Sanctuary.
Various attempts have been made to show that Torell was an Italian, and that the painted retable at Westminster was the work of a foreign artist, but there is not the slightest foundation for either of these theories.