Muskets, crossbows, saddles, coats of mail, knives, scissors, and many other objects in steel have been made in Spain from the earliest periods, and many Spanish goods in manufactured steel even at the present day still preserve the Moorish forms.
Metal Work in Italy, Germany, France, and England.
In Italy during the eleventh century an endeavour was made to revive the art of the goldsmith, and many objects of Byzantine workmanship were brought from Constantinople, and also many articles for church uses were made within the walls of the great Benedictine monasteries throughout Italy. An important Romanesque example of metal work of the time of the Emperor Henry II. (1003-24) is now in the Cluny Museum. It is a golden altar front (Fig. 151) that was given by this Emperor to the cathedral of Bâsle, and is nearly 6 feet in width. Figures of the Saviour, three archangels, and a figure of St. Benedict, are in relief of beaten gold and stand each under Romanesque arches.
In England we read of reliquaries being made in the eleventh century having images of gold, the work of Richard, an abbot of St. Albans. Brithnodus, an abbot of Ely, Leo, and Elsinus are names of others who made reliquaries and objects in metal.
Hildesheim in Hanover was a centre of great activity in metal work in the eleventh century, and in the Cathedral of Hildesheim there are candlesticks, crucifixes, and chalices of this period.
At this time in Germany were made great coronas or crowns of light that sometimes spanned the nave of the churches, like that made by Bishop Bernaward (992-1022), and his successor Hezilo for the Cathedral of Hildesheim, a cast of which is now in the Kensington Museum.
The twelfth century was very fertile in important works in gold, silver, bronze, and copper. Metal work was carried to a high degree of elaborate finish and intricacy of design.
Fig. 151.—Golden Altar Front; from Bâsle. Cluny Museum. Eleventh Century.
Some wonderful achievements in casting, plating, and gilding of metals have been performed during this prolific period. The celebrated Gloucester candlestick, now in the Kensington Museum, is a good example of the elaborate style of the twelfth-century metal work (Fig. 152). This is one of the most elaborate and intricate examples of ornamentation that could well be seen in the metal work of any period. Nothing could exceed the fanciful ingenuity of its design: it would, perhaps, have been better if some parts of the design had been left plainer, as a foil for the others. The material of its composition is a kind of white bronze, with a good proportion of silver in the alloy.