Tomb effigy

Double tomb of Richard I of England (Richard the Lionheart) and Isabella of Angoulême. Fontevraud Abbey, Anjou, France

Effigies of Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici. Germain Pilon, c. 1561–1573. Basilica of Saint-Denis, France

A tomb effigy (French: gisant ("lying")) is a sculpted effigy of a deceased person usually shown lying recumbent on a rectangular slab, presented in full ceremonious dress or wrapped in a shroud, and shown either dying or shortly after death. Although such funerary and commemorative reliefs were first developed in Ancient Egyptian and Etruscan cultures, they appear most numerously in Western Europe tombs from the later 11th century, in a style that continued in use through the Renaissance and early modern period, and are still sometimes used. They typically represent the deceased in a state of "eternal repose", with hands folded in prayer, lying on a pillow, awaiting resurrection. A husband and wife may be depicted lying side by side.

The life-size recumbent effigy was first found in the tombs of royalty and senior clerics, and then spread to the nobility. A particular type of late medieval effigy was the transi, or cadaver monument, in which the effigy is in the macabre form of a decomposing corpse, or such a figure lies on a lower level, beneath a more conventional effigy. Mourning or weeping figures, known as pleurants were added to important tombs below the effigy. Non-recumbent types of effigy became popular during the Renaissance. In the early Modern period, European effigies are often shown as alive, and either kneeling or in a more active pose, especially for military figures. Variations showed the deceased lying on their side as if reading, kneeling in prayer and even standing. The recumbent effigy had something of a revival during the 19th century Gothic revival, especially for bishops and other clerics.

Some of the best-known examples of the form are in Westminster Abbey in London, St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice (twenty-five Doges), and the Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence.

Antiquity

Egyptian

See also: Art of ancient Egypt § Funerary art

The religious beliefs of the societies that produced the earliest Egyptian effigies (which date to c. 2700–2200 BC, during Old Kingdom) are unknown, but are usually assumed by modern archeologists to have commerated either fallen Gods or members of royalty.

Because these burial practices are prehistoric, their meaning can only be guessed at: modern archeologists see them as depictions intended to house the souls of the dead, intended to identify them as they travel through the realm of the dead. The earliest known tomb effigy is that of Djoser (c. 2686–2613 BC), found in the worship chamber of the Pyramid of Djoser. Usually the effigies were smaller than life-size.

The Romans continued this tradition of idolatry, although they created many other types of effigies. The faces are often clearly portraits of individuals.

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  Limestone Ka statue of Djoser from his pyramid serdab. 27th century BC
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  Coffin of Neskhons, c. 945-715 BC, Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio
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  Replicas of the coffins of Tutankhamun, 1355–134 BC. The originals are in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Late Classical

See also: Etruscan art § Funerary art

Recumbent effigies were a common tradition in the funerary art of the Etruscans, an advanced civilization and culture that developed in central Italy before 700 BC and flourished until the late second century BC. Their effigies were typically carved in high relief, and produced in a variety of materials, including ceramic, terracotta, marble, limestone and alabaster. Structurally they fall into two categories: small squarish cinerary urns for cremation and near life-sized rectangular sarcophagi for burials, with cremation becoming more popular over the centuries. Etruscan culture viewed the dead as no less completed than the living, and existing in a realm where they were forever either in despair or enjoying material comfort. From 500 BC the effigies show the deceased as they looked while alive. They are often lavishly dressed and enjoying food and drink as if at a feast. They are typically reclining (as if alive) rather than recumbent (as if dead), with open eyes turned towards the viewer, and are often propped up on a pillow while leaning on their arm or elbow.

By the 7th century the Etruscans were depicting human heads on canopic urns. When they started to bury their dead in the late 6th century they used terracotta sarcophagi, with an image of the deceased reclining on the lid alone or with a spouse. The Etruscan's style influenced late Ancient Greek, especially in the manner of showing the dead as they had been in life, typically in the stele (stone or wooden slabs usually built as funerary markers) format. Any aspects of the style were adapted by the Romans, and eventually spread as far as Western Asia.

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  Sarcophagus of the Spouses, 530–510 BC. National Etruscan Museum, Rome, Italy
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  Sarcophagus in the Villa Corsini, Florence. 300-275 BC
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  Funerary urn, c. 210–90 BC. Museo archeologico nazionale Siena, Italy
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  Sarcophagus of Seianti Hanunia Tlesnasa, c. 150–130 BC. Painted terracotta, British Museum, London

Pre-historic Romans of Palatine Hill often cremated their dead (usually on pyres), while those of the Quirinal Hill would entomb the body. Eventually the two practices merged, wherein the actual body was entombed and an effigy of the deceased was burned. The Romans adopted the Etruscan's tomb formats, maintaining the practice of showing the deceased as they were while alive. Roman sarcophagi were built from marble, and over time took on a more a contemplative, spiritual and redemptive iconographical tone, emphasising the deceased's former hierarchical role in society.

Medieval

Origin and characteristics

Bronze grave plate effigy of Rudolf of Rheinfelden, c. 1080–1084. Merseburg Cathedral, Germany

The first recumbent medieval effigies (or gisants) were produced in the 11th century, with the earliest surviving example being that of Rudolf of Rheinfelden (d. 1080) in Merseburg Cathedral in Germany. The early effigies show the deceased (usually a royal, senior cleric or aristocrat) dressed in contemporary clothing. The format proliferated across Northern Europe in the late 12th century as it become popular amongst a growing class of wealthy elites who typically commissioned their tombs years before their death; often seeking to cement their historical or spiritual legacy, or —especially in early examples— restore a reputation tarnished by political defeat.

The art historian Marisa Anne Bass summed up the function of medieval effigies by writing that "to represent death is to make present an absence." Historians differ as to the historical influences behind their designs. Writing in 1964, in the first major general survey of tomb sculptures, Erwin Panofsky believed they were based on mosaic from North African and Spanish tombs, with other art historians arguing that the primary influence was from Classical funerary monuments, particularly those from Etruscan culture. The historian Shirin Fozi recognises the influence of earlier formats, but believes that the idea of placing an "enlivened" representation of the dead above their grave is "too intuitive and too obvious to be read that ancient analogues were necessarily sources of inspiration."

Medieval effigies are typically built from marble, alabaster or wood. According to the English historian Alfred C. Fryer, a "hastily made and lively effigy" of the deceased "in his very robes of estate" became part of the funeral procession, after which the representation was left either above or near the burial spot. They were place on many types of tombs; at first on tomb slabs, before table or chest tombs (tumba) became the standard. Later, wall tombs became popular in France and Spain.

Chest tombs were typically built from several stone panels, and provided a cavity (often filled with rubble) to support the effigy. Although they were designed to give the impression that the body had been placed within it, the corpse was usually buried in a vault below or beside the monument. Recent excavations indicate that some 14th-century chests did act as containers for the body, however relatively few medieval tomb monuments have been opened. Notable examples where the body was placed inside the chest include the tombs of Henry III of England (completed c. 1290) and Edward I (d. 1307), both in Westminster Abbey, London. When the latter tomb was opened in 1774, the remains were found in a marble coffin placed on a bed of rubble.

Romanesque (France)

Tomb effigy of Jean d'Aluye (foreground), French, 13th century. Originally in the Abbey of La Clarté-Dieu in Northern France, now in The Cloisters, New York

The earliest medieval examples are German, but the style was significantly developed by French sculptors in the Romanesque style between c. 1080 and c. 1160. By the 12th century, the German, Dutch, Belgian, Spanish effigies were following the forms and iconography of the French models, and had begun to adapt elements of the emerging Gothic style.

The Romanesque effigies were typically carved from white marble, and depict the deceased's body and face as they appeared as in life, with no marks of illness or death. The faces are idealised rather than accurate portrayals, and often show the deceased much younger than they had been at death. The effigies are always recumbent—as if dead, and by the 14th century with hands clasped in prayer. The most common material is carvings on marble, alabaster or wood, with some examples cast in bronze or brass. The faces and hands of the wooden effigies, of which very few survive, are made from wax or plaster. The effigies were usually polychromed to simulate life, but in most cases this paint has long since worn away.

The first secular examples appear in the 12th century, following the establishment of the patron class of knights. They were usually placed on flat marble slabs supported by tomb-style chests (also known as tumba) decorated with foliage, heraldry and architectural detailing. The earliest examples wearing armour date from the 1240s, with the most numerous surviving examples in England. The two most common poses from these types are the knight pulling out his sword, or lying cross-legged – a particularly English motif.

While the Romanesque and Gothic tombs were produced in great numbers —especially in France and England— it is estimated that over half were destroyed during the iconoclasm in the early modern period, and more again during the French Revolution. Generally English churches were spared such destruction.

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  Effigies in the Church of St John the Baptist, Tideswell, Derbyshire, England. 12th and 13th centuries
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  Effigy of Berengaria of Navarre (d. 1230), Queen of England as the wife of Richard the Lionheart. L'Épau Abbey, Le Mans, France
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  Tomb of Ozanne, 13th century. Crypte Saint-Paul, Jouarre Abbey, France.

Burgundy

Tomb of Philip the Bold, c. 1381–1410. Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon, France

The dukes of Burgundy, who ruled in present day Belgium, Luxembourg and northern France, were recognised throughout Europe as patrons of the arts. Through their cultivation of artists such as the sculptor Claus Sluter and the painters Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden (who is thought to have painted some of their effigies), they became key in the development of Early Netherlandish art and the wider Northern Renaissance.

The iconography of Burgundian tombs develops forms and motifs found on monuments for French Kings in the Basilica of Saint-Denis, near Paris. The now lost tomb of Joan of Brabant (c. 1457) is probably the earliest of example; its rows of mourners positioned below the slab were reproduces in a number of later Burgundain tombs, most notably those of Isabella of Bourbon, constructed between 1475 and 1476. and the mourners on her tomb were directly copied Joan's monument.

The style became influential across Europe with the tomb of Philip the Bold (d. 1404), built over 30 years from 1381 by the sculptors Jean de Marville (d. 1389) and Sluter (d. 1405?) for the Chartreuse de Champmol, outside Dijon, which also houses the tombs of his son John the Fearless (d. 1419) and John's wife Margaret of Bavaria (d. 1424). Philip's tomb is described by the art historian Frits Scholten as "one of the most magnificent tombs of the Late Middle Ages".

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  Isabella of Bourbon's effigy (1475–1476) displayed with its 10 surviving pleurants
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  Tomb of Philippe Pot (d. 1493) with amour and a heraldry shield.
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  Tomb of Charles the Bold (d. 1477) with Mary of Burgundy in background, Church of Our Lady, Bruges
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  Tomb of Mary of Burgundy, 1501. Church of Our Lady, Bruges

The effigies on Burgundian-style tombs are characteristised by the deceased having naturalised faces, open eyes, angels above their heads, and animals (that may be dogs or lions) at their feet. Philip's is made from polychromed white marble which gives him a more naturalised pallor. His head rests on a cushion and he has an angel at each side to watch over him, presumably guiding him into the afterlife. His open eyes are intended as an affirmation of his belief in the Resurrection, as are the prayers mouthed or in the books held by some of the weepers in the niches below the tomb monument's oblong chest.

Britain

Wooden effigies in St Peter and St Paul's church, Little Horkesley, Essex

Effigy of a knight, Temple Church, London

Tomb effigies are the most numerous type of surviving medieval statuary in Britain. The early examples are often below life-sized and show the deceased with their legs crossed, a pose long supposed to signify that the deceased had served in the Crusades or had been a Knight Templar; theories are now rejected by scholars.

Due to the relative scarcity of suitable stone material in London and counties to its immediate north-east, wooden effigies became common during the Romanesque period. Given wood's perishability, only five examples survive, all in oak. They include the tombs of John de Pitchford in Shropshire, William de Valence in Westminster Abbey and William Longespée in Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire.

Many of the 11th- and early 12th-century English effigies of knights are known as "dying Gauls" due their showing the deceased reaching for his sword as if either struggling against death or about to enter battle. The 13th-century knightly effigies are less rigid and statuesque than French examples, reflecting what the historian H. A Tummers describes as a "more worldly and less spiritual outlook". Those in the Temple Church, London are among some of the earliest knightly examples and include the effigy of Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex (d. 1144) and that of the Anglo-Norman statesman William Marshal (d. 1219), who was a benefactor of the Knights Templar and served Henry II (d. 1189).

The larger-scale production of effigies began in Britain in the middle of the 13th century, following the emergence of the knightly class. Although a great number of ecclesiastical effigies were also produced in this period, but a majority were destroyed during iconoclasm waves from the 14th century and the Cromwellian Wars of the Three Kingdoms in the 17th century. There are around 150 to 200 extant 13th and 14th centuries effigies of English knight.

Although the islands experienced periods of iconoclasm, they were not to the same extent as in northern continental Europe, and so the surviving number of examples exceeds even that of even France.

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  Carved oak Tomb of John De Pitchford (d. 1285). Pitchford, Shropshire
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  Tomb of Edward, the Black Prince, after 1376, Canterbury Cathedral, Kent
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  Tomb of the Wolf of Badenoch (d. 1394), Dunkeld Cathedral, Perth and Kinross
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  Monument for John FitzAlan, alabaster and limestone, c. 1435–45. A transi is in the lower register. Arundel Castle, West Sussex

Renaissance

While many of the innovations in medieval tomb effigies occurred in Northern Europe, the influence of Renaissance sculpture on medieval developed in the early 15th century in Italy and later in Spain. While the structural format of the tombs stayed largely faithful to the earlier Romanesque and Gothic traditions, the iconography began to reflect societal shift in attitude towards the dead; particularly in the incorporation of secular and humanistic imagery as earlier the religious imperatives behind tomb design, desire to licit intercessory prayer from the viewers so as to quicken the passage of the soul through purgatory.

The architectural settings became more elaborate, incorporating elements such as putto and ancient decorative elements including sirens, centaurs and Roman style profile heads. The tombs and their effigies incorporated and merge recent sculptural and painterly innovations with classical traditions.

Most significantly, non-recumbent effigies became more popular, with variations including the deceased lying upwards on their side, kneeling in prayer, or even standing. The upper portion of the Tomb of Valentina Balbiani (d. 1572) shows her in-life, with a book and dog, reclining in a restful pose reminiscent of Etruscan effigies. A bas-relief on the tomb's base shows her decomposed corpse in the transi style.

A number of old masters were involved in the tomb and effigy's design and construction, including Albrecht Dürer (as an influence), while artists such as Donatello and Bernini oversaw their design and execution.

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  Tomb of Martín Vázquez de Arce (d. 1486}, Sigüenza Cathedral, Spain
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  Tomb of the sons of Charles VIII and Anne of Brittany, 1506. Tours Cathedral, France
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  Tomb of Valentina Balbiani, Germain Pilon, c. 1580. Louvre, Paris
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  Tomb of Cardinal Richelieu (d. 1642), c. 1675–94. Chapel of the Sorbonne, Paris, France

Modern

The Catacombs of Paris, where an estimated 6 million people are interred.

During the early modern period, the style and form of tomb monuments adapted innovations from other forms of sculpture, including from non European influences, while also incorporating elements of local traditions in memorial sculpture. However, in part driven by new attitudes towards death by the Enlightenment, by the 1750s life-sized effigies had largely fallen out of use across Europe. They became especially rare in France following the Revolution in 1789, when individual burials in large cities was discouraged in favour of unmarked collective ossuaries such as the Paris catacombs, where the dead were interred without Christian rites.

The recumbent effigy returned to vogue in Europe during the 19th century, when attitudes towards the dead changed again, and a series of major new cemeteries were founded, including Montmartre Cemetery in Paris and Monument Cemetery in Milan. In France the modeling of life-sized representations of the dead came to be regarded, according to the art historian Suzanne Lindsay, as "among the highest representations of modern French sculpture".

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  Veiled Christ, Giuseppe Sanmartino, 1753. Cappella Sansevero, Naples, Italy
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  Gisant of Godefroy Cavaignac, Montmartre Cemetery, Paris. Completed by the a French sculptor François Rude in 1847.
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  Tomb of Francesc Farreras i Framis, 1888. Montjuïc Cemetery, Barcelona, Spain
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  Tomb Effigy of Elizabeth Boott Duveneck, 1891. Cimitero degli Allori, Florence, Italy.
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  Tomb of Augustine Trochery, 1856–1887. Cimetière Carnot, Suresnes, France

Types

Double tombs

Effigies of Richard Fitzalan (d. 1376) and Eleanor of Lancaster (d. 1372), Chichester Cathedral, England

The practice of showing the effigies of a married couple side by side on the same plinth (or slab) began in France and Germany late 13th-century before it spread across northern Europe in the second half of the fourteenth century. They can be categorised into are two basic types: those where the effigies were created separately (ie at different dates of death) and later placed together on a single plinth, and those created at the same time from a single block of stone. In the instance of the former type, the tomb would often have been commissioned and built before the death of the remaining spouse.

The practice may have begun as a device for legitimising controversial or contested royal marriages; in the case of Blanche of Lancaster (d. 1368), she was already married at the time of her union with John of Gaunt. In the same way, early Gothic double-tombs were not necessarily intended celebrate the love between the couple, but to both reinforce the political aspect of theirs union. Many late 14th- and early 15th-century examples show the couples holding hands. While the motif was undoubtedly used reflects the affection between the couple, it also needs to be seen in contemporaneity ritual and legal context. Writing in 2021, the art historian Jessica Barker said that the gesture should be seen analogous to a modern handshake that "both symbolised and effected an agreement between two parties."

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  Effigial slab for Sir William de Bayous (d. c. 1327) and his wife. Church of St Stephen, Careby, Lincolnshire, England
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  Tomb of Sir Thomas Berkeley (d. 1365) and his wife Joan, lady de Berkeley. St Giles's Church, Coberley, Gloucestershire, England
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  Drawing of the effigies of John I of Portugal and Queen Philippa of Lancaster. Batalha Monastery, Batalha, Portugal
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  Tomb of Sir Edward Littleton (d. 1610) and Margaret Devereux, St Michael's church, Penkridge, England

An early example is the now lost tomb for Blanche of Lancaster (d. 1368) and her second husband John of Gaunt (d. 1399). The two most celebrated medieval examples are those of Richard II of England (d. 1400) and Anne of Bohemia (d. 1394), and John I of Portugal (d. 1433) and Philippa of Lancaster (d. 1415), which Barker describes as "placing extraordinary emphasis on the love between the king and queen".

The well known Philip Larkin poem An Arundel Tomb, completed in 1964, describes and reflects on the effigies for Richard Fitzalan (d. 1376) and Eleanor of Lancaster (d. 1372) in Chichester Cathedral.

Cadaver monuments

Main article: Cadaver monument

Transi at the Church of St John the Baptist, Burford, Oxfordshire, England

The trend of displaying the deceased as a decomposing corpse began in France in the late 14th century, with the first known English example dating to 1425, and soon after the style spread across Northern Europe. Known as cadaver monuments (French: Transi), these effigies show the deceased as an emaciated corpse with closed eyes, either wearing a shroud or naked (although with their hands arranged to preserve modesty), and sometimes standing upwards. The format is in stark contrast to gisants, which are always recumbent, in full dress, with open eyes and hands clasped and raised in prayer. The production of the best known examples was overseen by members of the first rank of contemporary sculptors, including Conrad Meit (d. c. 1550).

Cadaver monuments first appear in the 1380s and remained popular for 200 years. Often interpreted (in a theory popularised by the historians Helen M. Roe and John Aberth) as a form of memento mori or adaption of the motif of "The Three Living and the Three Dead", they show the human body's "transition" from life to decomposition, highlighting the contrast between worldly riches and elegance and the degradation of death. An illuminated c. 1435–1440 miniature of a Lady in a Tomb from "The Dawnce of Makabre" folios in the Additional manuscript 37049 (below left, now in the British Library) shows the tiered (double or "two-body") tomb of a fashionable English lady, with her shown in life above the slab, and as a decayed corpse within the tomb chest. The verse below the illustration reads: "Take hede un to my fygure here abowne, And se how sumtyme I was fresche and gay, Now turned to wormes mete and corrupcoun, Bot fowle erthe and stynkyng slyme and clay". However, the art historian Kathleen Cohen notes some important differences to memento mori, primarily that Transi represent specific deceased individuals, and not death itself.

"The Lady in a Tomb", 1435-1440. Additional manuscript 37049, British Library, London.

Cadaver monuments were a dramatic change from the typical practice of depicting the deceased as either as in life or in a more idealised form. The impulse toward graphic expression of mortality in part reflects the societal shock and trauma following the Black Death which hit Europe in 1346 and killed up to half of the population of Eurasia in the next four years. Its aftermath saw, in 15th- and 16th-century literature, painting, manuscript illustration and sculpture, a pronounced emphasis on the macabre and memento mori, indicating a pre-occupation with the brevity and fragility of human life.

In her (incomplete but representative) 1973 survey of extant cadaver monuments, the art historian Kathleen Cohen lists 200 examples, of which 82 are English (produced between 1424–1689), 61 are French (produced 1391–1613), 36 are German (1456–1594), and 20 are in the Lowlands (1387–1645). Considerable differences in style developed across regions and time. The early examples show the deceased either covered in a shroud (popular in France, Burgundy and England), as a shrivelled corpse with tightly pulled skin (especially popular in England), or a decomposing body covered by frogs and snakes (Germany and Austria). The practice of showing the body crawling with worms became popular in France.

Over the centuries the depictions became more realistic and gruesome, while the early tendency to line the tombs with moralising inscriptions on the vanities of life was abandoned. The convention reached a peak in the late 16th century, with the more extreme effigies depicting putrefied corpses outside of the funerary monument context, and taking centre stage as stand-alone sculptures.

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  The early and influential Cadaver Tomb of Guillaume de Harsigny, a French doctor and court physician to Charles V of France, c. 1394. Musée d'art et d'archéologie de Laon, France
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  Effigy in the mausoleum of the Lords of Boussu, Boussu Castle, Belgium
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  Transi of Guillaume Lefranchois, 1446, Musée des beaux-arts d'Arras, France
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  Tomb of John Baret (d 1467), St Mary's Church, Bury St Edmunds, England

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External links

• The Royal Tombs of England with Prof. Aidan Dodson, the Churches Conservation Trust, 2021 (video on YouTube).