William Torrel (1291–1303) (design for a mosaic in the Victoria and Albert Museum)

William Torell, also spelled Torel, Torrel, Torrell, Toral etc., (working late 13th century), from a notable family of London

goldsmith A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Nowadays they mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, goldsmiths have also made silverware, platters, goblets, decorative and servicea ...

s, was an English sculptor responsible for the very fine gilded brass funeral

effigies An effigy is an often life-size sculptural representation of a specific person, or a prototypical figure. The term is mostly used for the makeshift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certai ...

Henry III of England Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272), also known as Henry of Winchester, was King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine from 1216 until his death in 1272. The son of King John and Isabella of Angoulême, Henry a ...

and his son's queen Eleanor of Castile in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the Unite ...

(1291–93); the idealised recumbent figures are set within a tomb of

Cosmati The Cosmati were a Roman family, seven members of which, for four generations, were skilful architects, sculptors and workers in decorative geometric mosaic, mostly for church floors. Their name is commemorated in the genre of Cosmatesque work ...

work by immigrant craftsmen. They were the first English metal sculptures on such a scale. He was found in 1303 to have bought in good faith two

ruby A ruby is a pinkish red to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called ...

rings from the great theft of treasure from

. His known period of activity is begun by the Westminster monuments and ended by this incident, though clearly he would have been a mature artist at the top of his field to receive the royal commissions. Speculation in the 19th century that the family might be Italians, presumably called "Torelli", has no supporting evidence; it is more likely to be a version of the Anglo-Danish "Thorold" or "Torald", mostly found in the north of England, though there were landowning Torels, perhaps the same family, in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

and

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

; there would be nothing unusual in successful London goldsmiths having country estates at this period. In the mid-nineteenth century Torell's reputation was high enough, and the numbers of named English medieval artists low enough, that he was included among the sculptors in the '' Frieze of Parnassus'' on the

Albert Memorial The Albert Memorial, directly north of the Royal Albert Hall in Kensington Gardens, London, was commissioned by Queen Victoria in memory of her beloved husband Prince Albert, who died in 1861. Designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the Gothic R ...

in London, as well given both a statue on the

Exhibition Road Exhibition Road is a street in South Kensington, London which is home to several major museums and academic establishments, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum. Overview The road gets i ...

facade of the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, and a full-length

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

portrait by

Richard Burchett Richard Burchett (1815–1875) was a British artist and educator on the fringes of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who was for over twenty years the Headmaster of what later became the Royal College of Art. He was later described as "a promin ...

on the exterior walls to the south court. The mosaics remain in place, and one of Burchett's two different painted studies of Torell is also now on display in the staircase on the Exhibition Road side of the building.

References

External links

churchmonumentssociety.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Torell, William English goldsmiths English sculptors English male sculptors Gothic sculptors People associated with Westminster Abbey Year of death unknown Year of birth unknown 13th-century sculptors 13th-century English people