Monumental Brasses and The Black Death – A Reappraisal

Abstract

It has long been assumed that the Black Death totally devastated the brass engraving industry in England, but no previous study has focused specifically on this period. Stylistic analysis, particularly of the inscriptions, shows that there was continuity of production in the London A workshop right through the period of recurrent plague and that a second workshop, London B, was established towards the end of the 1350s. The workshops appear to have responded to a reduced supply of skilled labour by limiting their product range. The brasses of the plague years are modest in comparison with earlier brasses, though those commemorated were not of lower social status. No large figure brasses date from this decade, though significant numbers of minor compositions were produced. This temporary inability to supply elaborate, high-quality figure brasses enabled the Tournai ateliers to expand exports to England.