Michael Linton's Bayeux Tapestry: 1066 - A Medieval Mosaic and Puzzles

Medieval mosaic tapestry is completed after 25 years

News Article Details

• Publication: Timaru Herald
• Date: 11-01-2005

Description

HlSTORY IN ART: Michael Linton spent the best part of 20 years reproducing this first part of the Bayeux Tapestry from 1.5 million chips of steel. The final two panels of the design, a four year-project, have been created with the help of his daughter Rachael and will be unveiled later this month.

A 25-year artistic odyssey has ended with the completed reproduction of the Bayeux Tapestry by Geraldine father and daughter Michael and Rachael Linton.

The collaborative effort recreates the lost section of the tapestry and has resulted in a truly unique masterpiece.

The completed medieval mosaic tapestry is painted on a canvas of more than 1.5 million chips of steel, is 42m long, and weighs 275kgs.

Michael spent the best part of 20 years reproducing the first part of the tapestry. Rachael grew up watching her father complete the work and so became familiar with the tapestry and its rich history.

"During my life growing up in Peel Forest Dad was working on the tapestry. When he finished we knew there was a piece missing and Dad asked me to help complete it," the 21-year-old Massey University design student said yesterday.

The final two missing panels to the medieval mosaic provides the story with its long awaited conclusion.

The Bayeux Tapestry has preserved the glory of the Norman Conquest of England and the drama of Harold of Wessex and Duke William of Normanby for over 900 years.

The tapestry was first mentioned in a 1476 inventory of the Bayeux Cathedral. In 1792 French revolutionaries used it as a wagon cover until it was rescued by a local lawyer.

The final panels of the tapestry depict the three months from the end of the battle of Hastings on October 14 1066 to Christmas Day, when William the Conqueror was crowned King of England.

Michael and Rachael have spent the past four years researching historical and contemporary literature on every aspect of the period in order to draw a truthful depiction of the events proceeding the Norman Conquest of England.

"The design work took about a year, the rest of the time was spent researching. We wanted to make sure it was accurate," Rachael said.

Some of the research meant reading through medieval manuscripts of the day. Michael primarily worked on the research while Rachael meticulously designed the missing panels.

As a period piece it was important that the extension depict the people, events, and culture accurately, while maintaining the appropriate artistic, style, colour and composition of the original tapestry.

Rachael and Michael said perhaps the crowning achievement of the extension is that only an expert can tell where the original artwork ends and the new one begins.

The completed mosaic will be unveiled on January 22, and on permanent display the following day at the Giant Jersey in Geraldine.