Michael Linton's Bayeux Tapestry: 1066 - A Medieval Mosaic and Puzzles
News
Filling a gap in history
News Article Details
- Publication: Courier Country
- Author: Jeff Smith
- Date: 16-02-2005
Description
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Inset: A close-up of one of the scenes.
The medieval masterpiece the Bayeux Tapestry, the original of which is in France, has been "completed" by a Peel Forest man and his family.
Michael Linton has taken 25 years to add two panels missing from the tapestry, creating what he believes they would have depicted.
He has created the 42m long tapestry from 1.5 million pieces of steel with the assistance of his artist daughter Rachael. Timaru teacher Margaret Crooks translated all the Latin text found in the recreated section.
"Historians believe the missing panels would have depicted William the Conqueror being crowned the King of England," he said.
The tapestry depicts the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and Rachael, a design student at Massey University, meticulously studied historical and contemporary literature on the aftermath of the battle.
Mr Linton is a textile technician by trade and for the past 20 years has been self-employed, working in Geraldine as a knitwear manufacturer and retailer.
In 1999 he and his wife Gillian were recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as having created the world's largest jersey, which today hangs in their Geraldine shop, also the home of the tapestry.
His other interests include creating puzzles and to indulge this passion he has included a puzzle in the panels of the tapestry. They can be found in 10,000 encoded pieces of the mosaic.
The Bayeux Tapestry is embroidered coloured wool on a linen background and is 71m long.
Mr Linton's re-creation is painted on the 1.5m pieces of spring steel. The pieces are made from a patterning disk used on an industrial knitting machine. Each tiny piece is l/96th of an inch in area. The mosaic is hand painted in eight colours using enamel paint. The panels are 12 inches (30cm) high.
The metal base of the mosaic was built up piece by piece and taped, using masking tape. Shoe polish was then used to blacken the background.
The basic outline was drawn on the metal and then painted over with black enamel paint. The colour and detail were added, along with the puzzles. Polyurethane varnish was applied before the final stage of framing and mounting.
Mr Linton and his son Steven have compiled a CD on all aspects of the project, which includes such fascinating detail as the names and biographies of 200 men in open boats in the invasion fleet.
Halley's Comet was making an appearance at the time and if the user clicks on that, an interactive journey through the solar system can be taken.
Mr Linton has included a pictorial bibliography of the books used to research the project and the user can open and read major extracts or, in 15 cases, the entire book.
See the Linton web site on www.1066.co.nz