Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Magazine, vol. 95 (2002), pp. 34-45 



A French Sculptor in Wiltshire: Henri de 

 Triqueti's Panel in the Church of St. Michael & 

 All Angels^ Teffont Evias 



by Elisabeth Darby 



The Albert Memorial Chapel at Windsor Castle is probably the best-known work by the French sculptor 

 Henri de Triqueti (1804-1874) in this country. His contribution to the Chapel included fourteen mural 

 panels in marble tarsia, a technique he first explored in the 1840s. Only five other completed examples of 

 his process survive. One of these is The Choir of Angels, commissioned by Emily Fane De Salis (1822- 

 1896) of Teffont Manor, Wiltshire, and installed in the church at Teffont Evias in 1863. Although not the 

 earliest example, this marble tarsia panel was, however, the first to be erected and its publication here offers 

 the opportunity to examine Triqueti's development of this interesting technique. 



Above the east window in the Ley Chapel in the 

 church of St. Michael and All Angels at Teffont 

 Evias, Wiltshire, is a representation of a Choir of 

 Angels signed by Henri de Triqueti and dated 1863 

 (Fig. 1). Described in Pevsner as sgraffito,' it is, in 

 fact, an example of the marble tarsia technique first 

 developed by the French sculptor Triqueti in the 

 1840s which was to reach its most elaborate 

 expression in the Albert Memorial Chapel at 

 Windsor Castle executed between 1864 and 1875. 

 Although the work of Triqueti (including that in 

 England) has been extensively researched in recent 

 years, the Teffont Evias panel is largely unknown. 3 

 This article will seek to explain why a marble tarsia 

 panel by this eminent foreign sculptor should be at 

 Teffont Evias and will place the work in Triqueti's 

 development of the technique. 



Henri de Triqueti (1804-1874) trained initially 

 as a painter. 3 His career as a sculptor began at the 

 Salon of 1831 when he showed a bronze relief 

 entitled La Mort de Charles le Temeraire. The piece 

 was well-received and thereafter Triqueti devoted 

 himself to sculpture, executing a range of works in 

 a variety of materials. His most notable 

 achievements were the bronze doors for La 



Madeleine in Paris (1831-1841) and the cenotaph 

 to trie due d'Orleans in the Chapelle St. Ferdinand, 

 Neuilly-sur-Seine (1842-3). During the 1830s and 

 1840sTriqueti executed a number of bas-reliefs and 

 also designed decorative art objects (including vases 

 and swords) which, inspired by Medieval and 

 Renaissance sources, incorporated different 

 materials and achieved polychromatic effects. His 

 interest in colour and in bas-relief demonstrates an 

 enthusiasm for exploring the boundaries between 

 painting and sculpture which was characteristic of 

 the Romantic sculptors in France at this time, but 

 which was also evident in his development of the 

 marble tarsia technique. 



The process of tarsia which Triqueti developed 

 involved a marble ground on to which the design 

 to be executed was traced. Coloured marbles were 

 cut to the required shape and attached to the ground 

 with cement and occasionally metal clamps. Lines 

 were then engraved into these marbles where further 

 detail was required and these incisions were then 

 filled with coloured cements. 4 The process was 

 inspired by the marble pavements of Italy, 

 particularly those executed by Domenico 

 Beccafumi (c.1486-1551) in Siena Cathedral in the 



The Old Malthouse, Sutton Mandeville, Salisbury, SP3 5LZ 



