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THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE 



panels portraying other incidents from The Iliad 

 and The Odyssey, and to the left and right are 

 allegorical figures from these sources. 39 



The Marmor Homericum marks a new 

 departure in Triqueti's tarsia work in several 

 respects. The range of coloured marbles and 

 cements employed is considerably greater than on 

 earlier panels, with red, green, brown, black and 

 purple engraved lines. In consequence of this 

 enhanced polychromy, the boundaries between 

 painting and sculpture are more fully explored. Also, 

 greater attention is given to the patterning and 

 details of the draperies, and to the jewellery, 

 furniture and other decorative objects in the scenes, 

 an indication of Triqueti's involvement with the 

 applied arts. Another significant development in the 

 Marmor Homericum is the addition of a medallion 

 in Carrara marble at each of the four corners, with 

 reliefs representing Venus, Minerva, Helen and 

 Penelope. This combination of flat and relief 

 surfaces, polychromatic effects and attention to 

 ornamental detail, was to be utilised by Triqueti in 

 his most prestigious work in England - the 

 decoration of the Albert Memorial Chapel at 

 Windsor Castle. 



Following Prince Albert's death in December 

 1861, Queen Victoria embarked on an extensive 

 programme of commemoration. 40 Early in 1862, 

 and at the suggestion of her eldest daughter, 

 Victoria, the Crown Princess of Prussia, it was 

 decided to convert the Wolsey Chapel at Windsor 

 Castle into an Albert Memorial which the public 

 could visit as a place of pilgrimage. The cost of the 

 project was borne by Queen Victoria who entrusted 

 the overall design to the architect G. G. Scott (who 

 was also to be responsible for the Albert Memorial 

 in Kensington Gardens) . The work of remodelling 

 the chapel began in 1862 but it was not completed 

 until 1875, shortly after Triqueti's death. 41 



In the summer of 1862 the Crown Princess 

 suggested that the roof of the chapel should be 

 decorated with marble tarsia pictures by Triqueti. 42 

 Triqueti's work had been known to the royal family 

 for some time. In 1855, during a visit to Paris for 

 the Exposition Universelle de Vindustrie et des 

 beaux-arts, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had 

 visited the Chapelle St. Ferdinand. Queen Victoria 

 described Triqueti's monument to the due 

 d'Orleans as 'beautiful and touching'. 43 In 1852 

 the royal couple had purchased Triqueti's ivory 

 statuette of Sappho and Cupid, and in 1858 his 

 marble figure of Edward VI. In 1858 or 1859 

 Triqueti showed examples of his marble tarsia work 



Fig. 6. The Albert Memorial Chapel, Windsor Castle. 

 (The Royal Collection ©2001, Her Majesty Queen 

 Elizabeth II. Photograph : Conway Library, Courtauld 

 Institute of Art) 



to Prince Albert who expressed interest and gave 

 the sculptor ies plus precieux encouragements'. 44 

 It was probably memories of this encounter, perhaps 

 prompted by the display of the panels at the 1862 

 Exhibition, which encouraged the Crown Princess 

 (who was a close friend of Triqueti 45 ) to suggest 

 the adoption of the technique in the chapel. The 

 idea was rejected by G. G. Scott, however, who 

 maintained that the curved surfaces of the ceiling 

 were inappropriate for large slabs of marble. 46 



The idea of Triqueti's involvement was not 

 entirely abandoned and, in the spring of 1864, the 

 Crown Princess once again suggested his tarsia 

 work for the chapel. This time it was agreed that it 

 should be used for the walls of the chapel beneath 

 the stained glass windows (Fig. 6). 47 Shortly 

 afterwards, in October 1 864, Mrs Emily Fane De 

 Salis wrote to Sir Thomas Biddulph, Master of the 

 Queen's Household, enclosing a photograph of the 

 tarsia panel atTeffont Evias and stating that as 'This 

 work of art is the first of the kind produced in this 

 country by Monsieur de Triqueti & as Her Majesty 

 has selected this talented artist to decorate in a 

 similar manner the Wolsey Chapel.... it might be 

 agreeable to the Queen to inspect a photograph' 

 recently taken of the work. The Queen's response 



