NICOLA DA VERDUN. – Goldsmith, active between the 12th and 13th centuries. Recent studies (Réau) consider his activity to have been entirely within the sphere of the Mosan school, where he is thought to have trained under Godefroid de Claire.
Works signed by N. are the ambo of Klosterneuburg (Vienna 1181) and the shrine of Notre-Dame of Tournai (1205). The ambo of Klosterneuburg, in enamelled copper, is a fundamental work in the history of goldsmithery. Aspiring to a renewed sense of monumentality, the artist simplifies the composition of the scenes so that the figures stand out more prominently and possess greater human characterization; he also simplifies their colour, reducing it to the predominance of two tones, blue for the backgrounds and gold for the figures. In the decorative sections, on the other hand, the colours are multiplied, and the design remains meticulous and geometric. The ambo, later transformed into a retable, consists of 51 trefoil compartments illustrating episodes from the Old Testament and the life of Christ, accompanied by niello inscriptions. The shrine of Notre-Dame of Tournai has come down to us damaged; the enamel and gold of the compositions illustrating episodes from the life of Christ were disfigured by poor restorations in the 18th century, and the inscriptions have disappeared; a copy of them made in the 17th century by the canon of Tournai, Dechange, is preserved.
Among the works attributed to N. are the figures of apostles and prophets on the shrine of the Magi in the cathedral of Cologne and the bronze Easter candlestick of the cathedral of Milan. The reliquaries of S. Matteo of Trèves and of the church of Mettlach (Moselle), as well as the triptych of the abbey of Florennes, now in the Brussels Museum, have been attributed to his school.