NICHOLAS of VERDUN. - Goldsmith, active between the 12th and 13th centuries. Recent studies (Réau) consider all his activity within the Mosan school, where he would have been trained under Godefroid de Claire.
Works signed by N. are the ambo of Klosterneuburg (Vienna 1181) and the house of Notre-Dame in Tournai (1205). The ambo of Klosterneuburg, in champlevé enamel, is a fundamental work in the history of goldsmithing. Seeking a renewed sense of monumentality, the artist simplifies the composition of the scenes so that the figures stand out more and are given greater human characterization, while also simplifying the color scheme, reducing it to the predominance of two tones: blue for the backgrounds and gold for the figures; in the decorative parts, however, the colors are multiplied and the design remains meticulous and geometric. The ambo, later transformed into a retable, consists of 51 trilobed panels illustrating episodes from the Old Testament and the life of Christ, accompanied by inlaid inscriptions. The house of Notre-Dame in Tournai survives in a damaged state; the enamel and gold of the compositions illustrating episodes from the life of Christ were defaced by poor 18th-century restorations, and the inscriptions—of which a copy made in the 17th century by the canon of Tournai, Dechange, survives—have disappeared.
Among the works attributed to N. are the figures of apostles and prophets from the house of the Magi in Cologne Cathedral and the bronze paschal candelabrum of Milan Cathedral. Works attributed to his school include the reliquaries of St. Matthew in Trier and of the church of Mettlach (Moselle), and the triptych from the abbey of Florennes, now in the Brussels Museum.