Gertrude Martin

Gertrude Martin (21 November 1881 – February 1952) became one of an elite group of women master mosaicists.

Family

Born to George Martin, a retired insurance brokers clerk, and his wife, Harriett. She was baptized at St Peter's Church, Dulwich, on 18 January 1882 and spent her childhood at various addresses in Croydon.

Career

Along with her sisters Margaret and Dora, Gertrude was apprenticed to George Bridge,^[1] an artist and worker in mosaics, who had a business premise in Mitcham Park and a studio in Oxford Street. In 1902 George and his 26 women mosaicists began an extended period of work in Westminster Cathedral. Gertrude studied mosaics in Ravenna, Milan and Venice, and along with her sisters Margaret and Dora Martin was employed on some prestigious commissions. In the 1920s, Gertrude and Dora Martin worked on four arched panels designed by Robert Anning Bell in the Houses of Parliament. Two of these panels are in the Central Lobby and two are in St. Stephen's Hall. In the Central Lobby, the mosaic of Saint Andrew for Scotland was completed in 1923 and Saint Patrick for Ireland in 1924. In St. Stephen's Hall, the mosaic St. Stephen, King Stephen and King Edward the Confessor was completed in 1925 and the mosaic King Edward III commands the rebuilding of St. Stephen's Chapel was completed in 1926. Between 1928 and 1932 Gertrude and Margaret worked at St Anne's Cathedral, Belfast, designing and producing mosaics in the Baptistry, the Chapel of Holy Spirit, the tympanum above the West Doors and the mural of St Patrick above the entrance to the Chapel of the Holy Spirit.

Death

Gertrude died at her home in St James's Crescent.

References

^ "Westminster Cathedral website. Mosaics: Trial and Error". Archived from the original on 30 May 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2014.

1. ^http://www.westminstercathedral.org.uk/tour_mosaics.php Archived 30 May 2017 at the Wayback Machine

"Chapters of Gold: The Life of Mary in Mosaics" By Rachel Billington, Publisher: Burns & Oates (October 20, 2005) ISBN 0860123898 ISBN 978-0860123897

External links

[westminstercathedral-1] "Westminster Cathedral website. Mosaics: Trial and Error". Archived from the original on 30 May 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2014.

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