UNITED KINGDOM: CONTEMPORARY MOSAIC ARTIST AT WORK ON RECREATION OF FAMOUS ROMAN PAVEMENT

Record ID: 338149

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: CONTEMPORARY MOSAIC ARTIST AT WORK ON RECREATION OF FAMOUS ROMAN PAVEMENT
  • Date: 27th March 1975
  • Summary: 1. LV AND GV EXT Church (2 shots) 0.06 2. GV TILT DOWN INT Church showing mosaic 0.18 3. SV AND CUs Brian Bull looking at picture of Roman villa and photo of old mosaic and measuring 0.37 4. GV AND CU PAN Woodward studying old and new pictures on desk (2 shots) 0.54 5. CU AND CU TILT DOWN Brian Bull looking at slides (2 shots) 1.02 6. GV Mosaic 1.05 7. SV AND CUs Brian Bull working on head of nymph (6 shots) 1.30 8. MV PAN AND CU PAN Brian Bull polishing mosaic (3 shots) 1.49 9. CU Nude female figure in mosaic 1.54 10. 2.00 MV Brian Bull polishing mosaic 2.00 Initials NG/17???0 NG/1725 Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 11th April 1975 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: WOTTON-UNDER-EDGE, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, U.K.
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA4PDPCCVXO0B87MUIRTM26NA6P
  • Story Text: More than sixteen centuries ago the area around Cirencester in the English Cotswold Hills was the scene of great activity during the Roman occupation of Britain.

    One of the relics of this period is the famous Woodchester mosaic pavement, which owing to its antiquity and fragility is only unearthed for public view for six weeks once every ten years.

    But a local property developer, Bob Woodward, conceived the idea of creating a copy of the pavement and commissioned mosaic artist Brian Bull to undertake the work.

    The mosaic is being pieced together in a disused church owned by Mr. Woodward in the village of Wotton-under-Edge, a few miles from Woodchester. Work started in January 1974 and will continue until July 1976.

    When the copy is completed it will contain 1.5 million "tesserae" -- small ceramic tiles -- which are being made from local clays and the cost is estimated at GBP80,000 sterling (about 200,000 U.S. dollars). The original mosaic measures 2,600 square feet (about 242 square metres) and is the largest depicting the Greek God Orpheus in the world.

    Brian Bull is being helped on the project by his 18-year-old daughter Tina. He has been making mosaics for 20 years, but previously always to his own design. However, he still regards the Woodchester copy as a challenge:
    "When working on the mosaic I do not look at the total picture," he says, "I look at every detail on its own. Every day I discover new things".

    Mr. Woodward plans to open the church to visitors soon, so that they can watch Mr. Bull at work from a gallery above.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register