individuals. Medieval The first medieval gisants emerged in the 12th century. They were executed in low relief, and were horizontal, but appeared as in life. The faces were generalized rather than portraits. Gradually these became full high-relief effigies, usually recumbent, as in death, and, by the 14th century, with hands together in prayer. In general, such monumental effigies were carved in stone, marble or wood, or cast in bronze or brass. Often the stone effigies were painted to simulate life, but in the majority of the medieval monuments, this has long since disappeared. The cross-legged attitude of many English armoured figures of the late 13th or early 14th centuries was long supposed to imply that the deceased had served in the Crusades, had taken crusading vows, or more specifically had been a Knight Templar; but these theories are now rejected by scholars. By the early 13th century, effigies began to be raised on tomb-style chests (known as tomb chests or altar tombs) decorated with foliage, heraldry or architectural detailing. Soon such chests also stood alone with varying degrees of decoration. By the end of the century, these often had architectural canopies and figured "weepers" or "mourners" — representing friends or relatives and identified by their coats of arms — were popular decorative features. In Britain the "large-scale production of military effigies" began in the middle of the 13th century, as the result of the "emergence of a new patron class" of knights, who were fewer in number but wealthier than before. Another late medieval fashion was to show the person in an advanced state of decomposition, perhaps as a secondary effigy. This type of tomb is known as a transi. Later In Spain the iconography of Christ lying ('Cristo yacente'), as though an effigy, was very popular until the late 18th century. One of the famous sculptors known for this iconography was Gregorio Fernández, see Cristo Yacente of El Pardo. A late example of a stone effigy is that of T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia", d. 1935) by Eric Kennington, in St Martin's Church, Wareham, Dorset, installed in 1939. Another example is the effigy of Aubrey Herbert (d. 1923) in the Church of St Nicholas, Brushford in Somerset. References Sources Smith, Jeffrey Chipps. The Northern Renaissance (Art and Ideas). London: Phaidon Press, 2004. Panofsky, Irvin. Tomb Sculpture. London: Harry Abrams, 1964. Stone, Lawrence, Sculpture in Britain: The Middle Ages,