( fl 1291-1303). English goldsmith and bronze-caster. In 1291 he was commissioned to cast three life-size effigies: one of King Henry III (1292) to stand on the Cosmati work tomb-chest in Westminster Abbey, London, and two of Eleanor of Castile (d 1290), King Edward I's first wife. The first of the Queen's images was to rest on the Purbeck marble tomb-chest in Westminster Abbey; the other was to lie on the duplicate monument (destr.) provided for her entrails in Lincoln Cathedral. The bronze of the Westminster effigies, which were cast by the lost-wax method, is up to 100 mm thick in places, suggesting that Torel was unfamiliar with casting techniques on such a large scale. His workshop was a shed in the abbey churchyard, where he worked on the project for two years, receiving payment of more than
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