English Medieval Brass Rubbing of John Leventhorpe. The rubbing on paper depicts John Leventhorpe (one of the executors of both Henry IV's and Henry V's wills) in full battle dress with his palms pressed in prayer, after a tribute figure in St. Helen's Church in Bishopsgate, London, circa 1510. Informative paper on back of piece. 

Overall Size: 44 3/4 x 23 1/2 in. 

Sight Size: 34 x 14 1/2 in. 

Brass rubbing was originally a largely British enthusiasm for reproducing onto paper monumental brasses, commemorative brass plaques found in churches, and other surfaces usually found on the floor or walls of medieval buildings or even older structures. It was particularly popular in Britain because of the large number of medieval brasses surviving there from between the 13th to 16th Centuries, more than in any other country. The concept of recording textures of things is more generally called making a rubbing, or frottage, which is thought to be the most ancient technique of making reproductions still in use. What distinguishes rubbings from frottage is that rubbings are meant to reproduce the form of something being transferred, whereas frottage is usually only intended to use a general texture. 

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