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When was Matthew Paris an artist?
After admission as a monk to St. Albans in 1217, he inherited the mantle of Roger of Wendover, the abbey's official recorder of events, in 1236.
What did Matthew Paris paint as St. Albans' official recorder of events?
Matthew Paris wrote a number of works, mostly historical, which he scribed and illuminated himself, typically in drawings partly coloured with watercolour washes, sometimes called tinted drawings.

Question: Was he a popular artist?
Self-contained rewrite: Was Matthew Paris a popular artist?