No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
IV.—On the Series of Wall Paintings in the Church of St. Mary, Guildford
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 January 2012
Extract
The Series of Paintings on the vault of the apse to the north aisle of St. Mary's Church, Guildford, unlike so many which have exercised our attention for a long time past, are of no new discovery, but were disclosed as far back as 1825. In 1838, they were described, and a solution proposed by my old friends, Edward John Carlos and John Gough Nichols, in the Archaeologia, vol. XXVII. p. 413. There are no two names which recall to me more reverent associations than those of the friends I have mentioned. Mr. Carlos was my master in archaeology, and Mr. Nichols's services are well known to this Society. But at the time they wrote little or nothing was known of the popular religious art of the Middle Ages. Didron had but begun his researches, and Maury had not written at all; whilst, in this country, whitewash still covered most of the walls of our churches. Therefore it is not a matter of surprise that their attempted solution is inaccurate, nor have those who have followed them been more fortunate. Guesses have been vaguely made, always an unsure process, for there is nothing more likely to deceive than attempts to find out the meaning of a subject without any principle to go upon: it is like a voyage upon an unknown sea, without rudder or compass. In fact, the subjects I am about to explain, are exceedingly obscure until the clue is obtained; and, at one time, I feared I must have confessed my ignorance, though not admitting the accuracy of the solution given by my friends. They are unique to my experience, and especially curious in the manner in which they are associated together.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1885
References
page 201 note a Thus the Vulgate: in our version it reads: “When the Son of Man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory.” It is a closer translation from the Greek. In the new version “holy “is rejected, thus following Griesbach's text, and agreeing with the Vulgate.
page 201 note b Mr. Carlos calls this “Heavenly judgment,” but his account cannot be for one moment accepted. Brayley's Surrey rightly suggests the true subject.
page 202 note a It is to be noted that the artist has committed two singular errors. One is that the hand from the clouds wants a finger, and the Apostle in the latter subject gives the benediction with the left hand.
page 203 note a For Crato we must read Crates, a philosopher and native of Thebes, B.C. 324, who turning his whole estate into money, delivered it to a banker on this condition: that if his sons proved philosophers, he should give it among the poor citizens, a philosopher having no occasion for money otherwise he should give it to his sons. Some write that he threw it into the sea, saying, “Away, ye paltry cares, I will drown you, that you may not drown me.” (Vide Ainsworth's Dictionary). On the floor of the Cathedral of Siena, one of the most interesting of the incised designs is that of Fortune, by Pinturrichio, in which Crates is shown emptying a basket of jewels, as throwing them away. He was a pupil of Diogenes the cynic. It is needless to say, that our author Jacobus a Voragine, who makes him contemporary with St. John, is not accurate in his chronology.
page 204 note a Mr. Carlos calls the subject “The Death of the Good.”
page 204 note b Mr. Carlos called this subject” The Death of the Wicked,” but no such conventional subject is known to ecclesiastical art. In Brayley's Surrey the illustration gives this figure an arrow in one hand and a knife in the other. The artist has been misled by appearances, there could be no consistency in the introduction of such objects.
page 205 note a Mr. Carlos calls this “Earthly Judgment.”
page 205 note b The seals were described as water bougets, but, not being bigger than spoons, it is a singular oversight on the part of my friend. It requires close examination to see this part clearly, and it was only by going up a ladder that the real character of these objects was made known. My friend Mr. Ralph Nevill, who was with me at the examination, first suggested what proved to be correct.
page 206 note a Given by Lipomani, “De Vitis Sanctorum,” as “Libellus Athanasii Episcopi Alexandrini de Passione imaginis nostri Jesu Christi, qualiter crucifixa est in Syria, in urbe Beryto, citatur in septima Synodo secunda Nieæna,” &e.
page 207 note a Archæological Journal, xxix. 179.
page 207 note b Mr. Carlos calls this “Christ passing judgment,” &e.
page 208 note a One of the descriptions places a candlestick in one of the scales. It is purely imaginary, and utterly out of place.
page 211 note a Some observers have placed the date in the twelfth century, but the style quite forbids this.
page 212 note a Vetusta Monumenta, vol. vi.—Account of the Painted Chamber, by John Gage Rokewode, F.R.S., Dir. S.A. p. 25.