Bell's Cathedrals: St. David'sRobson, Philip A. (Philip Appleby)
History
Bell's Cathedrals: St. David's
Robson, Philip A. (Philip Appleby)
St. Davids Cathedral
adorned with rectangular panels having their upper angles rounded off
without any kind of foliation, and exhibiting cases of interpenetration
in its worst form. Altogether the architectural ornaments are extremely
poor, and nearly resemble much of the German work of that period.” This
unnecessarily severe censure is, however, tempered with discriminating
praise of the sculpture: “The sculpture, on the other hand, is extremely
spirited and graceful, as well that of the principal figure, as those of
the smaller images which adorn the sides. In the two panels on the north
side there are six images of Apostles; six more evidently decorated the
south side, but these have been cut away to make room for a pew. At the
foot there is a group representing the resurrection of our Saviour,
sculptured in alto-relievo with remarkable grace and freedom. At the
head there is a griffin, Bishop Morgan’s bearing, supporting a shield
with the letters W and I, or J, in a cypher. Whose initials they may be,
we are at a loss to say; the heraldic bearing taken in connection with
authority almost contemporaneous leaves us in doubt to whom we are to
attribute the monument. This tomb, with its very advanced sculpture, and
very debased architecture, is a striking commentary on the state of the
arts at that important period of transition; and it is extremely curious
to observe the corruptions of the latter art manifesting themselves in
tombs in the first instance. The monument of Henry VII. in Westminster
Abbey, is of course a remarkable case of the same kind.”
Opposite Morgan’s tomb, under the eastern window of the south aisle, is
a Decorated recess containing the tomb of an unknown priest (No. 27),
all in Caerfai stone. The canopy is very fine.[74] It is part of a
concave-sided octagon, at the points of which are radial finials. This
form is to be found in Bristol Cathedral, and “is clearly a development
of the idea which produced the semi-octagonal doorways in the
rood-screen and the palace.”[75] Gower’s characteristic ornaments--the
pellet, four-leaved flower and wave-moulding--spring from octagonal
shafts with a big projection. On each side is a pinnacle having an odd
and ugly decoration at the offsets, but it is on the whole preferable to
Gower’s customary flat quatrefoil. The altar-tomb is of plain ashlar,
and on it lies a priest in eucharistic vestments, his head on a double
cushion carried by angels, and at his feet a dog.
There are some slabs with crosses near here and some shells before the
daïs, which once contained matrices of the brasses, with figures about
half full size to William Wilcock (1502) and Richard Ragader[76] (1530),
prebendaries of St. Nicholas and masters of St. Mary’s College Chapel,
which will probably account for several unidentifiable slabs in the
choir and elsewhere.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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