Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Salisbury: A Description of its Fabric and a Brief History of the See of SarumWhite, Gleeson
History
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Salisbury: A Description of its Fabric and a Brief History of the See of Sarum
White, Gleeson
Salisbury Cathedral
=The Decorations of the Roof= of the choir and presbytery are
reproductions by Messrs. Clayton and Bell of the original paintings,
which dated probably from the thirteenth century. The series,
commencing from the west, shows twenty-four prophets and saints, all,
with the exception of St. John the Baptist, selected from the Old
Testament. Taking them in lines parallel with the choir screen, the
first row contains (reading from the left, as one faces the altar):
Zechariah, Daniel, Ezekiel, and St. John the Baptist; the second:
Zacharias, Joel, Hosea, and Zephaniah; the third: Job, Habakkuk,
Nahum, David; the fourth: Moses, Micah, Jonah, and Jacob; the fifth:
Malachi, Obadiah, Amos, and Isaac; and the sixth: Haggai, Jeremiah,
Isaiah, and Abraham. In the square of the transept crossing are
(following the same order): St. Thomas and St. Andrew, St. Matthew and
St. John, St. Philip and St. Simon, St. Bartholomew and St. Matthias.
At the left the last panel on that side contains St. Peter and St.
Andrew, while another in the opposite corner has St. James and St.
John. In the centre is a figure of Christ, in majesty, surrounded by
the four evangelists.
From this point to the east the panels are devoted to secular subjects
typifying the twelve months, "The signs of the Zodiac," Price calls
them: January, warming at a fire; February, drinking wine; March,
delving; April, sowing; May, hawking; June, flowers; July, reaping;
August, threshing; September, fruit; October, brewing; November,
cutting wood; December, killing the fatted pig. The originals were
white, or rather buff-washed, in the last century. Owing to the
tenacity of this wash, and the friable non-adhesive quality of the
paint it covered, it was found impossible to remove the additional
coating without destroying the original paintings. Tracings of some of
them were made by Messrs. Clayton and Bell; but although the
semi-transparent character of the buff wash allowed the subjects to be
discerned from below; on nearer inspection the details became blurred
and shapeless.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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