Bell's Cathedrals: Wimborne Minster and Christchurch Priory: A Short History of Their Foundation and a Description of Their BuildingsPerkins, Thomas, Rev.
History
Bell's Cathedrals: Wimborne Minster and Christchurch Priory: A Short History of Their Foundation and a Description of Their Buildings
Her chantry is built of Caen stone, and the decoration is of Renaissance
character. It is conjectured to be the work of the Florentine sculptor
Pietro Torrigiano, who died in the prison of the Inquisition in Spain in
1522. He was engaged on Henry VII.'s tomb in Westminster, and other
works ordered by Henry VIII. at Westminster and Windsor, from 1509 till
1517; and if this chantry at Christchurch is his design the date must
lie between these two years. Two four-light windows with battlemented
transoms look out on either side; to the west of these two doorways
lead, one to the presbytery the other to the north aisle; on the east
wall are three canopied niches, beneath which an altar stood or was
intended to stand; the ceiling is richly carved with fan traceries and
bosses; the latter have been mutilated--by order, it is said, of Henry
VIII. A letter from the King's Commissioner thus describes the work
done:--"In thys churche we founde a chaple and a monumet curiosly made
of cane stone p^rpared by the late mother of Raynolde Pole for herre
buriall, which we have causyd to be defaced and all the Armis and Badgis
to be delete." On the north side are twelve tabernacles. This chapel
stands on a richly carved panelled basement, and all the walls are
covered with minute carving; but here, as elsewhere, in late work we
find the same forms repeated again and again, and we miss that wealth
of fancy which gives each boss or capital carved by the earlier workers
such a life and individuality. The side of this chapel that faces the
north aisle is more elaborate than that facing the choir, and is
necessarily more lofty, as its base rests on the floor of the aisle,
which is lower than the floor of the presbytery. On the west face is
one of several memorial tablets to members of the Rose family, who are
buried in this aisle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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