How to Visit the English CathedralsSingleton, Esther
History
How to Visit the English Cathedrals
Singleton, Esther
Cathedrals -- England
“A prominent feature in the Latin-Chapel is the old oak stalling,
which a second inspection proves to be patchwork. The returned
stalls at the west end probably belonged to the choir of the
conventual church, and in that case would have been fitted in here
when Dean Duppa ‘adorned’ the choir by destroying the old
wood-work. Near to these is some of the work prepared for Cardinal
Wolsey’s new chapel. The poppy-heads are good specimens of
wood-carving, and contain a monogram I.H.S., a heart in a crown of
thorns, a cardinal’s hat, and other devices. The pulpit, with its
delicate canopy, an excellent specimen of Seventeenth Century
wood-work, was formerly the Vice-Chancellor’s seat in another part
of the church, occupied by him during university sermons. It was
then used by the Regius Professor of Divinity for his lectures, but
since the altar was restored six years ago, the chapel has been no
longer used as a lecture-room.”--(P. D.)
Here we find some of the best glass in the Cathedral. At the east end is
the famous =St. Frideswide window= by Burne-Jones; and the three windows
on the north are beautiful specimens of the Fourteenth Century, replaced
here by Dean Liddell. In the middle of each light is a figure and the
rest of the space is covered with the diamond-shaped pieces of glass
bearing leaves and flowers, technically called “quarries.” Medallions
and borders with various beasts--even monkeys--decorate the spaces in
the tracery. The first window depicts St. Catherine, a Virgin and Child,
and next a figure, probably St. Frideswide; the second window represents
an archbishop and angels; and the third, St. Frideswide with St.
Margaret on one side and St. Catherine on the other. It is very
interesting to compare these with the Burne-Jones’s St. Frideswide at
the east end:
“Though this is one of the first windows that Burne-Jones ever
designed it is one of his best. Better suited (as many think) to
the purpose of a window, at all events in this enclosed chapel,
than the freer method of the other glass, it carries on the best
traditions of the craft, in its infinite variety of gem-like colour
and complexity of detail; while it attains a degree of perfection
in pictorial effect and figure-drawing which was impossible during
the great era of mediæval glass-painting. The death of the saint,
with its lovely effect of light through the latticed window, for
instance, and the picture of her in the pig-sty, would be perfect
as finished pictures, and yet do not for an instant outstep the
convention which is necessary for their function as part of a
window.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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