The grating round the tomb was made by English workmen, and here again
you will see everywhere the king’s badges. And I want you to notice,
too, the little angels who stand round the king and queen, for they look
as if they had just flown there for a moment, so lightly are they
poised. Then you must look at the carvings round the tomb, those Saints
whom the king had chosen to be his guardians: the Virgin Mary with
Christ in her arms and St. Michael at her side; St. John the Baptist
pointing to a picture of the Lamb of God; St. John the Evangelist
holding his Gospel in his hand, an eagle standing at his feet; St.
George of England standing on the vanquished Dragon, and with him St.
Anthony dressed as a monk; Mary Magdalene with her box of precious
ointment; St. Barbara holding a three-windowed tower; St. Christopher
bearing on his shoulder the Christ Child, and St. Edward the Confessor
crowned in glory.
Just outside the screen must have stood a beautiful altar, also the work
of Torrigiano, an altar of white marble, gilded with fine gold, enriched
by inlay and carving, the central figure being "an image, erth coloured
of Christ dead;" but this was wrecked by a fanatic named Marlow in the
time of the Commonwealth, whose "ignorant zeal was such that he brake it
into shivers, though it was a raritie not to be matched in any part of
the world."
As you stand in the chapel I want you to gaze up at the vaulted roof,
which seems as though it hung in mid air, so wonderful is the design
with its fairy grace and lightness; for here you see a beautiful example
of that fan-tracery vaulting which was peculiarly English in its style,
and which in this case was probably the work of two English masons, John
Hyharn and William Vertue. Then you must look around at the army of
Saints and Martyrs who guard the walls; king, apostle, saint confessor,
all are here, and the niches in which they stand are delicately carved
and decorated. And you must try to imagine the glory of the windows in
those early days when, filled with "goode, clene, sure, and perfyte
glasse of oryent colours, and the imagery of the story of the olde lawe
and the new lawe," they reflected their rich hues around. Now only one
little part of those many painted windows remains, but that is a figure
of Henry VII., who looks down over the chapel which he raised.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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