(Click to enlarge) Well, perhaps not so strange. This is a detail of one of the monuments to the earls of Coventry in the church at Croome. I love statues with extreme and rhetorical gestures especially when there is a suggestion of a narrative. Here the husband expostulates with his wife concerning the TV remote control.
(Click to enlarge)This monument is apparently called "The Spirit of Chester". Possibly "ghost" would be a better term?
(Click to enlarge) This creature was spotted in Barcelona- European Capital of Pickpockets.
(Click to enlarge) Statue of Ivor Novello -Cardiff. Rather gives the impression he got bored posing for his portrait, I think.
(Click to enlarge) At Cheshire Oaks Shopping centre near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire.
(Click to enlarge) James Joyce in Dublin... "My affected manner is solely due to the height of the dunghill.(and I consider myself a very superior sort of person)"
(Click to enlarge) I snapped this Antony Gormley figure on Crosby beach in 2007. Perhaps I should check in a dictionary but the word evoked for me by Gormley's figures is "elegiac". When asked why so much of his work was based upon life casts taken from his own body the artist is said to have remarked "It is what I am given". Well, you can't argue with that.
(Click to enlarge) I came across this curious figure in Dublin last year and had no sooner snapped it than the gentleman on the left appeared. He insisted I photograph him beside it. Not wanting to offend, I did so. This became his cue to ask me for money- so be warned! Nevertheless I was surprised, upon examining the picture later, to see that he appeared to bear more than a passing resemblance to the statue.
(Click to enlarge) Statue of Charles Stewart Parnell, Dublin. I seem to recall reading somewhere that James Joyce declared that many of the public statues of his native city appeared to be saying "In my day the dunghill was this high." There can be little doubt that this figure of the nineteenth century politician belongs to this particular genre.
(Click to enlarge) Standing in front of the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square is this rather curious depiction of King James II. He appears as a surprisingly convincing Roman military man- incongruously since he was to lose both the throne, being chased out during the so-called "Glorious Revolution" of 1688, and his subsequent attempt to recover it. He is remembered as our last Catholic monarch but it is less frequently recalled that the British colonists in North America named the formerly Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam after him (he had been Duke of York). Here ironies abound because the treacherous Parliament invited the Protestant Dutchman, William of Orange, to invade, offering him the crown. James's error lay in failing to recognise that England had long been ruled by a conspiracy of rich men in whose interest the king was expected to rule.
(click to enlarge)On a recent visit to London I observed this mysterious monument in Whitehall. It appears that these poor souls were either vapourised or were in some other way mysteriously parted from their clothing. Next time I go there I shall attempt to find the missing bodies.
(click to enlarge) In a somer seson, whan softe was the sonne,
I shoop me into shroudes as I a sheep were,
In habite as an heremite unholy of werkes
Wente wide in this world wondres to here.
Ac on a May morwenynge on Malverne hill
Me bifel a ferly, of Fairye me thoghte.
I was wery forwandred and wente me to reste
Under a brood bank by a bourne syde;
And as I lay and lenede and loked on the watres,
I slombred into a slepyng, it sweyed so murye.
Thanne gan I meten a merveillous swevene --
That I was in a wildernesse, wiste I nevere where.
A[c] as I biheeld into the eest an heigh to the sonne,
I seigh a tour on a toft trieliche ymaked,
A deep dale bynethe, a dongeon therinne,
With depe diches and derke and dredfulle of sighte.
A fair feeld ful of folk fond I ther bitwene --
Of alle manere of men, the meene and the riche,
Werchynge and wandrynge as the world asketh.
Somme putten hem to the plough, pleiden ful selde,
In settynge and sowynge swonken ful harde,
And wonnen that thise wastours with glotonye destruyeth.
Piers Plowman
(Click to enlarge)The historic home of the Earls of Coventry, the house designed by Robert Adam and grounds by Lancelot "Capability" Brown, was home to a special school run by nuns between the late 1940s and 1970s. Subsequent owners included a Hare Krishna group. Now being cared for by the National Trust, it had only recently been opened to the public, following restoration, when we visited on 23rd October.
(Click to enlarge) In the porch of the church adjacent to the figure of Christ in Glory.
(Click to enlarge) Above the Romanesque doorway is a figure Of Christ in Glory attended by angels.
(Click to enlarge)The home of the famous medieval chronicler William of Malmesbury and last known resting place of Athelstan- the first king of all England (and a good chunk of Scotland too).His tomb is still there.
(Click to enlarge) The Druids' Dance, also known as Stonehenge, the famous group of stones on Salisbury Plain, was said by some ancient authorities to have been transported from Ireland by Merlin. Modern experts suggest that work on the site began about 5,000 years ago with the larger stones having been brought from the Marlborough Downs, about 25 miles away while the smaller stones appear to have come from the Preseli Hills in Pembrokeshire. Nobody knows what it was for. Perhaps, like so many of the strange and wonderful works of man, it seemed like a good idea at the time! One interesting possibility is that the building trade hasn't changed very much: the contractor said he'd be" back to put the roof on next Wednesday" and that was about 3,500 years ago.
(Click to enlarge)Looking west. I have suspected for some time that typical features of Gothic architecture- the pointed arch and the clustered column- were developed with stone vaulting in mind. In a pointed arch more of the weight of the arch and what it supports appear to be concentrated over the pier while the lines of the clustered columns may well have acted as markers for the ribs which, as the building progressed upwards, would support the vaulting.
(Click to enlarge) The view that greeted us as we made our way from Harnham on 22nd October. Of all the medieval cathedrals of England Salisbury is possibly the most visually harmonious. It was built, if I remember correctly, in one major campaign in the first half of the thirteenth century and from scratch owing to the decision to relocate the entire city from its ancient hill fort site at Old Sarum. Salisbury- or New Sarum- was also one of relatively few English cathedrals which was not a monastic foundation and was the home of the Use of Sarum, a variant of the Roman Rite, which predominated in much of England in the later middle ages.
(Click to enlarge)The ranging of figural sculpture across the west front seems to be a peculiarly English feature- as seen, for instance at Wells, Salisbury and, here, at Exeter. The effect is not unlike the idea of a reredos "writ large" and contrasts with the characteristic French tendency of having figures predominantly arranged in "funnel-like" groupings around the doors- a feature to which Pope Benedict drew attention in his recent discourse on Romanesque and Gothic art.
(Click to enlarge) Just to show that England isn't all beautiful ancient monuments and tasteful antiquities! This was what greeted us at Land's End- a far cry from what I recall from the days of my youth- nevertheless, out of season and just as the shades of evening began to fall, I think it had an almost melancholy kind of beauty about it.
(Click to enlarge) Site of a medieval monastery now inhabited by a wealthy family looked after by the National Trust. In the foreground is the causeway by which the island is reached at low tide. There is an additional charge for a ferry should you be still on the Mount after the causeway is submerged by the incoming tide. As a fellow passenger remarked "This is the first time I have had to pay to leave a place."
(Click to enlarge) This Romanesque font is currently at the entrance to the Lady Chapel of Gloucester Cathedral. Made of lead, presumably cast, it is thought to date from c.1140 but was only placed in the Cathedral in the last century.
(Click to enlarge) The former Abbey Church of Gloucester associated with events of national importance- the Conqueror's ordering of the Doomsday survey in 1086 and the burial of King Edward II following his gruesome murder at Berkeley Castle in 1327- survived the Reformation by being assigned Cathedral status. Architecturally, we can see the full range of Romanesque and Gothic styles. The nave, seen here looking towards the crossing, is notable for its massive Romanesque columns and semi-circular arches. The sexpartite rib vaulting above the clerestory is but a hint in the direction of what follows in the choir with its triumphant east window and, yet further beyond, the sheer architectural exuberance of the Lady Chapel. At some point following the destruction of the rood the organ was placed on top of the surviving screen unfortunately restricting the view of the east window from the nave. Perhaps the most surprising feature of this ostensibly gothic building is the extent to which the original Romanesque structure survives. In the choir the massive circular columns are overlaid with elegant and almost lace-like gothic detailing.
(Click to enlarge) In the top two central panels (with red background) may be seen the figures of Christ (right) with hand raised in blessing and turning towards the figure of the Blessed Virgin (left) who is seen seated and crowned bowing to Him. Tothe right and left of them and in successive rows of panels beneath are the figures of the saints in attendance. When, exactly a month ago, I stood in Gloucester Cathedral, I suddenly found myself recalling the days of my youth when the Fifth Glorious Mystery of the Rosary would be given announced as "The Coronation of Our Lady Queen of Heaven and the Glory of all the Saints" (my emphasis). This is so clearly the subject of the Gloucester window which I think is the largest medieval stained glass window in England. To the left of the figure of Our Lady is that of St Peter who as patron of the Abbey is shown holding a church.
(Click to enlarge). The bell tower of the church in East Bergholt (where Constable was subsequently born) was begun c.1525 but never completed.
