Medieval paintings
/David Park discusses the medieval paintings of the Cathedral and their conservation, including the exceptional 13th-century Wheel of Fortune. Extract from The Friends of Rochester Cathedral Annual Report for 1984.
The splendid Wheel of Fortune in the choir is the only painting in Rochester Cathedral which is at all well known. An enormous amount of other painted decoration survives in the cathedral, however, on walls, vaults, woodwork and tombs. Some of this painting has never been published or even photographed in the past, but all has recently been recorded by the National Survey of Medieval Wall Paintings, which is being carried out by the Courtauld Institute of Art and the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments. Much of the painting is not only of high quality, but also now in urgent need of conservation treatment.
The Dean and Chapter have already contributed to the estimated sum of f20,000 needed for the first phase of the conservation programme and are appealing to trusts and others for the means to enable this work to begin.
The Wheel of Fortune was discovered in 1840 on the removal of the old pulpit. In the centre, Fortune is shown turning the wheel, while on the left two figures clamber upwards, and another is shown enthroned at the top. In the lost part to the right one or more figures would have been represented falling from the wheel. The painting dates from about the second quarter of the thirteenth century, and is one of the earliest surviving representations of this subject, though we know that other examples were ordered in the same period by Henry III for his hall in Winchester Castle and his chamber in Clarendon Palace. The surviving part of the painting is generally in excellent condition, and its superb quality and rich colourings are very striking. Unfortunately, however, it has been coated at some time with a so-called "preservative" which has darkened, and needs to be removed.
Most parts of the cathedral retain some medieval painting, though it is impossible to mention all the survivals here. Much of the east wall of the main south transept is covered with four-teenth-century painting which, although the details are now mostly very hard to distinguish, was again clearly of high quality. It includes the Annunciation, St. Margaret of Antioch standing on the dragon, and various other saints and angels, with most of the figures set beneath elaborate architectural canopies. In the nave, on a pier at the west end of the south arcade, is an early representation of St. Christopher, the patron saint of travellers, shown as usual near the entrance of the church. The pier itself suffers so badly from rising damp that salt crystals are visible on the stonework beneath the painting, which is very faint and would certainly benefit from cleaning. On another pier of the same arcade a small crowned figure, again very faint, was noticed a few years ago by the wife of the present Dean. It probably dates from the thirteenth century.
Especially fine decorative painting of fourteenth-century date survives in and around a tomb recess in the north-east transept.
This part of the cathedral housed the shrine of St. William of Perth, the baker - pilgrim murdered near Rochester in 1201, who became the subject of a major cult. The back wall of the tomb is decorated with folate scrollwork in green on a red ground, and with birds facing in opposite directions and forming an overall diaper pattern. The painting, which is on a limewash ground applied directly to the wall surface, is now in dreadful condition, flaking off in many areas. It has been very crudely uncovered, and much of the limewash with which it had been coated at some date in the past still adheres to the paint surface. It is vital that this painting should receive conservation treatment before it deteriorates further.
In the most shocking condition of all are paintings in the crypt, and their treatment will be the first priority in the planned conservation programme. The very large and impressive crypt dates mainly from c. 1195-1227, but its painted decoration is probably of the early fourteenth century. The most significant remains, on the vault of one of the north-west bays and on an adjacent arch, are shown in Tristram's water-colour, from which their exceptional quality is evident. Like the Wheel of Fortune, they have been treated in the past with a
"preservative" which has darkened badly. By forming an impervious skin over the paintings it has also prevented moisture in their plaster ground from escaping, and the plaster has now rotted to such an extent that both it and the painting are bulging away from the vault in places, and are in imminent danger of collapse. A major part of the conservation work will involve detaching the paintings from the vault, by sophisticated techniques used successfully on many other English wall paintings in recent decades. New plaster will then be laid on the vaults, and the paintings replaced and carefully cleaned.
The vault scenes are enclosed by roundels, but those on the arch are contained within elaborate cusped frames, similar to those of the celebrated De Lisle Psalter, of the early fourteenth century, now in the British Library. One or more strange, stylised trees form a striking feature of most of the scenes on the arch. The subject-matter of the paintings has yet to be satisfactorily elucidated. Some sixty years ago they were interpreted by Tristram as scenes in the life of St. Paulinus, the seventh-century saint who was the first bishop of York, and subsequently bishop of Rochester. However, it is difficult to see how the scenes fit the story of this saint, and the identification was not repeated in Tristram's book on fourteenth-century paintings published in 1955. He here described one scene as showing a man on a ship near a shore "where lies a draped figure, apparantly female, but much defaced, accompanied by a small child, or perhaps a small nude figure". This description tallies with an episode in the legend of St. Mary Magdalene, who restored to life the dead wife of the ruler of Provence, who had been forced to abandon her on the seashore with their new-born child. An alter to the Magdalene is known to have existed in the crypt in the Middle Ages. However, in the present state of the paintings, it is unclear whether Tristram's description was entirely accurate, and by no means all the other scenes appear to show the story of the Magdalene. It can only be hoped that, as so often happens, the nature of the subject-matter will become
This part of the cathedral housed the shrine of St. William of Perth, the baker - pilgrim murdered near Rochester in 1201, who became the subject of a major cult. The back wall of the tomb is decorated with foliate scrollwork in green on a red ground, and with birds facing in opposite directions and forming an overall diaper pattern. The painting, which is on a limewash ground applied directly to the wall surface, is now in dreadful condition, flaking off in many areas. It has been very crudely uncovered, and much of the limewash with which it had been coated at some date in the past still adheres to the paint surface. It is vital that this painting should receive conservation treatment before it deteriorates further.
In the most shocking condition of all are paintings in the crypt, and their treatment will be the first priority in the planned conservation programme. The very large and impressive crypt dates mainly from c. 1195-1227, but its painted decoration is probably of the early fourteenth century. The most significant remains, on the vault of one of the north-west bays and on an adjacent arch, are shown in Tristram's water-colour, from which their exceptional quality is evident. Like the Wheel of Fortune, they have been treated in the past with a "preservative" which has darkened badly. By forming an impervious skin over the paintings it has also prevented moisture in their plaster ground from escaping, and the plaster has now rotted to such an extent that both it and the painting are bulging away from the vault in places, and are in imminent danger of collapse. A major part of the conservation work will involve detaching the paintings from the vault, by sophisticated techniques used successfully on many other English wall paintings in recent decades. New plaster will then be laid on the vaults, and the paintings replaced and carefully cleaned.
The vault scenes are enclosed by roundels, but those on the arch are contained within elaborate cusped frames, similar to those of the celebrated De Lisle Psalter, of the early fourteenth century, now in the British Library. One or more strange, stylised trees form a striking feature of most of the scenes on the arch. The subject-matter of the paintings has yet to be satisfactorily elucidated. Some sixty years ago they were interpreted by Tristram as scenes in the life of St. Paulinus, the seventh-century saint who was the first bishop of York, and subsequently bishop of Rochester. However, it is difficult to see how the scenes fit the story of this saint, and the identification was not repeated in Tristram's book on fourteenth-century paintings published in 1955. He here described one scene as showing a man on a ship near a shore "where lies a draped figure, apparantly female, but much defaced, accompanied by a small child, or perhaps a small nude figure". This description tallies with an episode in the legend of St. Mary Magdalene, who restored to life the dead wife of the ruler of Provence, who had been forced to abandon her on the seashore with their new-born child. An alter to the Magdalene is known to have existed in the crypt in the Middle Ages. However, in the present state of the paintings, it is unclear whether Tristram's description was entirely accurate, and by no means all the other scenes appear to show the story of the Magdalene. It can only be hoped that, as so often happens, the nature of the subject-matter will become
when the paintings are cleaned. It is already evident that, The Final interpretation, the iconography here is very
vives in the crypt, and was recorded the Wall Paintings Survey. The side, corresponding in position to escribed, bears the remains of red le type of cusped frames, and also of individually recorded. Masonry joints between squared blocks of common form of medieval painted also oceurs on the northern arch, and on the vault lining it, as well as in several other bays of this masonry pattern has previously been earlier in date than the scenes on the north side, it is painting is of one period. On the southern drawing in red for the figures is on the ace as the masonry pattern. The final painting over this lower layer. The combination of masonly figure-subjects, though odd to modern unusual in the Middle Ages. Elsewhere in the cathedral an example close in date to the crypt paintings can be seen in the fine Crucifixion on a buttress in the south choir aisle.
Three types of vault decoration are seen in two bays in the north-west corner of the erypt. Plain masonry pattern appears here, together with the same pattern enriched with five-petalled flowers, one flower occupying the centre of each block of simulated masonry, In one place, the masonry pattern is covered by foliate scrollwork, in the same way that it is overlain by figures elsewhere in the crypt. The leaves of the scrollwork resemble oak leaves, and such naturalism is typical of early four-icenth-century painting. Several other vaults in the crypt show different kinds of decorative painting, including, at the east end, a thicker type of scrollwork, and masonry pattern enriched with star-like motifs.
Of particular significance is the painting surviving on the vault of the south-eastern bay. Further roundels can be seen here, though they are now so darkened, and in such poor condition, that details are difficult to decipher. A water-colour copy of one of them was made by Tristram, who thought it was earlier than those in the western part of the crypt. However, once again, it is more probable that this painting belongs to the same period, and formed part of an overall scheme of decoration carried out in the crypt in the early fourteenth century.
Like the other roundels, those in the south-east bay are combined with masonry pattern, and one of them contains fragments of at least one figure, not previously recorded. The head of this male figure appears to be in a style consistent with an early fourteenth-century dating. There is every likelihood that if these paintings receive the cleaning and conservation treatment which they so badly need, this question of dating could be resolved.
David Park
Extract from The Friends of Rochester Cathedral Annual Report for 1984
The Friends of Rochester Cathedral were founded to help finance the maintenance of the fabric and grounds. The Friends’ annual reports have become a trove of articles on the fabric and history of the cathedral.
Fragments of mural paintings date back to the 13th century and collections of portraits of previous bishops and canons.
