I "9 .'5^1 %^':l M i>'ih^ mm'unf/, ^v'-yi "Al. i-'l; ";Cv"^ ^Ms. #C^L-3v^_:.il^^/ > -M-- t t f'^l 'P^xS^t I V- '.•Ci%<:3fr* e '«( ^ /-^.\ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from Research Library, The Getty Research Institute http://www.archive.org/details/iconographyofwesOOcock ^' o M f^'f-. v^l m 'i[Sli|ii*i|ippKk - 'E I • .-^Jili ill 'P, r- 3 G ICONOGRAPHY OP THE WE ST FRONT OP WELLS CATHEDRAL, WITH AS APPENDIX ON THE SCULPTURES OF OTHER -AIEDIEVAL CHURCHES IN ENGLAND; BY CHARLES ROBERT COCKERELL, R.A., MEMBER ACADEMY OF LONDON, D.C.L., HONOBAUY PEOFESSOU OF AKCHIIECIUKE IN THE BOYAL THOSE OF MUNICK ACADEMY OF ST. LUKE OF ROME, OF ,0r THE INSTITUTE OF fBANCE, OF THE AND BERNE, AND OF OTHER SOCIETIES. OXEORD AND LONDON, JOHN HENRY PARKER. M DCCC LI. OXFORD : PRINTED BY I. SHRIMPTON. INDEX. PAGE Intkodl'ctiox ...••• i. Preface ...•••• V. Description of the sculptures of the west fi-ont of Wells Cathedral 25 Detailed account of the sculptures on the south, or spiritual side 35 Detailed accoimt of the sculptures on the north, or temporal side 47 The fii-st tier of sculptm-es on the entire west fi-ont 51 The second .... 52 53 The third . • Note ..... 56 The foiu-th and fifth tiers on the spii'itiial side 60 The same tiers on the temporal side 74 Fifth tier on the north and east sides . 98 Si.xth tier .... 107 Seventh tier .... 112 Eighth tier .... 116 Ninth tier .... 118 Cataloscue of the figures in the fourth and fifth tiers of the north tower, on the north and on the east side .... .... 119 ApPEIfDIX Preface . 1 Ornaments of Churches considered 17 Exeter Cathedral .... 23 Norwich Cathedral .... 34 The south gateway of the Chiu-ch at Maluieshury 40 Canterbmy Cathedi'al .... 47 Eochester Cathedral .... 5S IITDEX. York Minster . 60 Beverley Minster 68 Lichfield Cathedral 73 Worcester Cathedral 78 Lincoln Cathedral 81 Gloucester Cathedi-al . 92 Salisbury Cathedral 95 Peterborough Cathedral 101 Croyland Abbey 105 Bath Abbey 110 — •INTRODUCTION. ' AD QU^ NOSCENDA ITER INGREDI, TRANSMITTEBE MARE SOLEMUS, EA SUB OCULIS POSITA NEGLIGIMUS: SEU QUIA ITA NATURA COMPAKATUM, UT PROXIMORUM INCURIOSI, LONGINQUA SECTEMUR: SEU QUOD OMNIUM RERUM CUPIDO LANGUESCIT, QUUM FACILIS OCCASIO EST: SEU QUOD DIFFERIMUS, TANQUAM SjEPE VISURI, QUOD DATUR VIDERE, QUOTIES VELIS CERNERE. QUA- CUNQUE DE CAUSA PERMULTA IN PROVINCIA NOSTRA, NON OCULIS MODO, SED NE AURIBUS QUIDEM NOVIMUS; QU.B SI TULISSET ACHAIA, EGYPTUS, ALIAVE QU.«LIBET MIRACULORUM FERAX COMMENDATBIXQUE TERRA, AUDITA, PERLECTA LUSTEATAQUE HABEREMUS." PLIN. Epist. Tin. 20. The reproof which PUny addressed to the Romans is entirely applicable to ourselves ; for if it could be shewn to the lovers of antiquity, that there existed in any country of equal influence with England in the world's history, an extensive but hitherto unedited commentary in living sculptm-e, of the thirteenth centuiy, upon its earUest dynasties, its Churchmen, and religious creed; doubtless not a moment would be lost by the liberal and ingenious patrons of such studies, in obtaining an accurate account of so precious a relic, however distant the object and difficult the enterprise. And yet, such an one in the bosom of our own country, and fulfilling these most interesting conditions, has hitherto been disregarded, and may perhaps ere long elude altogether the attention of which it is so worthy through the rapid decay and dilapidations " of time ; because now, as in Pliny's days, while we long for distant objects, we are incurious about oiu: own," and employ our funds and our energies in pro- curing from Greece and Egypt the remains of their art, and of their dark mythology, so foreign to our sympathies ; while we neglect the deeply in- teresting relics of our own country and of oiir own religious antiquities, leaving them not only unillustrated, but unseen and scarcely heard of. u INTRODUCTION. The sculptures of Wells Cathedral were designed to illustrate in the most ample and striking manner, the great and fundamental doctrines of the Christian Faith, its happy advent to this country, and its subsequent protection under the several d}Tiasties to the date of their executioij in 1214. For reasons hereafter to be explained, they relate also in a peculiar manner to the Anglo-Saxon originators of those laws and institutions which, under favouring Providence, have spread them- selves together with our race over vast portions of the globe. They were conceived and executed by minds which enforced Magna Charta, and with Roger Bacon, Greathead, Scotus, and others, raised the intellectual character of om* country to the liighest grade of European civihzation at that period. Fraught at once with the gravest and most important interests of religion, history, and archteology, according to the learning and the taste of their day, they demand the best attention which can be bestowed upon them. Professionally invited by the late Very Reverend Dean Goodenongh, to ad\dse on the application of the funds munificently raised by himself and the chapter for the repaii-s of the fabric of Wells Cathedral, I found myself irresistibly impelled, as much by a sincere admii'ation of these sculptm-es, as by a taste long ago imbibed in Greece and Italy, for reconciling the "disjecta membra" of ancient art, to unravel if possible a knot hitherto untied, and to penetrate through the quaintness of the style and the dilapidations of centmies, into their noble aim and purpose. Having after much pleasurable labour satisfied myself fully of the admirable dignity and cogency of the design, and of the importance of these sculptures as historical and archaeological evidence, I considered it my duty, in the absence of any previous explanation of a satisfactory, or even a rational kind, to lay before the Public such proofs and indications as my own unassisted di-awings and engravings and notes on the subject could furnish, in order to invite those more careful and elaborate illustrations, which the funds of om- learned societies alone are capable of affording in all their fulness, and of which the sculptm-cs of Wells Cathedral are so entirely worthy. I considered this monument as a yet undeciphered record of the religious, INTRODUCTION. hi moral, and intellectual notions of their clay, inscribed in stone, and preserved by a singular good fortune to our times, while others of a similar description have perished in religious or political revolutions ; and I proposed by this Essay to do some measure of justice to this neglected work, and to the glory of our ancestors in an era no less remarkable for fine arts than for learning and chivalry, following the injunction of the ardent Bale. " As ye find a notable antiquyty, such as are the hystoryes of Gildas and Nennius araonge the Brytaynes, Stephanides and Asserius among the Englyshe Saxons, lete them anon be imprented, and so brynge them into a nombre of coppyes both to their and your owne perpetual fame^." A strong professional motive (no less than of love of ancient art) has iirged this undertaking, namely, the illustration, by this beautiful example, of the neces- sity and advantage to every work of magnificence, of a large admission of sculp- ture in carrying out architectural design ; of the indispensable union of the sister arts. Sculpture (especially) and Painting, with Ai'chitecture, for the glory of art and of our holy religion. The entire harmony of such an union with the canons and principles of the Anglican Church, has been triumphantly proved by the learned author of " The Ornaments of Churches considered" ;" in which the authorities of Luther, and Erasmus, together with the express opinions of the most illustrious reformers and doctors of the Anglican Church, are quoted at great length, and the whole sub- ject treated with irresistible argument and eloquence. I have to acknowledge the aid I have received in the prosecution of this study, from the late Very Rev. the Dean, -whose ingenuity and learning were largely interested in it; from the Count Mortara, the Rev. J. Pollen, the Rev. J. W. Burgon of Oxford, and other obliging friends. '• Preface to Leland's New Tear's Gift. ' See Appendix A. PREFACE. The sculptm-es which adorn the western front of the venerable Cathedral of Wells, are beheld by no one without wonder and admiration. The most cursory observation of the learned eye recognises at once a grand design and order, which only the opportunity of leisure is wanting to explain ; while the ignorant observer is conscious of that undefined veneration, which, for more than six hundred years, has imposed respect on the careless, and even on the spoiler, through the most evil times, and has preserved them with comparatively little injury to the present day. Overwhelmed by the number, variety, and detail exhibited in these extended galleries of sculptures, and in the absence of any guide or key to their elucida- tion, the spectator receives but a confused impression, however striking. He acknowledges the questionable shape in which so many august and kingly personages, so many holy images of saints and martyrs, present themselves to his regard, and invite his meditations ; but their due appreciation is obviously a work of patience and of spectacles, and even of the telescope, for many of their most precious details ; and, to encounter the zephyrs at Kill-Canon-corner, (the name emphatically given to the best point of view,) he should be warmed, not only with enthusiasm, but in most seasons, with a good macintosh, provided with leisure, and recommended to that learned entertainment and hospitahty of the Cathedral close, to which the ancient character given in Chaundler's Life of Bekington applies with equal force in the present day ^.