Welcome to “The Friends” Newsletter No. 7 Autumn 2017 EVENTS SPONSORED BY THE FRIENDS OF ST MARTINS Hello, and welcome to this bumper edition of the Newsletter. This is to make up for the lack of any publications since the new year, for which we apologise, and hope that this edition will make up for the shortfall. Firstly, there are still a few events that are sponsored by the Friends this year: Friday 8th December Edward Hewes will perform Messian's "La Nativitie" Tickets are £8 for non-members and £7 for members of The Friends of St. Martin's. Refreshments will be served (including a free glass of wine) by the Friends of St Martin's at the end, when there will be an opportunity to meet each organist. The Christmas Fair Saturday 2nd December 10.00 am. All welcome. The fair coincides with the opening of our Christmas Tree Festival which continues throughout Advent and Christmas. Any contributions to this will be very happily accepted. Christmas trees should not be taller than 5ft, be decorated with a significant theme and be lit with non-flashing lights. Please ring Mike if you wish to contribute 07342 046 193. Coming next June 9th (2018) - a talk by Suzanne Fagence Cooper on sir Edward Burne-Jones in anticipation of The Tate Britain Exhibition opening in October 2018. Further details soon. Provisional dates for organ recitals in 2018: Sat 26th May; Fridays 29th June, 20th OR 27th July, 21st OR 28th September and 26th October. Alternative dates will be finalised asp. In This edition: We are fortunate to have an artist-in-residence, Angela Chalmers, who resides in Mary Craven’s house on The Esplanade (although in the servant’ quarters, I suspect). Angela has added to the work she has displayed in the church this year and introduces herself in the first article. We continue to explore individual windows with The Three Mary’s Window, perhaps one of the most interesting one we have as it depicts three of the famous Pre-Raphaelite Stunners, Annie Miller, Georgiana MacDonald and Lizzie Siddal. Mike Baines has recently read Julian Trueher’s biography entitled “Ford Madox Brown Pre- Raphaelite Pioneer”, and provides us with some interesting information about Brown’s life from this work. To complement this article there is a description and commentary on one of Brown’s most famous works “The Last of England”. Extending the theme of Ford Maddox Brown there is an article on the Life of St. Martin which related to Brown’s St. Martin Window which was the subject of What’s In A Window No 2 in the second Newsletter. You can download it at: http://www.friendsofstmartins.co.uk/Documents/Newsletter2Final.pdf The exploration of the life of St. Martin continues with a detailed look at the series of 10 frescoes painted by Simone Martini in the St. Martin Chapel in San Francesco, Assisi. We also continue our series of articles on George Frederick Bodley, this time looking at how he met the Pre-Raphaelites and one of his earliest cooperative works with them – The Church of St. Michael and All Angels in Brighton. Finally, a short article about The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood first published in Look and Learn Magazine 1n 1973! It is a brief and informative overview of the aims and principles of the movement, something I am frequently asked about when doing guided tours. There is interesting content about how they arrive at the PRB name. Contents: Artist-in Residence by Angela Chalmers page 3 What’s In A Window? No 6: The Three Marys’ Window by Burne-Jones and William Morris Page 9 Ford Madox Brown by Mike Baines page 27 The Last Of England by Ford Madox Brown page 31 A Short Biography of St. Martin page 36 Scenes From The Life of St. Martin by Simone Martini 1280 – 1344 page 42 George Frederick Bodley – 3. Meeting and Working with the Pre-Raphaelites page 57 The Pre-Raphaelites wanted truth and naturalism in their Art page 65 2 Artist-in-Residence Dear readers My name is Angela Chalmers and I am delighted to announce my role as artist-in-residence at St Martin-on-the-Hill. In the past, I have produced ‘There’s Something About Mary’ and ‘Floral Poetry’ and more recently two large works on paper called ‘Adam & Eve’, which were displayed during the Heritage Open Days in September. I have been a professional artist for over 12 years and have worked in London and Sweden on various art projects. I am very excited to work with the church to help build on its community and assist the friends of St Martin’s on the committee. So what does artist-in-residence actually mean? In short, an artist is invited to spend some time in a different environment from their usual place of work. It is quite often a time for the artist to expand their art practice and reach new audiences, to explore new ideas, to research, be influenced, to inspire and to create new work incorporating all of these things. The story so far. Ever since I discovered St Martin’s church on my doorstep, I have become fascinated with the Victorian history of the building and the art of the Pre-Raphaelites housed inside. My main inspiration was the discovery that my home was the former home of benefactor Miss Mary Craven. Her generosity allowed the church to be built during the 1860s. 3 After a short period of research into the life of Mary, I created ‘There’s Something About Mary’ for Coastival Festival, 2015. The dress contemplates Mary’s character, and aims to raise awareness of earlier times relating to the church. More details about this piece can be found in the Friends newsletter 4, March 2015. In 2016, I produced ‘Floral Poetry’. This again was inspired by the story of Mary Craven ‘purloining flowers’ from the South Cliff gardens. My intention was to create a garden for Mary to celebrate her love of flowers. In May 2017, I was invited to exhibit the dress in a gallery near Gothenburg, Sweden. It was an exciting opportunity for me to travel over there. I ran two workshops and visited the studios of many Swedish artists. The postcards I produced mention St Martin’s and were sold during the exhibition. 4 The remaining postcards are currently on sale alongside the others in the church. All proceeds go to the church fund. During the Heritage Open Days I displayed ‘Adam & Eve’ on the back wall under the windows of the same name by Ford Madox Brown. I am planning to do more work inspired by the church and I’m currently writing a proposal for an Arts Council grant. The funding will help to establish the art residency and finance the project. It will enable me to lead art workshops and work towards a larger exhibition of my work involving an engagement with the local community. In the meantime, I would like to thank everyone I have met for your warm welcome and look forward to sharing more news soon. Angela Chalmers 5 What’s in a Window? No 6 The Three Marys’ Window Designed by Morris and Burne-Jones The models for these figures were all pre-Raphaelite "stunners", and the story behind all of them is fascinating. Mary the Virgin (centre) is by Burne-Jones and the other two are by William Morris. The Models are (left to right) Annie Miller, Georgiana Burne-Jones and Lizzie Siddal. 6 Mary Magdalene by William Morris is holding a golden container in her right hand, symbolising the spikenard that she anointed Jesus with in St. John’s Gospel. In her left hand she holds a wreath of white roses symbolising chastity regained. The whole story of Mary as a prostitute, who is fallen and redeemed, is a very powerful image of redemption - a signal that no matter how low one has fallen, one can be redeemed. Powerful as this image may be, it is not the story of Mary Magdalene. Mary Magdalene is mentioned in each of the four gospels in the New Testament, but not once does it mention that she was a prostitute or a sinner. At some point Mary Magdalene became confused with two other women in the Bible: Mary, the sister of Martha, and the unnamed sinner from Luke's gospel (7:36-50) both of whom wash Jesus' feet with their hair. In the 6th Century, Pope Gregory the Great made this assumption official by declaring in a sermon that these three characters were really the same person: Mary Magdalene, repentant saint. The Catholic Church did later declare that Mary Magdalene was not the penitent sinner, but this was not until 1969. After so long the reputation still lingers. The floral designs on Mary’s dress reflect the Victorian language of flowers; there are sunflowers symbolising resurrection, and laurel which symbolises triumph and chastity, a further reflection on the reformed Mary’s triumph over her previous life. 7 Burne-Jones used his wife, Georgiana, for the model of Mary the Virgin. She holds a gold book in her right hand symbolising charity, while in her left hand is a large lily symbolising purity. The blood red background symbolises the sacrifice her son will make The symbols in most of the church windows are large which is one of the features of pre- Raphaelite stained glass window design. Above Mary is a sunburst or star (etoile) symbolising hope. 8 The floral patterns on her dress include pomegranates and sunflowers.