The Arts Society East Herts

Newsletter

March 2021

Member Society of The Arts Society: Registered Charity 281752

Contents A Pilgrimage to St Albans ...... 6 Young Arts ...... 1 Glittering Age of Glass ...... 10 Chairman’s Report & Update ...... 2 Readers’ Pages ...... 12 Church Recorders’ Update ...... 3 The Pre-Raphaelites ...... 13 Beginner’s guide to Heraldry ...... 3 Programme for 2021 ...... 16

YOUNG ARTS same success story. Sandra Wallace, our Young Arts Coordinator, is thrilled to announce While Members are only too well aware of the that another three works have been selected many things that we haven’t been able to do this from Presdales; a remarkable achievement year, it’s heartening to know that the work of given that only 20 items are chosen nationwide. the Society has continued in other ways. One We have sent our congratulations to the three of our charitable aims is to promote young arts ladies concerned. and we were delighted that we were approached by two local schools for help in purchasing Split, below, was drawn by Anna Livingstone in equipment from our Young Arts Fund. The biro. Doggy, overleaf, also in biro by Amy current emphasis in all walks of life is very Lodge; the third piece, Camouflage, by Pippa much on outdoor activities so it was no surprise Gillingham, was painted in mixed media. to be asked to assist in the purchase of outdoor musical instruments for Bayford School and outdoor theatre equipment for Wheatcroft School. We were able to make grants in both cases and, needless to say, both schools are enormously grateful for the Society’s assistance.

Over the years, members will be familiar with the ongoing support that TASEH has extended to Presdales School. Presdales is an enthusi- astic participant in the annual exhibition of Finally, the Society was also able to assist in the work by “A” level students sponsored by the provision of craft packs for children isolating at Royal Society of British Artists. Last year, home through the agency of Manic Ceramics. three canvases were chosen for hanging in the These are all fantastic causes which go to the “Rising Stars” exhibition at the Mall Galleries, heart of our promotion of artistic endeavours by London and this year they have chalked up the children in our area. It’s a source of immense 1

pleasure that TASEH Committee is able to assist in these meaningful initiatives on your Many thanks to you all. behalf.

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT AND SOCIETY UPDATE

My first three months as Chairman have proved reopening date. My best guess, and it is only a interesting….. guess, is that we will only be able to meet again in person in September. If we can get together I have been fortunate in that all the Committee safely before that we will, of course, endeavour have agreed to continue in post and a particular to do so. thank you to Julia who agreed to stay on as Vice Chairman for a year, cheerfully fielding On the plus side I have received very positive my never-ending stream of questions. feedback on our two lectures so far this year. The Arts Society has worked hard to ensure that The biggest initial challenge facing us has been all the accredited lecturers have the necessary recruitment, we have signed up 290 members Zoom skills and I think that there has been a for the current year which is 85% of last year’s noticeable improvement in the quality of the membership and we are hopeful that some of presentations. We have been delighted by the our previous members will rejoin once we are number of you who have logged on to our able to meet again in person. This, however, is lectures while recognising that not everyone is a long way short of the 400+ members we had comfortable with the technology or might find in 2015. As currently, we are not paying hall the lectures difficult to follow. hire charges, we are in a strong financial posi- tion but we will need to recruit new members. We all hope that the vaccination programme If anyone has suggestions how we might attract, will allow us to return to normal before too particularly, newly retired individuals, please let long. In the meantime stay safe and I hope you us know. will continue to enjoy our programme of lectures, special interest events and “virtual I had hoped to be able to let you know when we walks”. can meet again. At the moment we understand that Hertford theatre will open at the earliest on Colin Gordon 17th May but may be closing as early as mid Chairman June for rebuilding work. We are waiting to hear from The Spotlight confirmation of their

2

CHURCH RECORDERS’ UPDATE

When the Arts Society concluded its review of volunteering activities in 2019, it was decided that Church Recording should no longer be supported by Guilford Street but should, wherever possible, continue under the umbrella of individual TAS societies. This was an unexpected outcome and caused enormous upheaval to the organisation of Church Recording groups. Here in East Herts, your Committee were prompt in assuring the Church Recording Team of its continued support which allows them to carry on the valuable heritage work which was started under the original remit of Decorative and Fine Arts.

In the meantime, Church Recorders everywhere have been heartened by the news that both the Church Care Library and the Victoria and Albert Museum are keen to receive copies of completed Church Records, just as in the past.

Now that the central oversight of Guilford Street has been removed, a new charity, the Church Recording Society, has been established which will ensure the gold standard for all future Church Records. The charity will be admin- istered by trustees who were formerly senior figures, or former Chairmen, of NADFAS Church Recorders.

For the moment, the team is on standby but we have a completed record which we hope can be presented to St Mary the Virgin church in Stanstead St Margarets later this year. The front cover (on the right) features a collection of “heads” from the fine set of corbel carvings around the windows and doors.

Rosemary Davis Group Leader, TASEH Church Recorders

HERALDRY …and why Old French is still spoken throughout our land

Wiser people than me have argued about the Somewhere in the middle of these events heral- birth of heraldry. The ancient Egyptians, the dry was born. Babylonians and the Mesopotamians all have recorded images of people following a device or We know that both Saxon and Norman decora- symbol. The standards, banners and ensigns of ted their shields to identify friend from foe. the children of Israel appear in the Bible in the Images from the Bayeux tapestry clearly show Book of Numbers when the Israelites were these symbols which were to become more commanded to gather beneath their emblems regimented as European nations gathered to and declare their pedigree. When I was a child defeat the “infidels” in the crusades in 1096. I wore a cap and blazer so people would know Different nations adopted their own unique which “tribe” I belonged to and later, in the armorial bearings. The English, as we all know, army, I marched under Regimental Colours. wore the red cross of St George on their 3 No Tournaments during Lent and never on a Friday or Sunday …. Tournaments always to commence with The Melée (a mock battle between two sides) …. The terms to be written in a language understood by all.

And so it came about that all heraldic descrip- tions were recorded in Old French – which was the language of all our Anglo-Norman nobility and all of high birth throughout Europe.

The Bayeux Tapestry shows both the English (left) and Normans have patterns on their shields Someone’s achievement (or armorial bearings) usually consists of a coat of arms on a shield, a shields and white surcoats. (The surcoat was helmet and crest, supporters (the lion and the created in the crusades to make chain mail unicorn alongside the Royal Arms are two such cooler to wear under a scorching sun.) Far supporters) and mottoes – usually on a ribbon away from Jerusalem and Acre the Norman with words of moment written in Latin or some Conquest brought new rules to England. later language. The colours that appear on a Official documents had to be “sealed”, that is, coat of arms are usually one or more of seven to carry a seal to authenticate them. main tinctures (colours). All have names which are either directly Old French or Latin Gradually the nobility used the seal in all their words adopted into the language. The Light communications and dealings and by the early Tinctures (Metals) are gold and silver with the 1100s these seals became more and more five remaining being red, blue, black, green and heraldic until, by 1155, France, Spain, Italy and purple. Translated into Old French these are: what is now Germany, all followed the heraldic Or, Argent, Gules (from a red cloth worn example. around the neck), Azure, Sable (from the black fur of a sable which is a species of marten), Vert and Purpure.

Even these basic metals and colours have rules applied to them. “Never put a colour on a colour, or a metal on a metal” – a rule that was ignored in the exceptional case of a really holy city like

The seal of Henry Percy Jerusalem (along- side) which has five With the advancement of the techniques of war, gold crosses on a military leaders added a helmet to their attire silver background which meant it was increasingly difficult for (silver is always soldiers to follow their leader. The situation shown as white, was rectified by devices on shields and surcoats while gold becomes and grand creations on the top of the leader’s yellow). helmet which are called crests. A shield can be divided into two halves – In Northern Europe, knights, when not at war, dexter for right and sinister for left – but gathered to show off their military skills at beware! These are the wrong way round when enormously popular Tournaments. With these we see them because the left and right are for gatherings of so many, rules were introduced; the person holding the shield, and not for the first to govern the Tournament itself and then to viewer. “the ordering of arms”. It is amazing that all nations accepted all these rules as they evolved From earliest times heralds needed to show and followed them scrupulously….. colour without painting or printing in colour. A 4 Jesuit priest eventually invented hatching Dunstable Tournament in 1308 (the effigy is where each tincture had its own hatching from Tewkesbury Abbey where he is buried). pattern. For example, red was hatched with His coat of arms – three chevrons one above vertical lines; blue with horizontal ones; green the other – is shown on his surcoat. If we were with diagonal lines running from top left to able to turn him round we would see his shield bottom right and so on. which is hanging behind him from his neck. This too would show his coat of arms as on his surcoat but neither his surcoat nor shield in effigy would let us know what colour the background is or what colour the chevrons are. However, if we consult the Roll of Edward II (1307-1327), we find a written description called a blazon (pronounced “blaz” as in Daz …on).

Gilbert de Clare bore or, three chevronels gules …

which in translation reads Gilbert de Clare bore

[as his coat of arms] on a gold background, Another method employed from earliest times three red chevrons. (Note that in blazoning the was to write a colour abbreviation on the background always appears first.) And by now, drawing of the shield. This is known as you will have realised that it is Gilbert’s shield tricking. The illustration (above) shows three which is illustrated in the previous column. versions of the same coat of arms – one hatched and another tricked. As a general rule, the earlier the shield of arms, the less we will find on it; hence the very simple device adopted circa 1109 for John Denzil:

John Denzil, knight, bore sable, a crescent argent. (John Denzil, knight, bore, on a black background, a silver crescent)

When a shield has upon it four or more coats of arms it is said to be quartered (regardless of the number of “quarters”). Thus the utterly confusing coat of arms of the 15th Duke of Norfolk 1847-1917 (next page) is described as “quarterly of seventy-two” where each of the seventy-two individual coats of arms are des- cribed in order from the dexter chief point (top left) through to the sinister base point (bottom right). As noble family marries noble family, so the coats of arms become more complex by amalgamating the arms of both families. Arms, such as the Norfolk arms, are devised to show a A final way of describing a coat of arms is the family’s pedigree and the noble marriages they concise shorthand language used in the lists of have made. the “entitled bearers of arms”, called rolls. The brass effigy (above) is of Gilbert de Clare, Earl In reality, the coat of arms used by the Dukes of of Hertford and Gloucester who fought at the Norfolk are much simpler, showing the achieve-

5 ment of just four families – Howards, Warenne, Plantagenet of Norfolk and Fitzalan.

I have but briefly touched upon this most absorbing and rewarding subject, which is well described by The Norroy and Ulster King of Arms as “not only a thing of great artistic beauty but also the handmaiden of history.” I could go on for ever and most likely will be called upon to do so in future editions unless you, dear member, provide the editor with your piece about your interests or your hobbies. The membership are waiting to read your article!

Peter Davis

A PILGRIMAGE TO THE SHRINE OF ST ALBAN

It’s become quite the thing in recent times for workers to pop into a coffee shop on their way to the office so that they can start their day with a hot drink. By contrast, their medieval coun- terparts would pop into the church to pay their respects to St Christopher so that the day started with his blessing. The saint’s figure would often be painted onto the wall opposite the church door so that it was only necessary to open the door to receive the saint’s protection. It was believed that if you but looked upon his image, you would not “die a bad death that day” (ie without the last rites) so in theory, you would reach home safely that night. It was therefore highly appropriate that this saint’s figure was one of the first images to greet pilgrims as they entered the church to pray at the shrine of St Alban – St Christopher had brought them safely to their destination and, given the immense dangers of medieval travel, they would want to thank him straight away.

It has to be said that a pilgrimage to St Albans This faint picture of St Christopher is painted on the must seem quite tame when compared to the most westerly of the original Norman pillars, by the truly awesome pilgrimages undertaken to places old entrance door to the church. The saint carries as far distant as Compostela in Northern Spain the Christ child high up on his shoulder (top right) or, even more heroically, to Jerusalem. Never- outside the city walls of Verulamium. Accor- theless, a pilgrim who confined his journey to ding to the Anglo Saxon Chronicle this was in England couldn’t have travelled to a holier the year 283AD whereas Bede says it occurred place. Then, as now, St Albans was the oldest in 308. The difference in date doesn’t matter site of continuous Christian worship in England. much to Alban – either way, he fell victim to Alban had been executed on this hilltop site the fierce persecution of Christians at that time 6 and a shrine or church had been erected over his venture sooner rather than later. Probably the execution spot as soon as it was safe to do so. It monks continued to use whatever reliquary had must have been built well before the end of the been in use in the Saxon church, embellishing it 4thc because Bishop Germanus of Auxerre came over the years with costly jewels and crystal specially to visit it in 429. It’s not known what and covering it with a canopy which would happened to this early building but a double have been raised by a pulley system to reveal monastery (for monks and nuns) was founded the shrine to the waiting pilgrim throng. on the same spot in the late 790s by King Offa of Mercia (the one who built the Dyke). The As our pilgrim waited to pay his entry fee, he monastery was sacked in 890 by the Danes who might have wondered why he was passing stout returned to plunder it again in 1016 whilst it piers painted in glorious colours whilst the was being rebuilt. It therefore fell to the new columns in the rest of the church were com- Norman rulers to raise the impressive abbey pletely plain (and also of a different shape). A church which today we know as St Albans kindly clerk, taking his money, could have told Cathedral, for which they used ancient bricks him that an earthquake in 1250 weakened the from Verulamium together with the materials structure and that some 50 years later the south assembled by their Saxon predecessors. side of the church, along with its painted pillars, collapsed, bringing down most of the roof. The (Started in 1077, largely completed by 1089; different style in the restored section showed building then continued on the Nave. The how technology and taste had changed over the church was consecrated in 1115 by the years. Fortunately, the vivid painted piers on Archbishop of Rouen in the presence of the the north side were saved. king, Henry I. Elevated to cathedral status in 1877.) Today, these paintings are one of the treasures of the cathedral although they wouldn’t impress our pilgrim. He would have seen the precise detail of every character, all brilliantly picked out in colour. They were painted in secco (that is, on dry plaster) which meant that much of the colour came away when they were scraped of their limewash in the 19th century. What we see is, largely, the bare outline of paintings that both inspired and educated the medieval mind.

The portion of St Alban’s shrine that we see today was installed in the church at the begin- th ning of 14 c. However, given the huge cost associated with an unrelenting programme of The rear of the watching loft repairs and alterations to the monastery, toge- ther with heavy taxes levied on the abbey by As the line of visitors moved slowly eastwards, both the Crown and the Pope, it would have our pilgrim would have passed through the been sensible to start this money-spinning security system. This consisted of a watching

7 loft which would have been manned constantly mittee refused to cover the cost of reassembly. to keep an eye both on the shrine itself and the John Ruskin guaranteed the repairs and it was worshippers kneeling at its foot. (There was a Gilbert Scott, whose last days were spent work- second security post high up in the wall on the ing at St Albans, who re-positioned the base of other side of the shrine but this is now filled in.) the shrine in its 14th c location. This could be determined, he said, by the kneel marks worn Constant surveillance was needed to ensure that away in the stones by the pilgrims. no jewels or relics were filched from the casket by furtive hands only too keen to take home a Once he had prayed at the shrine and purchased souvenir or, more likely, sell it on for profit. his pilgrim badge, our pilgrim would probably The wooden watching loft is a unique survivor have been quickly ushered out of the church so from medieval times; its painted panels (now he wouldn’t have had the chance to walk down lost to us) would have held the pilgrims’ atten- the Nave. This would have been something to tion as the queue shifted ever closer to the holy tell the family back home – it’s an extraordi- shrine. The modern pilgrim, however, can narily long nave – the longest of any cathedral make out some of the lively frieze carvings which include the execution of Alban (below). His headless body lies on the right, the “Alban” cross, with its circular head, is on the ground beside him while his executioner looms over him, sword in hand.

The same scene of Alban’s martyrdom This carving is half way along the frieze on the rear of on the west end of the shrine pedestal. the watching loft. There is an identical one on the front face but it is in a poorer condition. in England. But as he made his way home, he

Today, we only see the base of the shrine as the would have had plenty of opportunity to look shrine itself, containing the relics of St Alban, back at the church which dominates the skyline was stripped of its precious metals and jewels for miles around. The tower isn’t particularly tall and its Norman proportions were lost by and dismantled in the suppression of the mona- th steries in 16th c. It had been moved to its own raising the roof line in the 19 century; but it is very special as St Albans supposedly has the specially built chapel when the church was th enlarged in the 14th c and we can only imagine only surviving 11 century Norman tower in the pain and anguish of the onlookers as it was the country. pulled down. But someone, somehow or other These central towers were masterpieces of engi- managed to salvage the broken base and hid it neering. The whole weight of the tower had to away in various locations in the church. There, be supported on the four strengthened corner 300 years later, it was discovered by Victorian piers at the crossing point below. It’s truly restorers who managed to put together the 2000 remarkable that the tower has survived intact to pieces into the moving structure that we can this day. It did have a near escape in the 19th c admire today. There were so many other calls and only the swift action by Scott and his team on the limited restoration budget that the com- prevented its collapse. This crisis was almost 8

preservation of the tower, this spire was taken down in the 15th century and replaced with a Hertfordshire spike – later removed by the Victorian restorers. (There is also speculation that attempts were made to topple the tower at the time of the Dissolution by digging under its foundations.)

Personally, I don’t find St Albans beautiful. It was, of course, built for monks and not as a cathedral. Elaborate carving and decoration would have been out of place, as well as nigh impossible, given that the early building was largely constructed from brick and flint. But when I stand, as a modern day pilgrim, and look up at that awesome tower and think that it was built nearly a thousand years ago, using bricks that were manufactured by the Romans one Fabulous brickwork on the Norman tower. thousand years before that, my uppermost The battlemented top is a Victorian addition thought is “Wow”! certainly not the fault of Robert, the Norman master mason. The current weight of the tower is 5000 tons but the additional weight of a 13th Rosemary Davis century spire (sheathed in lead) must have crea- on behalf of the Church Recording Team ted enormous pressure on Robert’s carefully strengthened foundations. Mercifully, for the

The story of the martyrdom of St Alban

My children’s history book told me that Alban was a Roman soldier stationed at Verulamium. The modern version tells us that he had been born in Verulamium, probably served some time in the army in Europe but was working in another capacity at the time of his martyrdom. It’s universally agreed, however, that there was definitely a priest, escaping persecution, to whom Alban gave shelter. There are various versions of how Alban, inspired and converted to the Christian faith whilst shielding the priest, came to be arrested in his place, allowing the priest to escape. In one, the priest escapes in the guise of Alban, wearing his distinctive citizens’ cloak; in another, it is Alban who is disguised as the priest, wearing the priest’s cloak. Clearly, there was also a cloak!

Some 800 years later, a monk from the abbey, led by the spirit of Alban, “discovered” the bones of the priest in nearby Redbourn. It seems that he hadn’t escaped after all; and for the first time we are told his name – Amphibalus. The abbey promptly raised a shrine to him. Like St Alban’s, this shrine was also wrecked at the time of the Dissolution. It has been under- going major restoration work and was blessed in a special ceremony in February. It still awaits a canopy and corner candlesticks but it is now on view to visitors. If you go to visit it, you can show your immense erudition by telling anyone who cares to listen that the cult of Amphibalus th was an invention of the 12 century and that the name given to the priest came from the Latin word, amphibole, meaning a cloak. This is not to say that marvellous things were not done in his name but it is a strange coincidence that the discovery of this, hitherto unnamed, saint’s relics should have been made at the same time as competition from the new shrine to Thomas à Becket at Canterbury was diverting income from St Albans Abbey.

9

THE GLITTERING AGE OF BRITISH WINE GLASSES 1674 – 1800

The English glass making industry all but dis- heavy balusters, light balusters, plain stems, appeared in the 14th & 15th centuries making moulded pedestals, air twists, opaque twists and only bottles and small amounts of window faceted stems. In part the changes in style were glass. On the island of Murano the Venetians just a reflection of fashion but the tax man also produced highly elaborate creations made from had a part to play. There were two Excise Acts soda glass. They helped to maintain their which taxed glass by weight in 1745 and 1777; dominance by making it a capital offence to the latter was said to have marked the decline of take their technology abroad. Another factor the opaque twists in favour of faceted stem inhibiting table glass production in England was glasses. th that, at the start of the 16 century, glass was more expensive than silver and, of course a lot The Baluster glasses were the dominant form more fragile. However, by the early 18th c for about 50 years although the style developed English glass was a world leader. from the relatively heavy, squat glasses of the first period 1685-1710 to lighter, taller, more It is only after the restoration of King Charles II elegant styles; but all have bulges in the stem that a truly English style of glass emerged and known as knops and given such descriptions as the story begins with George Ravenscroft who mushroom, acorn or dumbbell. Air bubbles experimented with the addition of various could be introduced in the form of tears to both chemicals in the glass production process and in lighten the glass and for decorative effect and 1674 he patented the addition of lead oxide very occasionally small coins were enclosed in which produced a glass that was softer, whiter the stem. and more refractive. At first the glass was subject to tiny cracks below the surface (crizz- ling) but once the proportions of lead oxide were refined, George Ravenscroft’s “flint glass” or lead crystal resulted in an entirely new style of tableware which was typically English – simple, thick walled and tactile. These were called balusters after the vertical column in a balustrade.

It’s important to note that drinking glasses were a fashion item; expensive and deliberately designed to sparkle in candlelight showing that your host not only had money but also good taste. All the glasses of this period were hand blown and typically made in three pieces, the foot, the stem and the bowl. There are some A Baluster coin wine glass with a 1706 where the bowl was extended to make the stem; silver 3d piece enclosed in the stem c 1730 ie two-piece glasses and others with very complex stems which could be made in up to The air twists which came into fashion around six pieces. 1745 were produced by enveloping bubbles of air into the molten glass stem and then twisting Glass unlike, silver, has no date mark and so the this to produce highly intricate patterns. There experts tend to identify the date of a glass from was a limit to how far any single bubble could the design of the stem. The main categories are be manipulated before it broke.

10

This was not the case with the next fashion – experts are able to distinguish the work of each Opaque twists (1755-1780) where usually white but unfortunately, we don’t know their names. glass rods were inserted into a mould which Other techniques to decorate the bowls were was filled with molten glass and then manipu- enamelling and gilding. lated to form delicate patterns. Coloured glass rods were sometimes used and because of their relative rarity today these command much higher prices.

The final style of this golden age was the faceted stem where the stem is ground into the classic hexagonal or diamond shapes – probably as a cottage industry – and with increased refraction would have added even more sparkle to a candlelit dinner.

Up until 1714 most glasses were multipurpose but then different size glasses for different drinks started to appear; for example for wine, beer, ratafia and so on. It is not always obvious based on size as to which is which. The much smaller glass in the photo is the ale glass as shown by the engraving of barley.

A Jacobite glass decorated by engraver B with an air twist stem 1745

Finally we come to the foot – fortunately there A faceted are less options here. The folded foot was a stem wine technique which the Venetians used to give a glass with glass stability by, in effect, turning a hem a centre around the edge of the foot. This continued to knop c1760 be the practice until heavier feet became the fashion and this additional stability was no and an air longer required. One characteristic of Georgian twist ale glass is that the foot is greater in diameter than glass the bowl and so if two glasses are placed toge- c1750 ther the feet should touch before the bowls;

presumably something that whilst increasing stability also reduced the likelihood of damage

as the bowls would be much more fragile. When it comes to the bowl, up to 24 different styles are identified with names such as trum- With the benefit of helping to home school my pet, bell and thistle. Because of the nature of 10 year old grandson in maths, I ought to be flint glass it was much easier to engrave the able to tell you how many combinations of the glasses and beautiful and complex patterns were feet, stems and bowls are possible but enough to added. Some of these engravings were comm- say that it is a very large number. However, as emorative; others produced after 1745 were a modest collector, for me and many others it is political. incorporating the Jacobite symbols the process of handling a glass which makes the such as the thistle and the rose. difference – whether it is “right”, has it been altered and most importantly do I like it? Five particular engravers, working in London, specialised in Jacobite designs and are said to Colin Gordon have engraved 60% of these glasses. The 11

READERS’ PAGES

I’ve enjoyed the varied articles sent out in the Arts Society mailings and particularly liked the item in the December issue about Wordsworth’s ice skating prowess. Apparently, he used to skate on the frozen lakes around Keswick after school. The boys would race up and down as the evening light faded, pursuing each other like a “bellowing” pack of hounds chasing a hare.

Obviously, he doesn’t use mundane language to Rydal Water, William Westall 1830, describe these hectic races across the ice with copyright Royal Academy of Arts his friends. The poetic version tells us that but with an attribution to William and not to all shod with steel, Dorothy.) we hissed along the ice in games, confederate. On Christmas Eve of their first year at Dove Cottage, Wordsworth wrote to his friend, The cold crispness and the dramatic scenery are Samuel Taylor Coleridge, to say that Rydal magically evoked by this master of language: Lake was covered in ice, clear as polished steel and that he proposed to go out the next day and the precipices rang aloud, give his body to the wind. the leafless trees and every icy crag tinkled like iron. His skates can be seen in the Lakeland Museum at Dove Cottage in Grasmere, which was his These childhood memories appear in an auto- home from 1799-1808. Understandably, these biographical poem called Preludes which he are pretty primitive. The example shows how wrote whilst staying in Germany during the the steel blades, pointing upwards at the toe like bitter winter of 1798. Despite the ongoing a Turkish slipper, are attached to wooden soles upheaval in Europe caused by the French which would have been fixed to the owner’s Revolutionary wars, he and his sister, Dorothy, boot with leather strips (long since decayed). had travelled to the continent, ostensibly to learn German. However, with their straitened financial circumstances back home, they may have been trying to live more frugally abroad. The cold will have kept them indoors, prompt- ing Wordsworth to remember his boyhood love of skating.

The following year they were able to return to England and, with their affairs more or less Samuel was familiar with Wordsworth’s skating settled, they moved into Dove Cottage where style as they had skated together whilst staying Wordsworth would go on to compose some of in Germany the previous year. We don’t know his best poetry. Dorothy also wrote; she was a what he thought of his friend’s skating flair, but keen observer of nature and it was here that she we do have the verdict of Thomas Quincey, compiled her famous Grasmere Journal based who maintained that Wordsworth’s technique on her walks around the surrounding country- resembled that of a dancing cow. Perhaps we side. (The Journal would later be published should blame the skates!

12

at Faris writes about her association with and a large sculpture is a delight as it is too the Henry Moore Sculpture Park at Perry large to move. The smaller ones go on P Green: exhibition all over the world so there have been times when I have taken visitors round to an I have served as a Heritage Volunteer for more empty plinth. years than I care to mention; but when I was asked to write about my favourite Henry Moore For some time there have been weddings at sculpture at Perry Green, it took some time to Perry Green and the photographs are taken pick one and I realised that it would have to be under the Arch. one of the very big ones. There are several lovely ones but then I decided on The Arch. It is six meters in height and very dramatic. The first reaction of visitors is often WOW!!

A found piece of bone would have been Henry’s first inspiration for this piece and his interest in Stonehenge and the human form would have been how the Arch evolved. All the sculptures start as hand held pieces, maquettes or models that are enlarged.

Unlike most of the sculptures it has a title. Usually Henry liked visitors to look and decide what the sculpture looked like from every angle. Most people think it looks like the pelvic girdle while others see a pair of arms waiting to greet them.

As a guide it is always a help to know what is around the corner when showing visitors around

THE PRE-RAPHAELITES

I noticed that the Ashmolean was due to mount ings with Rossetti. At the time, Rossetti was an exhibition on the Pre-Raphaelites in Spring more of an aspiring poet than an artist, but he 2021 and in the hope that I would be able to had started lessons with Ford Maddox Brown, visit, I undertook some preliminary research so who, although a supporter of the Brotherhood’s that I didn’t arrive in a state of complete endeavours, was never a member. ignorance. I realise that the Pre-Raphaelites aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. We’re pretty The name itself is as bizarre as some of its much divided even in our own household. I paintings. It stemmed from the group’s quite like the romantic nature of some of their perception that the classical poses and elegant works; my husband, on the other hand, thinks compositions of Raphael’s work had been a they’re weird! corrupting influence on later art teaching which, in their view, became mechanistic. Their aim The Pre-Raphaelites were themselves a mixed was to return to the abundant detail and intense bag. The original Brotherhood was founded in colours of 14th century Italian art; hence pre- 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Raphaelite. Rossetti hoped to develop the links Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Hunt got to between art and Romantic poetry and, together know Millais when they were both studying art with Hunt, prepared a list of artistic heroes – so- at the Royal Academy and he shared his lodg- called “Immortals” from medieval and classical 13 literature who would later form the subjects of Given their mutual interests in poetry and art, their work. Although Christian themes were it’s not surprising that she was to become also abundant, it was medieval culture that was Rossetti’s primary model and he stopped her a source of fascination for the group; they saw it from modelling for anyone else in the Brother- as a force of spiritual and creative integrity that hood. Eventually, in 1860, they married but his had been lost through time. family were never reconciled to her lowly origins. One of Millais’ most famous works is his depiction of Ophelia. The model for this was She sank into depression after the birth of a Elizabeth Siddall; she worked as a milliner’s stillborn daughter the following year and was assistant but was an aspiring artist and poet plagued by suspicions, probably justified, that herself from a family of manufacturers south of her husband was always seeking to replace her the Thames. with a younger muse. She overdosed on laud- anum in 1862. It’s rumoured that Maddox Brown urged Rossetti to destroy an alleged suicide note which would have brought scandal on the family.

In fact, the Brotherhood were no strangers to scandal. The most infamous episode concerned the liaison between Millais and Euphemia Gray (Effie), the wife of John Ruskin. Like Maddox Brown, Ruskin was a supporter of the principles of the movement; he approved of their devotion For this painting, she spent many hours floating to nature and their rejection of conventional in a bath of water which was heated by oil methods of composition. His marriage, in the lamps. When the system worked, all went well same year that the Brotherhood was founded, but when the lamps went out the water became brought him no happiness; he and Effie were icy cold. Elizabeth, the perfect model, not at all compatible. She was gregarious and continued to lie, uncomplaining, in the bath vivacious. He was not, and for obscure, fasti- whilst Millais went on with his painting. Sub- dious reasons on his part, the marriage was sequently she became very ill and, threatened never consummated. After six years of a bleak with legal action, Millais settled the doctor’s and unfulfilled relationship, it wasn’t surprising bills. that Effie should have responded to the admiration and affection of Millais when he accompanied the couple to Scotland to paint Ruskin’s portrait. There’s no doubt of their genuine passion. After a public and embar- rassing annulment which badly affected her social standing, Effie promptly married Millais with whom she had eight children. She proved to be an effective manager of her husband’s works and outlived him by 16 months, dying in 1897.

Strictly speaking, by the time of this episode, the Brotherhood, which had swollen to seven members, had begun to dissolve as each pur- sued his own artistic direction. Rossetti’s art critic brother, William, had joined, as had

sculptor Thomas Woolner and artists James St George and the Princess Sabra (Rossetti) Collinson and Frederick Stephens. Initially The last work for which Elizabeth posed they all espoused the same principles, namely: 14

“to have genuine ideas to express; to study the setting for the painting and instead of using Nature attentively so as to know how to express professional models, used friends and family. these ideas; to sympathise with what is direct, His own father provided Joseph’s head but the serious and heartfelt and to produce thoroughly body was based on a real carpenter with his good pictures and statues”. rough hands, sinewy arms and prominent veins. His sister-in-law, Mary Hodgkinson, was used to depict Christ’s Mother; an adopted cousin was John the Baptist and Noel Humphreys, the son of an artist friend, sat for the young Christ.

The public reacted with horror to the picture. The painting was described by the Times art critic as “revolting”. He objected to the way in which the Holy Family had been depicted as ordinary, lowly people in a humble carpenter’s shop “with no conceivable omission of misery, of dirt, or even disease, all finished with the same loathsome minuteness”. What must Millais have thought when he read Charles Self portraits by Dickens’ description of the young Christ as “a Rossetti (top left), hideous, wry-necked, blubbering, red-headed Holman Hunt (above) and Millais boy, in a bed gown”.

(left) copyright It led him to choose less controversial topics NPG for Rossetti & and after his marriage, probably under Effie’s Millais and Uffizi influence, and certainly out of a need to support Gallery, Florence, his growing family, he began to paint in a for Hunt broader style and abandoned his Pre-Raphaelite

principles from about 1860. William Morris Hunt and Millais were later to adopt a more accused him of “selling out” to achieve realist style whilst the arch-medievalist Rossetti popularity and wealth and Ruskin condemned never wavered in his fixation and went on to his new style as a “catastrophe”. inspire Edward Burne-Jones and William “Bubbles”, was the Morris, in whose firm, Morris & Co, he served sort of commercial- as a partner. isation which Morris despised. It earned Millais a fortune.

Whatever one’s views on their output, it’s certain that the Brotherhood, its supporters and followers, comprised a formidable wealth of talent whose output and cultural influence had a huge impact on the life and style of Millais’ attention to realistic detail earned him a Victorian Britain. good deal of notoriety in the early years of the

Brotherhood. In his celebrated painting “Christ Rosemary Davis in the House of His Parents” (1850), Millais used a real carpenter’s shop in Oxford Street as

15

PROGRAMME FOR MARCH - NOVEMBER 2021

Please see the TASEH website for more information on each of the lectures/speakers.

25 March 2021 30 September 2021 Richard Whincop: Gillian Hovell: Mediterranean Tour; Not Just a Art & Architecture: Estranged Bedfellows Load of Old Stones

29 April 2021 8 October 2021

Brian Stater: Shirley Smith: When Britain Clicked; Photography of the 60s Raphael of Urbino

4 November 2021 27 May 2021 Special Interest Day (tbc) Rosamund Bartlett: Linda Smith Chopin and the Polish Soul Sculpture in the Twentieth Century

1 July 2021 (note change of date) 25 November 2021 Mark Hill: Giles Ramsay* Undressing Antiques Pantomime* followed by the Summer Lunch *tbc depending on Giles’ commitments to cruise sailings

16