dated to the time of Prior Wibert (c. 1153-1167), and the
paintings in both chapels to the same period.11 The complexity
of these dating problems is compounded by the magnificent
painting of St Paul and the Viper (fig. 1) in St Anselm’s Chapel,
which does indeed seem likely to be coeval with the insertions,
but for which particularly close stylistic parallels are provided
by the Bury Bible - formerly thought to date from c. 1160,
but now from c. 1130.12 The painting of St Paul is in a more
advanced style than that of the St Gabriel’s apse decoration,
showing, for example, the elegant ’clinging curvilinear’ variety
of damp fold, but it is by no means certain that it is much if
at all later in date. Could it be, in fact, that both paintings
date from c. 1130, and thus survive from the phase of the
Cathedral’s decoration so eloquently described by William of
Malmesbury?13 The current programme of research will exa-
mine the types of stone employed for the insertions and ori-
ginal building, and the tooling of this stonework and the man-
ner in which the insertions were effected, in order to try to
determine whether the alterations might indeed be of this
early date, or perhaps changes carried out during the original
building campaign rather than at some later time.
The Paintings in the Nave
Curiously, the apse of St Gabriel’s Chapel was blocked off
from the nave by a wall, apparently at a very early date, since
the altar is not mentioned by Gervase of Canterbury in his
otherwise fairly complete description of the cathedral written
c. 1199.14This wall remained in place until as late as 1952 (fig.
9), and before a doorway was inserted in 1878, the only means
of access to the apse was by a small opening of about 45 x
55 cm on the south side. It would scarcely make sense if the
wall had been built immediately after the apse was elaborately
decorated, and in fact, there is evidence of painting forming
part of the same scheme on the east wall of the nave, where
remains of the characteristic dado draperies with jewelled
border are still visible.
The main survivals of Romanesque painting in the nave, how-
ever, are on the two western bays of the vault (fig. 10). These
paintings probably date from c. 1180 (from about the same
time as the blocking of the apse?),15 and although they are
much damaged, several of the subjects can be seen to include
a mitred figure of a bishop or archbishop. Very likely, the
scenes form a unique cycle depicting a venerated archbishop
of Canterbury, such as St Dunstan, St Anselm (whose relics
were translated to St Anselm’s Chapel, immediately above,
probably in the 1140s), or St Thomas Becket himself. The
layout of the scenes in roundels with intervening foliage is
very characteristic of Romanesque and early Gothic vault pro-
grammes in England (other examples are found in the Ca-
thedrals of Ely, Norwich and Winchester),16 though it is paral-
leled - on a much grander scale - at Brunswick Cathedral
in the thirteenth century. Much conservation work and further
uncovering has been undertaken in recent years by the Ca-
thedral’s Wallpaintings Workshop in the nave, which also re-
tains various fragments of later medieval and post-Reforma-
tion wall painting.
Technique of the Paintings
Both the earlier and the later schemes of Romanesque paint-
ing in the chapel provide interesting evidence of preliminary
drawing techniques. The most striking examples are on the
4a St Gabriel’s Chapel, apse: one of the seven churches of Asia.
4b St Gabriel’s Chapel, apse: one of the seven churches of Asia.
61
paintings in both chapels to the same period.11 The complexity
of these dating problems is compounded by the magnificent
painting of St Paul and the Viper (fig. 1) in St Anselm’s Chapel,
which does indeed seem likely to be coeval with the insertions,
but for which particularly close stylistic parallels are provided
by the Bury Bible - formerly thought to date from c. 1160,
but now from c. 1130.12 The painting of St Paul is in a more
advanced style than that of the St Gabriel’s apse decoration,
showing, for example, the elegant ’clinging curvilinear’ variety
of damp fold, but it is by no means certain that it is much if
at all later in date. Could it be, in fact, that both paintings
date from c. 1130, and thus survive from the phase of the
Cathedral’s decoration so eloquently described by William of
Malmesbury?13 The current programme of research will exa-
mine the types of stone employed for the insertions and ori-
ginal building, and the tooling of this stonework and the man-
ner in which the insertions were effected, in order to try to
determine whether the alterations might indeed be of this
early date, or perhaps changes carried out during the original
building campaign rather than at some later time.
The Paintings in the Nave
Curiously, the apse of St Gabriel’s Chapel was blocked off
from the nave by a wall, apparently at a very early date, since
the altar is not mentioned by Gervase of Canterbury in his
otherwise fairly complete description of the cathedral written
c. 1199.14This wall remained in place until as late as 1952 (fig.
9), and before a doorway was inserted in 1878, the only means
of access to the apse was by a small opening of about 45 x
55 cm on the south side. It would scarcely make sense if the
wall had been built immediately after the apse was elaborately
decorated, and in fact, there is evidence of painting forming
part of the same scheme on the east wall of the nave, where
remains of the characteristic dado draperies with jewelled
border are still visible.
The main survivals of Romanesque painting in the nave, how-
ever, are on the two western bays of the vault (fig. 10). These
paintings probably date from c. 1180 (from about the same
time as the blocking of the apse?),15 and although they are
much damaged, several of the subjects can be seen to include
a mitred figure of a bishop or archbishop. Very likely, the
scenes form a unique cycle depicting a venerated archbishop
of Canterbury, such as St Dunstan, St Anselm (whose relics
were translated to St Anselm’s Chapel, immediately above,
probably in the 1140s), or St Thomas Becket himself. The
layout of the scenes in roundels with intervening foliage is
very characteristic of Romanesque and early Gothic vault pro-
grammes in England (other examples are found in the Ca-
thedrals of Ely, Norwich and Winchester),16 though it is paral-
leled - on a much grander scale - at Brunswick Cathedral
in the thirteenth century. Much conservation work and further
uncovering has been undertaken in recent years by the Ca-
thedral’s Wallpaintings Workshop in the nave, which also re-
tains various fragments of later medieval and post-Reforma-
tion wall painting.
Technique of the Paintings
Both the earlier and the later schemes of Romanesque paint-
ing in the chapel provide interesting evidence of preliminary
drawing techniques. The most striking examples are on the
4a St Gabriel’s Chapel, apse: one of the seven churches of Asia.
4b St Gabriel’s Chapel, apse: one of the seven churches of Asia.
61