DOI Artikel:
Reddie, Arthur: Mr. Brangwyn's mural paintings in Christ's Hospital Chapel
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21214#0157
Mr. Brangwyn s Mural Paintings
Mr. brangwyn’s mural
PAINTINGS IN CHRIST’S
HOSPITAL CHAPEL.
Upon the walls of the fine chapel of Christ’s
Hospital, West Horsham, there are fourteen large
spaces and two smaller ones destined to contain
mural decorations. The project is now being
carried into execution and the school is to be
congratulated upon having entrusted this important
work to Mr. Brangwyn. Nine of the large spaces,
each with a superficial area of over a hundred
feet, have already been filled with tempera paint-
ings subscribed for by various of the Governors,
the parents of the boys, the boys themselves
past and present, and friends of the school, and
these we illustrate with the exception of the one
last placed in position, the subject of which is St.
Aidan, Bishop of Northumbria a.d. 6jj, Training
boys at Lindisfarne. They are painted in a very
high key, and an air of brightness
pervades them all, typifying we may
suppose the dawn of the Church,
and reminding us that, even where
it is some scene of martyrdom that
is depicted, the early Saints went
with happy hearts and souls trans-
figured by the joy of suffering for
the faith. Through all the panels
runs a streak of bright blue sky, a
colour repeated in the ribbon bear-
ing the inscription in white letters,
thus forming, as it were, a common
factor, and binding into a unity
these paintings diverse in subject
though they be.
Taking the paintings in the order
of our reproductions we have first
The Stoning of Stephen. Of this
subject we reproduce also a
masterly cartoon executed in pastel
on brown paper; but this must not
be regarded as suggesting the
tonality of the completed work,
which, as are all the panels, is in a
much lighter key. We read in the
Acts of the Apostles that the wit-
nesses of the martyrdom of Stephen,
“ laid down their clothes at a young
man’s feet, whose name was Saul,”
that same to whom came later the
dread question, “Why persecutest
thou me ? ” and whom we see in
another panel on his arrival at
LXVI. No. 273.—December 1915
Rome. Very eloquent is the grouping of these
figures; St. Paul with his staff and water-bottle,
standing with the brethren who came out to meet
him, as they gaze across the green waters of the
Tiber at the towers of the great city. The ship-
wreck upon the island of Malta is shown in a panel
of wonderful blue fading to pale sea-green in the
foreground where, through the shallow waves, the
shipwrecked travellers make their way ashore.
A fine panel with a rich harmony of old gold and
blue shows St. Wilfred (Bede gives his name as
Wilfrid, and in English-Saxon it was spelt Willferder)
to whom, as Bede tells us, “ King Ethelwalch gave
land of eighty-seven families to maintain his
company who were in banishment, which place is
called Selsey, that is the Island of the Sea-Calf. . . .
And forasmuch as the aforesaid King, together
with the said place, gave him all the goods that were
therein, with the lands and men, he instructed
them in the faith of Christ and baptized them all.”
PORTION OF CARTOON FOR ST. AMBROSE PANEL IN THE CHAPEL OF
Christ’s hospital (see page 160). by frank brangwyn, a.r.a.
151
Mr. brangwyn’s mural
PAINTINGS IN CHRIST’S
HOSPITAL CHAPEL.
Upon the walls of the fine chapel of Christ’s
Hospital, West Horsham, there are fourteen large
spaces and two smaller ones destined to contain
mural decorations. The project is now being
carried into execution and the school is to be
congratulated upon having entrusted this important
work to Mr. Brangwyn. Nine of the large spaces,
each with a superficial area of over a hundred
feet, have already been filled with tempera paint-
ings subscribed for by various of the Governors,
the parents of the boys, the boys themselves
past and present, and friends of the school, and
these we illustrate with the exception of the one
last placed in position, the subject of which is St.
Aidan, Bishop of Northumbria a.d. 6jj, Training
boys at Lindisfarne. They are painted in a very
high key, and an air of brightness
pervades them all, typifying we may
suppose the dawn of the Church,
and reminding us that, even where
it is some scene of martyrdom that
is depicted, the early Saints went
with happy hearts and souls trans-
figured by the joy of suffering for
the faith. Through all the panels
runs a streak of bright blue sky, a
colour repeated in the ribbon bear-
ing the inscription in white letters,
thus forming, as it were, a common
factor, and binding into a unity
these paintings diverse in subject
though they be.
Taking the paintings in the order
of our reproductions we have first
The Stoning of Stephen. Of this
subject we reproduce also a
masterly cartoon executed in pastel
on brown paper; but this must not
be regarded as suggesting the
tonality of the completed work,
which, as are all the panels, is in a
much lighter key. We read in the
Acts of the Apostles that the wit-
nesses of the martyrdom of Stephen,
“ laid down their clothes at a young
man’s feet, whose name was Saul,”
that same to whom came later the
dread question, “Why persecutest
thou me ? ” and whom we see in
another panel on his arrival at
LXVI. No. 273.—December 1915
Rome. Very eloquent is the grouping of these
figures; St. Paul with his staff and water-bottle,
standing with the brethren who came out to meet
him, as they gaze across the green waters of the
Tiber at the towers of the great city. The ship-
wreck upon the island of Malta is shown in a panel
of wonderful blue fading to pale sea-green in the
foreground where, through the shallow waves, the
shipwrecked travellers make their way ashore.
A fine panel with a rich harmony of old gold and
blue shows St. Wilfred (Bede gives his name as
Wilfrid, and in English-Saxon it was spelt Willferder)
to whom, as Bede tells us, “ King Ethelwalch gave
land of eighty-seven families to maintain his
company who were in banishment, which place is
called Selsey, that is the Island of the Sea-Calf. . . .
And forasmuch as the aforesaid King, together
with the said place, gave him all the goods that were
therein, with the lands and men, he instructed
them in the faith of Christ and baptized them all.”
PORTION OF CARTOON FOR ST. AMBROSE PANEL IN THE CHAPEL OF
Christ’s hospital (see page 160). by frank brangwyn, a.r.a.
151