DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22423#0449
Letter XXXII.
NORWICH CATHEDRAL.
437
distance to Wolverton, which lies twenty-two instead of eighteen
miles from Ketteringham, frustrated this plan. I the more re-
gretted this disappointment as the very sight of the old mansion,
which I saw from the road, seemed to invite the traveller.
The next day I was obliged to quit the hospitable mansion of
Sir John Boileau and his interesting family, and to turn my face
towards Norwich. The grandeur of this ancient capital city of
Norfolk is well seen from the old castle, which lies on a hill sur-
rounded by it. Thence I hastened to the cathedral, which in point
of beauty and richness of architecture is one of the most important
edifices in the late Norman style which England possesses. The
character of the exterior, with its surrounding buildings, is pic-
turesque in the extreme, and the interior offers a fine perspective
effect : a door leads into the cloisters, which are in the Gothic
style, and belong to the finest I know. The keystones of the
groined arches are throughout adorned with reliefs of very careful
and well-arranged subjects.
In the vestry-room is a picture of great significance in the his-
tory of English painting, which formerly probably adorned the
altar of the Jesus Chapel. It contains, in five compartments, the
Scourging, the Bearing the Cross, the Crucifixion, the Resurrec-
tion, and the Ascension ; and, judging from the forms of art, may
have been executed between 1380 and 1400. Here that idealistic
tendency so often mentioned is still throughout adhered to ; the
well-arranged drapery is of great softness, the colouring powerful,
and in many of the heads of great warmth ; finally, the treatment
in size-colours broad and in full body. Both the figures and the
raised elegant patterns of the gold ground entirely resemble the
indubitable English miniatures of the same period, so that there is
no question in my mind as to the English origin of this picture.
Excepting the Bearing of the Cross, of which much has fallen off,
the preservation may be called good; and a glass over it prevents
any further mischief. My attention was drawn to this picture by
Mr. Dawson Turner, at whose hospitable house in Yarmouth I
arrived the same evening, and where I admired the unresting ac-
tivity and discrimination with which this already aged gentleman
has collected materials for the history and antiquities of Norfolk,
which amount to more than sixty volumes. The numerous draw-
ings and etchings with which this work is illustrated proceed from
the hands of the late Mrs. Dawson Turner and her daughters,
NORWICH CATHEDRAL.
437
distance to Wolverton, which lies twenty-two instead of eighteen
miles from Ketteringham, frustrated this plan. I the more re-
gretted this disappointment as the very sight of the old mansion,
which I saw from the road, seemed to invite the traveller.
The next day I was obliged to quit the hospitable mansion of
Sir John Boileau and his interesting family, and to turn my face
towards Norwich. The grandeur of this ancient capital city of
Norfolk is well seen from the old castle, which lies on a hill sur-
rounded by it. Thence I hastened to the cathedral, which in point
of beauty and richness of architecture is one of the most important
edifices in the late Norman style which England possesses. The
character of the exterior, with its surrounding buildings, is pic-
turesque in the extreme, and the interior offers a fine perspective
effect : a door leads into the cloisters, which are in the Gothic
style, and belong to the finest I know. The keystones of the
groined arches are throughout adorned with reliefs of very careful
and well-arranged subjects.
In the vestry-room is a picture of great significance in the his-
tory of English painting, which formerly probably adorned the
altar of the Jesus Chapel. It contains, in five compartments, the
Scourging, the Bearing the Cross, the Crucifixion, the Resurrec-
tion, and the Ascension ; and, judging from the forms of art, may
have been executed between 1380 and 1400. Here that idealistic
tendency so often mentioned is still throughout adhered to ; the
well-arranged drapery is of great softness, the colouring powerful,
and in many of the heads of great warmth ; finally, the treatment
in size-colours broad and in full body. Both the figures and the
raised elegant patterns of the gold ground entirely resemble the
indubitable English miniatures of the same period, so that there is
no question in my mind as to the English origin of this picture.
Excepting the Bearing of the Cross, of which much has fallen off,
the preservation may be called good; and a glass over it prevents
any further mischief. My attention was drawn to this picture by
Mr. Dawson Turner, at whose hospitable house in Yarmouth I
arrived the same evening, and where I admired the unresting ac-
tivity and discrimination with which this already aged gentleman
has collected materials for the history and antiquities of Norfolk,
which amount to more than sixty volumes. The numerous draw-
ings and etchings with which this work is illustrated proceed from
the hands of the late Mrs. Dawson Turner and her daughters,