Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting online lecture from the Victoria and Albert Museum outlining some of the treasures kept in cathedrals. The speaker, Canon Janet Gough, had written a book in which she had invited the dean of each cathedral in England and Wales to nominate a treasure from their church and write about it. She had previously been the Director of Cathedrals and Churches for the Church of England. She took us through the eclectic pieces that were chosen from an Anglo-Saxon crypt at Ripon to a rood screen by Toy Swee Siong installed in Newport Cathedral in 2020. My favourites were the wonderful carved leaves in the Chapter House at Southwell from the late 13th century, shown here, and a touching pair of pilgrim’s boots from about 1500 which were found in a grave at Worcester.  

Interesting online lecture from the Victoria and Albert Museum looking at how Sir Christopher Wren rebuilt London after the Great Fire of London in the 17th century. Janet Gough, author of a new book on Wren in London, took us through the life of Wren and how the rebuilding of London became his major project from The Monument started just five years after the fire. She took us through some of the 52 churches he rebuilt showing us how the established a new design for the Anglican church in England using tiers of windows to bring in natural light and placing the pulpit where all the congregation could see it and hear what was being said. She then moved on to the design of St Paul’s Cathedral bringing together Renaissance and Gothic ideals to develop a new style. She talked about the contemporary designers he used for the interiors from Grinling Gibbons woodwork and the painting of the dome by Sir James Thornhill. She ended by looking at the Phoenix by Ciaus Gabriel Cibber on the sout...