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Notes on the Mural Paintings of St. Christopher in English Churches

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 January 2012

H. H. Brindley
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Extract

In the course of a search for material likely to be useful in an inquiry into the evolution of the sailing ship in Northern Europe I was attracted to the surviving mural paintings of St. Christopher, for now and then we find a masted vessel or row boat in the stream through which the saint wades. The immediate result was disappointing, for I found only twenty-three pictures with vessels of any kind; moreover the small size of the latter precludes insertion of the details of rigging or other gear, besides which a mural painting is a work of the picture-poster order, strong lines to produce an impression at a distance. The only instance of a vessel of particular value to a student of nautical archaeology I found is in the well-preserved paintings in Breage (St. Breaca's) church in Cornwall, which is seen on the left side of fig. 18. The picture is c. 1490, the date of the church, and for that time the topsail is noticeably large, while the sheets being led to the yard-arms of the main course is a point of interest in view of the controversy whether early topsails, which came into use in the second half of the fifteenth century, were usually sheeted to the tops or to the yard-arms below. As material accumulated it seemed worth while attempting a summary of our knowledge of the mural paintings of St. Christopher in English churches, in respect of their distribution, survival, and the details of the conventional representation.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , July 1924 , pp. 227 - 241
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1924

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References

page 227 note 1 Described by me in the Cambridge Antiquarian Society's Proceedings, xvii, 1914 p. 139Google Scholar.

page 228 note 1 Crawford, H. S., ‘The Mural Paintings and Inscriptions at Knockmoy Abbey,’ Jour. Roy. Soc. Antiq. Ireland, ser. vi, vol. ix, xlix, pt. 1, 06 1919Google Scholar.

page 230 note 1 ‘List,’ Introduction, p. li.

page 230 note 2 ‘Notes on some recently discovered mural paintings at Little Hampden church,’ Records of Bucks, 1909, p. 421Google Scholar.

page 230 note 3 Arch. Jour, liii, 1896, p. 175Google Scholar.

page 230 note 4 Keyser, , op. cit., ‘Little Hampden,’ p. 422Google Scholar.

page 230 note 5 ‘List,’ p. li.

page 230 note 6 Surrey Arch. Coll. vi, 1874, p. 196Google Scholar, f.-n., and Bloxam, , Principles of Architecture, ed. 10, p. 411 f.-nGoogle Scholar.

page 230 note 7 My notes have 130 on the north wall or arcade against 50 in other positions.

page 231 note 1 ‘List,’ p. li.

page 232 note 1 Op. cit., Little Hampden, p. 421.

page 233 note 1 His drawing is reproduced in the Journal of the Royal Institute of Cornwall, xvi, part 3, 1906, p. 392Google Scholar, where there are additional notes on the painting in sequel to the description in xv, part 1, 1901, p. 151.

page 234 note 1 Arch. Jour. liii, 1896, p. 184Google Scholar.

page 234 note 2 Keyser, , Arch. Jour. lviii, 1901, p. 50Google Scholar.

page 235 note 1 Keyser, , Arch. Jour. liii, 1896, p. 183Google Scholar.

page 235 note 2 Keyser, , Arch. Jour. liii, 1896, p. 177Google Scholar; and Cox, , Churches of Cornwall, p. 140Google Scholar.

page 235 note 3 Keyser, , Arch. Jour. liii, 1896, p. 182Google Scholar.

page 235 note 4 Arch. Jour. liii, 1896, p. 165Google Scholar.

page 236 note 1 Gent. Mag. cit. sup.

page 236 note 2 Gent. Mag. 1822, pt. ii, p. 305Google Scholar, and a mention by Keyser, , Jour. Arch. liii, 1896, p. 185Google Scholar.

page 237 note 1 Arch. Jour. liii, 1896, pp. 185—191Google Scholar.

page 238 note 1 ‘Mural Paintings in Cornish Churches’, Jour. R. Inst. Cornwall, xv, pt. i, 1902, pp. 136–160Google Scholar; Coulthard, H. R., The Story of an Ancient Parish, Breage with Gertnoe, 1913Google Scholar; and Brindley, , Proc. Camb. Antiq. Soc. 1914Google Scholar, cit. sup.

There are coloured drawings in the Jour. R. Inst. Cornwall, xv, part 1, 1902, plates 1, 2, and I here reproduce, by the kindness of the Rector, Mr. Coulthard, the photograph on p. 51 of his book.

page 238 note 2 Essex Archaeol. i, N.S., p. 62.

page 240 note 1 Arch. Jour. liii, 1896, p. 183.Google Scholar

page 240 note 2 Suss. Arch. Coll. xxxviii, 1891, p. 51.Google Scholar

page 241 note 1 It is also described by Mr.Berridge, in the Transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society, xvi, pt. 3, N.S., 1912, p. 210Google Scholar, and by Bamford, A. B. in The Essex Review, no. 125, vol. xxxii, Jan. 1923, p. 41Google Scholar, with a sketch.