The Lady Chapel in Winchester Cathedral features some wonderful wall paintings. Thomas Silkstede, prior at the cathedral until 1524, commissioned the friezes, which date from about 1500, The paintings represent miracles attributed to the Virgin Mary and may well have been inspired by a much more elaborate series painted on the walls of Eton College Chapel late in the 15th century. Certainly, there were links between the Cathedral and Eton College in the early 1500s. The stories that the pictures illustrate appear to me to be derived from the Cantigas de Santa Maria of Alphonso the Wise,
The originals are very faint and difficult to see so are covered by protective panels painted to give an impression of the nature of the originals. Although medieval craftsmen would normally have used a brilliant colour scheme, these are painted in flat colours, grey, brown, black and white, with occasional small splashes of bright colour to emphasise particular features. There are probably two reasons for this. The paintings are designed to look as if they are part of the architecture, but in addition the stained glass casts complex coloured patterns that would confuse brightly coloured paintings. |
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Both the Winchester and Eton friezes were documented in volume 17 (1928-1929) of the journal of the Walpole Society. The paper is "Wall paintings at Eton College Chapel and Winchester Cathedral". There's another interesting paper on English Devotional Woodcuts by Campbell Dodgson in the same volume, which is sadly out of print. |
- North Wall (Left side of altar) Top Row L-R
- Lower Row L-R
- South Wall, (Right side of altar) Top Row, L-R
- Lower Row, L-R