Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Thursday, 6 January 2022

Epiphany




The Adorarion of the Magi
Friedrich Herlin ( c.1425/30 -1500 )
A panel from the High Altar reredos of the Stadtkirche St Jakob in Rothenburg ob der Tauber, completed in 1466.

Image: Web Gallery of Art

Exotic golden vessels, richly coloured and textured fabrics, pattens on the feet of one of the Magi, not to mention his elaborately decorated hose, are all an insight into the fifteenth century view of kingship and its appurtenances. For the history of his footwear, perhaps best known from the Arnolfini Marriage Portrait, see History of Patten Shoes
 
Three racial origins for the Magi is a common artistic trope, the homage of the nations and of different ethnicities and different cultures and learned traditios is more than a reminder but a demonstration of the Universality of Our Lord’s mission, made manifest today.


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