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.


Wednesday, 24 June 2026

Feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist


Today is the Feast of the Nativity of St John the Baptist

He is one of only three figures in the New Testament - the others being Our Lord and Our Lady - to have a feast to celebrate their birthday. His death is commemorated separately at the end of August.

Most depictions of the Great Forerunner show him as a solitary figure in the wilderness or concentrate on his martyrdom. This illumination showing his birth is unusual amongst his iconography.


The Birth of St John the Baptist
Silvestro dei Gherarducci
1370-71
Image: Walker Art Gallery Liverpool

A tempera painting on vellum showing the letter D, taken from an illuminated choirbook at a Camaldolese monastery in Florence. The letter is decorated on three corners with floral motifs. The image set within the letter is of the birth of St. John the Baptist. The Virgin Mary is holding the infant on the front left, wearing a blue cloak over red dress. In the background, his mother Elizabeth, Mary's cousin, is still in bed being attended by a nun, while his father Zechariah seated on the front right who has been speechless since he was told of the birth by the Archangel Gabriel, writes "His name is John."


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