Oxford Exhibitions - Henry Aldrich

The new exhibition at the Christ Church Picture Gallery is Henry Aldrich (1648-1710) - An Oxford Universal Man.

Dean Henry Aldrich from a portrait by his freind Sir Godfrey Kneller 

Image from Wikipedia

The exhibition marks the tercentenary of his death. Aldrich was Dean of Christ Church from 1689 until his death, and in addition to being aclergyman was a politician . a scholar - the author of a standard textbook on logic - a collector, a musician, and an architect. He desugned All Saints church (now Lincoln Library) in the High - although the church as built incorporates varaitions on his origina design - and Peckwater Quad at Christ Church. This, built between 1706 and 1710 is, according to the exhibition, the earliest 'Palladian'building in England, antedating the work of Lord Burlington.
Aldrich was also a noted bon viveur and the author of an explanation in Latin of why people drink; the following is a translation:

If on my theme I rightly think,

There are five reasons why men drink:—

Good wine; a friend; because I'm dry;

Or lest I should be by and by;

Or — any other reason why.

The exhibition concentrates on Aldrich's bequest of prints to the college and their influence on successive Oxford Almanacks. There are also two portraits of him on display - one as a young man circa 1666, the other, one of the versions ofthe Kneller as in the illustration above

The exhibition is on until January 30th 2011. The Gallery is open 10.30-1 and 2 -4.30 Monday to Saturday, and from 2-4.30 on Sundays. There is an admission charge, but Oxford students and alumni have free access.

Icons at Christ Church

The new exhibition at the Christ Church Picture Gallery here in Oxford is Sacred Faces - Icons in Oxford. It brings together icons from both Greece and Russia from the early sixteenth century to the end of the nineteenth century from the Christ Church collection and from that of the Ashmolean. In addition there is some handsome mid-seventeenth century Russian silver altar plate, now owned by St Barnabas church in Oxford, on display.

The exhibition is on until December 22nd.

The Gallery is open 10.30 -5 Monday to Saturday and 2-5 on Sundays until the end of September. From October to December the opening hours are 10.30-1 and 2-4.30 on weekdays, and 2-4.30 on Sundays. Admission is £3 (£2 for concessions), and half price if you ghave paid to go round the college. Oxford students and alumni, and members of the Art Fund and similar organisations are admitted free.

St Giles by Thomas of Coloswar

Following on from yesterday's post about St Giles here is another late medieval depiction of him. This painting is described as The Death of St Giles, but normally the incident is seen as not being fatal to the Saint, but the means whereby he was drawn to the King's attention. St Giles is usually represented as being wounded in the leg - hence his patronage of cripples - but the Master of St Giles shows him with wound in the hand. This version has a wound to the breast.

I have taken this piece from the Web Gallery of Art pages, and edited it slightly.

The Death of St Giles

Thomas of Coloswar

1427

Tempera on pine wood, 89.5 x 69 cm
Christian Museum, Esztergom, Hungary

The picture shows one of the panels of the Garamszentbenedek Altarpiece.

Nicholas, a canon of Gyõr, who was also cantor of the royal chapel in Buda Castle, in 1427 commissioned Master Thomas, painter of Coloswar (Kolozsvár) to make a polyptych for the high altar of the Abbey Church at Garamszentbenedek (today Hronsky Benadik, Slovakia). Ending in a pointed arch, the central picture of the polyptych (which consists of nine panels) represents the Crucifixion, the internal wings are decorated with four episodes of the Passion and the external ones with scenes taken from the lives of several saints. (One of the latter has been lost, and so has the predella with the inscription about the donation.) The panel representing St Giles is the top quarter of the external wing on the right, its rounded corner following the line of the arch of the central picture.

The hermit, who lived in a forest, was nurtured by the milk of a tame hind. The king's huntsmen pursued the animal, but when the saint interceded with the hunter he aimed his arrow at the holy man and instead of wounding the deer it pierced St Giles's breast. This moment is recorded in the painting. The saint bears the pain with a meditative, pious countenance. The arrow is depicted in the picture twice, perhaps because a single arrow rushing in the air may have introduced too great a tension and lack of balance into this lyrical scene. The hind taking refuge with the hermit is also characterized by calm stillness. The artist may have used a drawing from a model-book of the period for this work, which is indicated not only by the calmness of the animal as if it were part of a still life, but also by its movement: the model of the animal looks as if it had been drawn with all four legs underneath it, but the painter, adjusting the model to the painting, represented its right foreleg stretched out. Though the hunter s figure is much smaller than that of St Giles, the lines of the rock in the foreground and the light colours of the foliage of the forest seem to lead one's eyes to him. In accordance with the style, which had a predilection for elegant, curving lines, the painter stressed the impressive and buoyant line of the bow, which is beautifully set off by the darkness of the forest.

In the international life of King Sigismund of Luxembourg's court at Buda, Thomas de Coloswar had an opportunity to become familiar with the leading movements in painting of the period. The panel representing St Giles has similarities to Bohemian art. The rocky, wooded landscape - to quote Antal Hekler - "the colour of a fairytale in spite of its awakening realism" reveals features akin to the art of the Master of Trebon and the illuminators working under his influence.

This painting was the central panel of the Calvary altarpiece at Garamszentbenedek. This altar piece is one of the most significant painting of the period in Hungary; its source can be traced to the court painting in Bohemia, and it is also related to the court painting in Burgundy.

There are more pictures of the altarpiece here.

Now in addition to the fact that the first picture shows St Giles I have the added interest in the picture that the figure of the archer on the right appears to be taken more or less directly from a copy- book drawing now in the collection at the Christ Church Picture Gallery in Oxford, where I do part-time work. That drawing has been attributed to various possible masters and locations, and to a late fourteenth or early fifteenth century date. There is an article about it in 40 Years of Christ Church Picture Gallery, Oxford 2008, pp 64-5.