Medieval sculpture at St Cuthbert's Church Wells

Amy Robinson posted the following press release on the Medieval Religion discussion group and I thought it worth copying and sharing, and adding some pictures. I have visited St Cuthbert's several times and a very handsome church it is. The remains of the two reredoses from which this sculpture comes are very impressive and striking even in their damaged state.

 

St Cuthbert's Church Wells

Image:pravoslavie.ru from Flickr.com

Hidden medieval sculptures brought to light by UCA digital archive

 

Gilded and painted head of a bishop with damage from a blade visible on the forehead

 

Image:rereredosproject.wordpress.com 

Hidden medieval sculptures, discovered at a Somerset church more than 160 years ago, have been made available online for the first time by the University for the Creative Arts' (UCA) Visual Arts Data Service (VADS).

The fragments of the original treasures, which were found in the walls of St Cuthbert's Church, Wells, during a restoration programme in 1848, include faces, biblical scrolls and crowns, and would have once formed the two large stone altar pieces, known as reredoses.

Amy Robinson, Programme Manager (Digital Curation) at UCA , says: “In total, around 450 pieces of sculpture dating back to the medieval period were uncovered during the church restoration. Since the find in 1848, the fragments have been stored in various places and conditions, suffering further damage as a result.

“The original reredoses would have been destroyed during the Reformation, with the remaining pieces stuffed rather unceremoniously into a wall, which had subsequently been covered by layers of plaster. Digitally archiving the collection allows this incredible find to be much more widely seen, while helping to protect the fragile sculptures from further handling and damage.”

The remains of the Jesse reredos in the south transept
It was commissioned in 1470

Image:geograph.org.uk

The collection has been recognised as one of the most important groups of medieval sculptures in an English church today and last year, a team at St Cuthbert's Church researched, catalogued and digitised the items.

 

The damaged reredos in the north transept

Image:dawsonheriage.co.uk

“The sculptures are now part of a database which holds more than 300 collections of important and historical art, including around 1,300 newly-researched master paintings, as well as iconic fashion items created by renowned designer Dame Zandra Rhodes and worn by the likes of Princess Diana and Freddie Mercury,” Amy adds.

The digital archiving of these medieval sculptures was made possible by funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, The Pilgrim Trust, ChurchCare, The Alfred Gillett Trust, Somerset Archaeology and Natural History Society (Maltwood Fund), and the Leche Trust.

Hosted at UCA for two decades, VADS provides free online access to a growing collection of more than 140,000 images contributed by universities, libraries, museums and archives from across the UK, which are available freely for non-commercial educational use.

To view the medieval sculptures, visit: https://www.vads.ac.uk/collections/RRD.html

To view the whole VADS collection, visit https://www.vads.ac.uk

Samples of the carved heads

Image:photobucket.com/miss_phoebe

To underline the obvious point - once again we have evidence for the scale and fury of vicious destruction that was unleashed by the destructive forces of the sixteenth century.

O Radix Jesse

O Radix Jesse, qui stas in signum populorum, super quem continebunt reges os suum, quem gentes deprecabuntur: veni ad liberandum nos, jam noli tardare.

O Root of Jesse, which standest for an ensign of the people, at whom kings shall shut their mouths, to whom the Gentiles shall seek: Come and deliver us, and tarry not.

'Radix Jesse' derives from Isaiah 11:1,

Et egredietur virga de radice Iesse, Et flos de radice eius ascendet.

'And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.'

Jesse was the father of King David, founder of the Davidic dynasty of the Kings of Judah. It is very much alive. The Davidic dynasty came to a sticky and apparently final end when Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, was taken prisoner by the King of Babylon:

'And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon' [2 Kings 25: 7] where he subsequently died. That was apparently the end of the line for David. But the Jews believed that God would send a Messiah, an 'Anointed one' (Greek 'Christ'), a king in succession to David, a new branch growing up from that truncated tree. Our antiphon salutes Jesus as that new shoot, growing from the stump of Jesse.

If we move on to Isaiah 11:10 we find more of our antiphon:

In die illa radix Iesse, Qui stat in signum populorum, Ipsum gentes deprecabuntur.

'And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek.'

There is a well illustrated account of the history and variety of the iconography of this theme from the mid-twelfth century onwards in the online article Tree of Jesse.

The Tree of Jesse as a genealogy of Our Lord, as in the Gospels, was common in medieval churches - the east windows of Wells Cathedral, Dorchester Abbey and Selby Abbey, as well as a window in the nave of York Minster all illustrate it, as does the reredos of Christ Church Priory in Hampshire. These are all fourteenth century examples.

Part of the Tree of Jesse window, circa 1310

South aisle of the nave,

York Minster

Image:fmschmitt.com

The remaining portion of our antiphon we find at Isaiah 52:15:

Super ipsum continebunt reges os suum,

'The kings shall shut their mouths at him'.

For Christians, this is a 'key' passage of Isaiah, for it occurs at the beginning of one of the 'suffering servant' passages, which Christians have always understood as referring to Christ:

'He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed' (Isaiah 53:3-5).

The O-antiphons, as we have seen, begin with Christ as the God of Creation (O Sapientia), then of the Exodus and the Law (O Adonai). Now we move on to Christ as Son of David, with a hint of his role as suffering servant.