Wall Paintings
The wall paintings in the Chapel are considered to be the most remarkable work of art in the College. They are the work of at least four master painters, including William Baker, who took eight years to complete them (1479–87). In the Flemish style, they adorn the sides of the chapel. On the North side the paintings depict the Virgin Mary (to whom the chapel is dedicated), while those on the South side tell a popular medieval story about a mythical Empress. These paintings were whitewashed over in 1560 as a result of an order from the new protestant church authorities which banned depictions of mythical miracles. They were left obscured and forgotten for the best part of 300 years until they were rediscovered in 1847, and it was not until 1923 that they were cleaned, restored and revealed by the removal of the stall canopies.
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Famous quotes containing the words wall and/or paintings:
“We shall renew the battle in the plain
Tomorrow—red with blood will Xanthus be;
Hector and Ajax will be there again,
Helen will come upon the wall to see.”
—Matthew Arnold (1822–1888)
“When I began to have a fire at evening, before I plastered my house, the chimney carried smoke particularly well, because of the numerous chinks between the boards.... Should not every apartment in which man dwells be lofty enough to create some obscurity overhead, where flickering shadows may play at evening about the rafters? These forms are more agreeable to the fancy and imagination than fresco paintings or other the most expensive furniture.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)