Conservation of the medieval paintings
Medieval painted decoration of impressive quality survives in various parts of Rochester Cathedral. Some of this painting, however, is in urgent need of conservation treatment. In 1984-85 such work was begun by the Perry Lithgow Partnership on some dangerously detached early fourteenth-century painting on the crypt vault. During this phase the most important remains of the crypt scheme - in one of the north-western bays and on two adjacent arches - were rescued, clarifying the high quality of the paintings, and leading to the identification of some of the subject-matter for the first time.
One scene shows the apocryphal story of the Virgin returning to a repentant Theophilus the deed by which he had sold his soul to the devil; two other scenes depict the Calling of Andrew and Peter, and the Incredulity of Thomas.
Following on from the achievements of this treatment, a collaborative programme of conversation work and training began last year, with the Perry Lithgow Partnership supervising students of the new Courtauld Institute/Getty Conservation Institute Course in the Conservation of Wall Painting.
The first part of this programme was undertaken in March-May 1987, and a second phase is planned for spring 1988. The funding for this joint programme has been generously provided by the Friends of the Cathedral, and by the Baring Foundation, Hayward Foundation, Pilgrim
Trust and Radcliffe Trust.
The work in 1987 was devoted partly to continuing the conservation of the paintings on the crypt vault. Treatment was concentrated in the south-east bay, where the plaster was seriously detached from the vault, and where the remains of further subiects in roundels were known to exist beneath a darkened surface accretion. Additional work in the crypt included repairs to decorative painting discovered in 1986 on the soffit of a doorway, while investigations for further surviving painting were also made beneath the modern limewash covering other bays of the crypt vault. In the choir, a preliminary assessment was made of the present condition and original technique of the Wheel of Fortune, one of the finest thirteenth-century wall paintings in England. A similar investigation was also made of the neglected polychromy on the tourteenth-century effigy of Bishop John of Sheppey.
However, the most urgent conservation treatment in this first phase of the collaborative programme was undertaken on the fine decorative painting, of fourteenth-century date, on and around a tomb recess in the north-east transept. This painting was flaking badly, and treatment was vital in order to arrest further dramatic deterioration.
The tomb is set into the north wall of the north-east transept, the area of the Cathedral which once contained the shrine of St. William of Perth - a baker who, whilst on pilgrimage, was murdered near Rochester in 1201, and who quickly became the focus of a major cult. Although the tomb has
sometimes been considered to be that of the saint himself, it is more likely that of a thirteenth-century prior. The back wall of the recess is decorated with a green vinescroll on a red background, and with addorsed birds forming an overall lozenge pattern. The vinescroll and red background also decorate the soffit of the arch of the recess, with slight remains of the same ornament surviving in the spandrels.
angst the tendrils
Courtaulds Institute
This painted decoration is of considerable art historical interest. The naturalism of the vine leaves and tendrils is characteristic of painting dating from the first half and middle of the fourteenth century. The birds are popinjays - heraldic parrots or parakeets - which were a favoured ornamental device at this time. The closest parallel to the Rochester painting is provided by a painted screen at Willingham (Cambs.), dating from c. 1340, where green popinjays are similarly arranged in lozenges on a red ground.
A more sumptuous example is found in the royal wall paintings in a room of the Byward Tower of the Tower of London, which were apparently executed for Richard Il in the 1390s. Here gilt popinjays, together with royal lions and fleurs-de-lys, form an overall lozenge pattern against an emerald ground, providing a rich decorative backdrop to the figures shown in the Painting. Textile hangings may well have been the inspiration for this type of painted ornament. In the royal counts for 1348, it is recorded that Edward Ill's daughter, Princess Joan, possessed a worsted hanging embroidered with popenty, and such brocade uld probabishantiacerestosedledaniagar.
Rochester, is depicted in a Florentine altarpiece of c..1365 by Nardo di Cione, now in the National Gallery.
The Rochester painting is executed on a thin lime ground applied directly to the stonework. It was in an advanced state of deterioration, and without treatment much further painting would have been lost (numerous flakes were found lying on the tomb chest below). Tests indicated that damage had probably been caused by moisture, and by salts within the Kentish
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Ragstone of which the tomb is constructed. Apart from seeking to arrest this deterioration, there was also considerable scope for improving the appearance of the painting. Covered with limewash at some date in the past, perhaps at the Reformation, a previous crude attempt at uncovering had damaged the paint-layer, while leaving much of the limewash still on the surtace. A coating of 'preservative' also seems to have been applied at the same time as this partial uncovering, and having since darkened served only to detract from the original appearance of the painting. But the most urgent requirement of the conservation treatment was to rectify the flaking of the paint-layer. This was a delicate operation, involving refixing of individual flakes, and, in those places where the lime ground was itself detaches mien, part ink in eclingparine lineabased & our terhir duster back into place and readhered. In this way all the previously deteriorating paintwork on the recess was completely secured, and it was fortunately unnecessary to detach any of the painting. Detachment, however, was
surface layer was detached and then replaced on a fresh lime mortar.
In order to improve the appearance of the stabilised painting within the recess, old and obtrusive repairs were replaced, and particularly distracting areas of paint-loss were toned or reintegrated. The greatest improvement, however, was effected by removal of the remains of covering limewash and by careful cleaning. A significant amount of previously invisible painting was revealed, and the overall painted design is now much more legible.
During the course of treatment various discoveries were made concerning the original painting technique. Most important were the identification of the use of walnut oil and of glazes which contribute to the luminous appearance of the painting. The red background, for instance, was achieved by avel sins any, the dine re vet were parned In deraigris, bound with walnut oil, and then covered with a copper resinate glaze. Such discoveries may not only assist in the determination of conservation treatments, but, in view of the paucity of scientific analysis of English wall paintings, add significantly to our knowledge of medieval painting techniques.
Although the tomb Dainting was in most urgent need of conservation, the
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Although the tomb painting was in most urgent need of conservation, the
vault paintings in the south-east bay ot the crypt were virtually unrecognisable because of their advanced state of deterioration. It is now well known that much painting survives throughout this Early English crypt, probably forming an overall scheme carried out in the early fourteenth century. Before conservation, however, the south-east bay was so badly obscured by a dark surface encrustation that the remaining elements were very difficult to decipher. The safety of two segments of the vault of this bay was also threatened by the deterioration of the supporting plaster. So serious was this disintegration that large sections of the plaster were extremely fragile, and in places liable to collapse.
The main aim of the conservation treatment was to remedy this advanced deterioration. Given the appalling condition of the plaster support, this was best achieved by detaching the paintings and replacing the old, ruined plaster with a fresh lime plaster. During this process the paintings were carefully detached in fourteen manageable sections using well established techniques. The old, salt-contaminated plaster was raked out from the vault and removed from the backs of the detached sections, thereby eliminating one of the principal causes of deterioration. The vault was then replastered to its original shape with a fresh lime mortar, and the paintings reattached to this new, firm support. Once the paintings had been thus secured, cleaning was possible. Although removal of the encrusted surface proved problematic except by slow, mechanical methods, part of a figurative scene was clarified, and new evidence emerged as to the original painting technique.
The painted scheme here, like that in the bay treated in 1984-85, consists of roundels originally enclosing figure subjects, and combined with an
overall red masonry pattern. Three such roundels were cleaned in the southeast bay, and it was found in each case that the frame was set out by preliminary incision. One roundel, in the north-east segment of the vault.
segment, where one of the roundels includes part of an exquisitely painted male figure. Unfortunately, this figure is too small in scale to be viewed to advantage from floor level. He is tonsured and bearded, and is shown looking over his shoulder. Stylistically, this painting depends on Court art of the second half of the thirteenth century, exemplified by the Westminster Retable of c.1270. However, close contemporary parallels exist in early fourteenth-century manuscript illumination, as in the Psalter of Hugh of Stukeley (Corpus Christi College, Cambridge). Consequently, there seems no reason to doubt that this painting in the south-east bay belongs to the same overall scheme as the rest of the painting on the crypt vaults.
The other area of the crypt to receive conservation treatment during this phase was the arch of a doorway leading from one of the bays beneath the south-east transept. Workmen enlarging this doorway in 1986 revealed the soffit of a blocked arch, decorated with a simple lozenge pattern in red on a white ground. In all probability, this decoration is coeval with the early thirteenth-century arch, and therefore the earliest surviving painting in the crypt. Parts of the plaster support were seriously detached from the soffit and these were anchored with new lime mortar repairs.
Other paintings in the Cathedral were examined with a view to assessing conservation needs. A careful search of parts of the crypt vault that had been limewashed in the 1950s revealed that at least one of these bays still retains masonry pattern decoration. In the choir, a preliminary investigation was undertaken of the Wheel of Fortune, suggesting the possible use of an oil medium and a wide range of pigments, as well as tin foil. If oil can be positively identified here, this would be its earliest known use in surviving wall painting in England. Finally, the effigy of Bishop John of Sheppey was similarly examined. Although initial investigation indicates that the visible polychromy is largely a nineteenth-century recreation of the original, further work is required io fully assess the condition of this splendid effigy.
Grateful acknowledgement is made here for assistance in the analysis and examination of the paintings by J. Darrah (Victoria and Albert Museum),
S. Bradley (British Mastum
•versity), and K. Groen
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oil medium and a wide range of pigments, as wen as un ton. I on can be positively identified here, this would be its earliest known use in surviving
in England. Finally, the effigy of Bishop John of Sheppey was nined. Although initial investigation indicates that the visible
¿ largely a nineteenth-century recreation of the original, further _.red to fully assess the condition of this splendid effigy.
Grateful acknowledgement is made here for assistance in the analysis and examination of the paintings by J. Darrah (Victoria and Albert Museum), S. Bradley (British Museum), G. Morgan (Leicester University), and K. Groen (Hamilton Kerr Institute).
Stephen Rickerby
The Friends of Rochester Cathedral were founded to help finance the maintenance of the fabric and grounds. The Friends’ annual reports have become a trove of articles on the fabric and history of the cathedral.
Keeping the Cathedral standing, warm, lit, beautiful and ready to receive worshippers and visitors is a never-ending task.
Fragments of mural paintings date back to the 13th century and collections of portraits of previous bishops and canons.