St Malo Cathedral

This is a brochure I picked up in the cathedral of St Malo in Brittany, Northern France. St Malo is a beautiful medieval walled city, and outside the city walls is the busy port and ferry terminal, a destination for both freight and tourists. The Cathedrale Saint Vincent-de-Saragosse was built in the 1150s/60s in the Romanesque and Gothic styles. When I visited last September there was a display of seven paintings by artist Augustine Frison-Roche, who explains ‘Beauty, whatever it may be, always speaks of God.’ The paintings depict the life of Jesus from the Annunciation and finishing with the Apocalypse. Here’s four of them; I particularly like the way the gold paint shone out in the low light of the cathedral interior.

Source: the above brochure, partly translated into English by me!

The Chapter House Wall Paintings, Westminster Abbey

Most of these wall paintings were painted in around 1400 in the ‘International Gothic Style.’ They were commissioned by one of the monks of Westminster Abbey and are remarkably well preserved considering alterations made to the Chapter House in the 16th and 19th centuries. The murals show scenes from the Apocalypse: visions from St John in the Book of Revelation and originally there were 96 painted around the octagonal room. The high quality artwork uses expensive pigments and glazes including gold and tin leaf.

Source: Information board in the Chapter House

Four to finish: the first two are wall and ceiling paintings in St Mary the Virgin Church in Beddington. These look older than they actually are; they are in fact Victorian stencilled designs in the Arts and Crafts style, commissioned by Canon Bridges in 1868-69 as part of extensive church restorations.

Source: St Mary the Virgin Church Beddington website

Next there is this mosaic of the Christian symbol, the Chi-Rho, which is currently displayed in the British Museum and came from a Roman villa in Kent, the home of a wealthy Christian family. ‘One of the most incredible discoveries of Lullingstone Roman Villa is the remains of an early site of Christian worship in the form of a house church’. The room used for the church was separate from the family’s dwelling and the Chi-Rho mosaic was part of the wall decorations.

Source: Englishheritage.org

Lastly there’s this scary mural of the Last Judgement on the wall of the 11th century St Peter and St Paul’s Church in Chaldon. The 12th century painting covers most of the west wall and is believed to be the work of a travelling monk. It depicts the ‘Ladder of Salvation of the Human Soul’ and ‘Purgatory and Hell’. The painting was intended as a visual aid to accompany religious teaching – it would certainly frighten the congregation into behaving themselves!

Source: St Peter and St Paul Church Chaldon website