Welcome to “The Friends” Newsletter
No. 6 New Year 2017
EVENTS SPONSORED BY THE FRIENDS OF ST MARTINS
Following a very popular summer of organ recitals and well-attended guided tours of the
church, together with the Heritage Open Days that we participated in throughout the second
weekend in September, the Christmas Tree Festival successfully rounded off a busy year.
The programme of events for2017 remains to be finalised. Keep your eye on the website for
updates.
In This edition:
What’s In A Window? No 5: The Martyr’s Window by Burne-Jones Page 2
Our Footballing Hero (Charles Coleridge Mackarness ) by Mike Baines page 12
George Frederick Bodley – Early Commission page 14
What’s in a Window? No 5
The Martyrs’ Window by Burne-Jones
Sir Edward
Burne-Jones
1833 - 1898
(See the window on our website at: http://www.friendsofstmartins.co.uk/Window14.html)
This is one of two windows along the South Aisle that were commissioned by Miss Mary Craven
to thank God for the recovery of Queen Victoria's eldest son and heir to the throne, Edward,
the Prince of Wales. (See Newsletter 5 for the full story). There’s a lot more than meets the eye
to this window, especially in its somewhat controversial catholic symbolism which is reflected
throughout the church.
The three martyrs are from left to right: St. Peter, St. Stephen and St Paul.
Burne-Jones may have chosen these three specifically because of their interrelationship. St.
Stephen was the first Christian martyr, and his death by stoning was witnessed by St. Paul who
later, with St. Peter, established the see of Rome, of which Peter became the first Pope.
2
Simon Peter, or Cephas, was the first pope, Prince of the Apostles,
and founder, with St. Paul, of the see of Rome.
Peter was a native of Bethsaida, near Lake Tiberias, the son of
John, and worked, like his brother St. Andrew, as a fisherman on
Lake Genesareth.
(Sea of Galilee so called from the province of Galilee, which bordered on
the western side. Mt 4:18 It was also called the "Sea of Tiberias," from the
celebrated city of that name. Joh 6:1 At its northwestern angle was a
beautiful and fertile plain called "Gennesaret," and from that it derived
the name of "Lake of Gennesaret.")
Most of Jesus’ public life was spent in the environs of this sea. The
surrounding region was then the most densely peopled in all
Israel. no less than nine very populous cities stood on the very
shores of the lake.
Andrew introduced Peter to Jesus, and Christ called Peter to
become a disciple. In Luke is recounted the story that Peter
caught so large an amount of fish that he fell before the feet of
Jesus and was told by the Lord, “Do not be afraid; from now on
you will be catching men”
Jesus also gave Simon a new name: Cephas, or the rock. Becoming a disciple of Jesus, Peter
acknowledged him as "... the Messiah, the son of the living God”. Christ responded by saying:
"... you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.... He added: “I will give you the keys
of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever
you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”.
Peter died in Rome and that his martyrdom came during the reign of Emperor Nero, probably in
64 AD. Testimony of his martyrdom is extensive, including Origen, Eusebius of Caesarea, St.
Clement I of Rome, St. Ignatius, and St. Irenaeus.
According to tradition, Peter was crucified on the Vatican Hill upside down because he declared
himself unworthy to die in the same manner as the Lord.
He was then buried on Vatican Hill, and excavations under St. Peter’s Basilica have unearthed
his probable tomb, and his relics are now enshrined under the high altar of St. Peter’s.
From the earliest days of the Church, Peter was recognized as the Prince of the Apostles and
the first Supreme Pontiff; his see, Rome, has thus enjoyed the position of primacy over the
entire Catholic Church. In liturgical art, he is depicted as an elderly man holding a key and a
book. His symbols also include an inverted cross, a boat, and the cockerel
3
A Hellenistic Jew, St Paul is known worldwide as one of the
earliest Christian missionaries, along with Saint Peter and James
the Just.
Paul was born in Tarsus, in 10 AD, and was originally named Saul.
Raised as a pharisaic Jew, in his initial years he persecuted
Christians, taking part in the stoning of St. Stephen, the first
Christian martyr.
Being momentarily blinded by the vision of the image of
resurrected Jesus, on the road to Damascus, led Saul to convert.
He was baptized as Paul and went to Arabia for three years,
indulging in prayers and reflection.
Around 49-50 AD, an important meeting took place between Paul and
the Jerusalem church. The focus of this meeting was to decide whether
Gentile converts needed to be circumcised. It was at this meeting that
Peter, James, and John accepted Paul's mission to the Gentiles. Though
both Paul and Peter had made an agreement at the Council of
Jerusalem Peter was reluctant to share a meal with Gentile Christians in
Antioch and was publicly confronted by Paul. This is referred to as the
'Incident at Antioch'.
About A.D. 59, having visited Jerusalem for the fifth time since his conversion, the people there
assailed him, and would have killed him, but an officer took him into custody and sent him to the
Roman Governor Felix, at Caesarea, where he was detained a prisoner for two years.
Having finally appealed to the Roman Emperor, according to the privilege of a Roman citizen, he was
sent to Rome. On the voyage he was shipwrecked at Melita (probably Malta), in the spring of 61 AD.
At Rome, he was treated with respect, and allowed to dwell "for two whole years in his own hired
house." Whether he ever left the city or not cannot be positively demonstrated, but it is possible that
he gained his liberty about A.D. 64, and that he made journeys both to the East and to the West,
revisiting Asia Minor, and carrying out his long-cherished wish of preaching the gospel in Spain, then
thought to be the western limit of the world.
Meanwhile, the great and mysterious burning of Rome occurred, generally attributed to Nero. The
latter threw the blame on the Christians who were, in consequence, subjected to a severe
persecution. Among the victims may have been Paul who, according to tradition, suffered death in
A.D. 67.
The symbols for St. Paul include the sword with which he was beheaded, a book or scroll to represent
his letters, a horse; long, pointed beard, and balding backwards from forehead.
4
Burne-Jones used William Michael Rossetti as the model for both Peter and Paul:
The centre portrait above is of William Michael Rossetti by Ford Madox Brown, and he was indeed a
balding man reflecting the symbol description as “balding backwards from forehead.”
William Michael Rossetti, (born September 25, 1829, London, England—died February 5, 1919, London) was an
English art critic, literary editor, and man of letters, brother of Dante Gabriel and Christina Rossetti.
Even as a child, William Michael was in many ways a contrast to his more flamboyant brother—in his calm and
rational outlook, financial prudence, and lack of egotism, for example. At 16 he became a clerk in the Excise
(later Inland Revenue) Office at £80 a year and became a mainstay of the entire Rossetti family.
His appointment as art critic to The Spectator magazine in 1850 and subsequent modest advancement in the
civil service enabled him, in 1854, to establish his father, mother, and two sisters in a more comfortable home.
In 1874 he married Emma Lucy, the daughter of the painter Ford Madox Brown. William Michael retired from
the Inland Revenue Office in 1894.
William Michael had literary interests almost as varied as those of his brother. He was a member of the
original Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and served as their diarist as well as the editor of their journal The Germ.
He edited Christina’s (1904) and Dante Gabriel’s (1911) collected works and wrote D.G. Rossetti: A Memoir
with Family Letters (1895).
He dealt conscientiously with a vast amount of family correspondence and material relating to PreRaphaelitism and his brother’s place in the movement, proving himself an indispensable chronicler in such
publications as Pre-Raphaelite Letters and Diaries (1900) and Ruskin, Rossetti, Pre-Raphaelitism: Papers 1854–
62 (1899).
William Michael was also an astute and independent-minded critic; he hailed Walt Whitman’s controversial
Leaves of Grass (1855) as a work of genius and introduced that poet to British readers with a selection of his
poems in 1868. He was also an early admirer of William Blake, producing an edition of his Poetical Works in
1874, and he published studies of Dante and other medieval poets, both Italian and English.
5
St. Stephen is recognized as a saint, one of the first
deacons of the Christian Church and the first
Christian martyr. He was condemned for
committing blasphemy against the Jewish Temple,
and was stoned to death circa the year 36.
Stephen is believed to have been a Greek Jew who
converted to Christianity. When the number of
disciples increased, there was much confusion over
the distribution of alms and the serving of the
poor. Stephen's trustworthy character marked him
out, and he was chosen as one of the seven
deacons who would perform this task.
An excellent and well trusted orator, his preaching
style was so effective that many Jews became
worried about his success. They accused him of
blasphemy and he was made to stand trial.
At the supreme Jewish law court, the Sanhedrin,
Stephen recounted the many mercies that God had
given the children of Israel, and the ungrateful way
in which they had repaid Him. He accused them of
murdering Jesus, whose coming, he said, had been
foretold by Moses.
This angered the crowd and he was dragged out onto the streets. He was then stoned to death
according to the law at that time, an event witnessed by St Paul. It is believed he died around the
year 34 AD.He is believed to have been initially buried in a grave to the north of Jerusalem, but this
body was exhumed and moved to a new grave outside the
Damascus Gate. This is where the stoning is believed to have taken
place.
Stephen is the patron saint of deacons, headaches, horses, coffin
makers, and masons. He is often represented carrying a pile of
rocks or with rocks on his head.
In Burne-Jones window the rocks appear around St. Stephen's feet,
while the saint holds his head in the agony of his execution.
The head itself is unusual as Stephen appears to have a tonsure
when monasticism had not been developed at the time of his death. Accident or intention, or merely
an aspect of design?
6
The tracery by Philip Webb (1831 –
1915) is interesting largely because
of the pomegranates surrounding
the shield.
An intensely catholic symbol
pomegranates feature frequently in
St. Martins. The seeds are
particularly visible in the one
featured at approximately 2 o'clock.
Although faded in part the
inscription around the shield can still
be mostly recognised:
And they saw his face as it had been
the face of an angel. Acts 6.15.
This is a reference to St. Stephen as he
stood his trial before the High Priest and
the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem.
The pomegranate is a symbol of the resurrection and
the hope of eternal life. Because of its abundance of
seeds, it can also symbolize royalty and the church,
where the seeds represent the many believers who
make up the one universal church.
The pomegranate symbol derives from the ancient
myth of Properspina and her annual return to earth in
the spring. (see below)
Christianity adopted this theme, with the pomegranate
associated with the Resurrection of Christ and of
believers instead of the annual resurrection of crops.
The seeds bursting forth from the pomegranate are
also likened to Christ bursting forth from the tomb.
7
In Christian art, the pomegranate is often held by the Christ Child in depictions of the Madonna and
Child, such as the famous example by Botticelli. (above)
The pomegranate is a very catholic symbol (Latin, pomum granatus, “seeded apple”) and was first
cultivated by the ancient Phoenicians, who used the jewel-like fruit as both food and medicine. The
many seeds made the fruit an obvious emblem of fertility, and by association, love and marriage. The
pomegranate is associated with several goddesses, including Astarte, Cybele, Hera, and especially
Persephone, whose ingestion of just one of the fruit’s seeds (a probable allusion to pregnancy) made
her an eternal prisoner of Hades.
Pomegranates were also sacred to the ancient Israelite, who adorned temples and religious
implements with its likeness. The tops of the pillars (Jachin and Boaz) of the Temple of Solomon were
decorated with pomegranates, as were the hems of the robes of the High priests. Here, the
pomegranate stood for wisdom. The fruit is said to contain 613 seeds, the number of mitzvot (laws)
in the Torah.
The pomegranate’s popularity carried over into Christian art, where it variously symbolizes the
church (many seeds in one skin), or the passion and resurrection of Christ and of believers (especially
when portrayed open or burst).
8
There is some evidence in ancient art to suggest that both the crown and the globus cruciger
are derived from depictions of the pomegranate.
The globus cruciger (Latin, "cross-bearing orb"), also known as the orb and cross, an orb (Latin
globus) topped (Latin gerere, to wear) by a cross (Latin crux), has been a Christian symbol of
authority since the Middle Ages, used on coins, in iconography, and with the sceptre as royal
regalia.
The cross represents Christ's dominion over the orb of the world, literally held in the hand of an
earthly ruler (or sometimes it is held by an angel). In the iconography of Western art, when
Christ himself holds the globe, he is called Salvator Mundi, the Saviour of the World. Titan’s
Version (1570) below left,and Ford Madox Brown’s angel holding the globus cruciger in the St.
Martin window of our church.
The pomegranite appears many times in our church. The chancel arch is littered with them; recognised
by the pair of green leaves just below the fruit – the green having faded much less than some of the
other colours.
9
Pomegranates are also found painted on the stonework (left) on
the east, south and north walls of the chancel as well as the highly
decorated east wall (above) immediately above the altar. They are
easily distinguishable in bright red.
The pomegranate seems to have been in existence ever since the earth was created. Some
scholars of antiquity assume that the pomegranate was the tree of life in the Garden of Eden,
and according to a number of legends it was the fruit of this tree, rather than the apple, with
which Eve tempted Adam. The two fruits are alike, at least on the outside.
The pomegranate, or Punica granatum, is native throughout most of the Orient and the
Mediterranean regions, but because of its long history it is difficult to establish its real first
home. It is the sole genus in the family Punicaceae and has only two species.
The botanical name Punica is derived from the Latin punicus, meaning scarlet or red, but also
referring to the so-called Punic Wars. The Romans called it the Punic apple because it came
from Carthage. Pomegranate is from the Latin pomum, meaning fruit. The specific name
granatum was given because of the many hard seeds. Having been brought from Carthage by
Roman soldiers, it was later introduced into southern Europe and Spain.
A small branch with an open pomegranate is on the coat of arms of Granada, and the province
took its name from the fruit.
During the time of Henry VIII the pomegranate was introduced into England through his first
wife, Catherine of Aragon, who had it for her emblem. In one of the festivals held in honour of
their marriage, a bank of roses and
pomegranates was planted to symbolize
the union of England and Spain.
(Right) A 16th century woodcut of the
coronation of Henry VIII of England and
Catherine of Aragon showing their heraldic
badges, the Tudor Rose and the
Pomegranate of Granada
10
The Hebrew word for pomegranate is rimmon, and many references containing it are found in
the Old Testament. They are usually associated with the fruitfulness of the land, along with
grapes, figs, olives, barley, and wheat. Those were the riches Moses pledged to his people when
he led them out of Egypt into the promised land. To this day the Jews employ pomegranates in
certain religious ceremonies.
Already in those very early days, the flowers and fruit of the pomegranate served as designs in
architecture, weaving, and needlework. The hem of the sacred robe of Aaron, older brother of
Moses and first High Priest of Israel, was embroidered with blue, purple, and scarlet
pomegranates alternating with golden bells which were probably patterned after the shape of
the flowers.
Robes with similar adornment are said to have been worn by ancient Persian kings. Carved
representations of the fruit along with lilies were sculptured on the capitals of King Solomon's
temple in Jerusalem. They also appear frequently in old Assyrian and Egyptian monuments and
on Pompeian wall paintings.
Many legends are associated with the pomegranate. One is the wellknown Greek myth of Persephone the goddess queen of the
underworld, wife of the god Hades. She was also the goddess of spring
growth, who was worshipped alongside her mother Demeter in the
Eleusinian Mysteries. This agricultural-based cult promised its initiates
passage to a blessed afterlife. Persephone was the goddess of spring's
bounty. Once upon a time when she was playing in a flowery meadow
with her Nymph companions, she was seized by Hades and carried off
to the underworld as his bride.
Her mother Demeter despaired at her disappearance and searched for
her the throughout the world accompanied by the goddess Hecate
bearing torches. When she learned that Zeus had conspired in her
daughter's abduction she was furious, and refused to let the earth fruit
until Persephone was returned.
Zeus consented, but because the girl had tasted of the food of Hades-a handful of pomegranate seeds--she was forced to forever spend a
part of the year with her husband in the underworld.
Her annual return to the earth in spring was marked by the flowering
of the meadows and the sudden growth of the new grain. Her return to
the underworld in winter, conversely, saw the dying down of plants
and the halting of growth. So, mortal men were granted the beauty of
springtime and the pomegranate became a symbol.
Prosperine (left by Dante Gabriel Rossetti) is the Roman version of the same myth.
11
OUR FOOTBALLING HERO
Charles Coleridge Mackarness was our Vicar from January 1889 up until September 1916 when
he retired to Oxford where he died on the 1st March 1918 at the age of 67.
Canon Mackarness, he was appointed Prebendary of York in 1898, was the first-born son of
John Mackarness bishop of Oxford whose wife Alethea was a descendent of the poet Samuel
Taylor Coleridge.
Bishop Mackarness earned himself the soubriquet “Honest John”, his predecessor Bishop
Wilberforce was known as “Soapy Sam” referring to his habit of wringing his hands., Oxford was
a cruel place for a Bishop with an unfortunate affectation though he was by all accounts an
exemplary Bishop in every other respect.
Bishop Mackarness was a Liberal, a man of strong principle, popular with his clergy. He earned
his honest reputation by returning the enormous sum of £1729 to the Church Commissioners
representing money he had received in rents which were paid in excess of his statutory income.
Charles was born in Tardebigge, Worcestershire where his father was vicar and educated at
Winchester College and Exeter College, Oxford University where he graduated with a BA 2 nd
Class (Final Classical School) in 1873 and in 1876 he was given his MA. Clearly following the now
fashionable emphasis on lifelong learning he became a Fellow of Denstone College in 1901 and
was awarded a Doctorate in Divinity in 1914
In 1882 he married Grace Milford and they had 6 children, Margot, Hugh, Elfie, Cuthbert, Guy,
and Roger.
He had established his sporting credentials at Winchester where he played cricket for the
college team with one appearance for the gentlemen of Devon in 1868 and for Devon in 1869.
Perhaps they had run out of gentlemen in Devon by 1896. His greatest success however was on
the football pitch and he was a founder member of the Oxford University Football Club formed
on the 9th November 1871 playing as full back in the early years of the club. He was described
as “a back who knows no superior” and as having “a brilliant kick, never misses his kick”. Oxford
didn’t play in the first year of the cup but in the next year they reached the final beating Crystal
Palace 3-2 on the way but they lost 2-0 to the Wanderers in the Final. The Wanderers had won
in the previous year and received a bye into the final. Oxford also had had a stroke of luck when
Queens Park, a Scottish team, couldn’t afford the fare to travel to London for the semi-final also
giving Oxford a bye into the final. The next year Oxford was once again in competition for the
trophy and they beat Upton Park, Barnes, The Wanderers (the rule on byes had changed) and
Clapham Rovers to reach the final on March 10th 1874. The final was played against the Royal
Engineers at the Kennington Oval in front of a crowd of 2000, minutes into the game Oxford
were awarded a corner and in the subsequent melee, familiar in schoolboy football, the ball
12
came back to Charles who lobbed it back over the crowded goal mouth and past the unsighted
goal keeper into the Royal Engineers net. Was Charles “over the moon’ and goalkeeper William
Merriman “gutted”? Probably not, the game was still played between ex public school boys and
all that together with celebratory hugs was yet to come. Oxford scored again following some
expert dribbling by Cuthbert Ottaway and Oxford won the trophy 2-0 for the first and only time.
In 1881 Blackburn Rovers arrived on the scene winning the trophy in 1882 in front of a crowd of
8,000 and all the familiar team names start to appear in subsequent years and football became
a working-class sport of choice.
Meanwhile Charles Mackaness began his career in the church in 1874 at St Mary’s Reading and
in 1875 in addition to his Assistant Curacy he became Chaplain to his father the Bishop of
Oxford. In 1879 he became Chaplain, Censor, and Theological lecturer at Kings College London
and in 1882 he was Vicar in two churches in Aylesbury. In 1887 he was appointed Rural Dean,
that well-established route to ecclesiastical preferment, though not on this occasion as sadly his
father resigned through ill health and he lost his patron. Perhaps his firm tractarian principles
didn’t help either but this misfortune was Scarborough’s good fortune as he was offered and
accepted the living at St Martin’s Scarborough.
The Buckinghamshire Herald recorded his congregations regret at losing a much-loved Vicar
who was going to Scarborough to fulfil a most important position adding that ‘anyone who
knows anything of Scarborough is aware of the diversity of opinion in the Brighton of the North.
The report adds” that the post is difficult and of no great pecuniary advantage’ but with
potential because “the church is in the centre of a newly extended fashionable part of the
town.”
The new Vicar took account of this and although he was himself a dedicated tractarian his
ministry at St Martin’s was based on “prayer book Catholicism” a moderate Catholicism
designed to appeal to the seasonal holiday congregation. His time at St Martin’s is particularly
remembered for the sangfroid he showed continuing with an 8.00am Mass after a shell fell into
the Church during the 1916 German naval bombardment and the letter of congratulation sent
by the Archbishop of York.
The parish was returned to financial stability during his incumbency and he was known for his
kindness and humour especially with children. He must also have been very busy taking on
extra responsibilities, in addition to the parish he became Prebendary (Canon) of York in 1896
and Archdeacon of the East Riding in 1898.
Canon Mackaness retired September 1916 and died in Oxford on the 1 st March 1918.
13
Oxford University’s AFC , the FA Cup winners in 1874, Charles Mackaness is sitting on the back
row third from the left.
Article by Mike Baines
14
George Fredrick Bodley – Early Commission
Born 14 March 1827 at 4 Albion Street Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England
Died 21 October 1907 (aged 80) Water Eaton, Oxfordshire, England
In 1852 one of Bodley’s first clients was the Rev.
Thomas Keble, brother of the more famous
John, both of whom were staunch
Tractarians.
Robert Suckling (right) was the first
priest of the newly built church at
Bussage. He worked to alleviate
poverty, and was Founder of the
House of Mercy in Bussage, working to
free girls from prostitution.
15
In November 1851, Suckling died of typhoid, and it was decided to commemorate him by
building an aisle onto St Michael, to accommodate the inmates of the House of Mercy, who
attended a service there every day.
Thomas Keble took the lead in this project, with Grace Poole, a member of the congregation
who financed the project, and whose close interest in it may be deduced from the friendship
that she formed with Bodley while the work was going on.
The aisle was added in 1854. The front of the porch is flush with the aisle wall, with no
intervening buttress, emphasising the wall plane in a manner that was almost certainly
influenced by Ruskin. In the first volume of The Stones of Venice, published in 1851, Ruskin
gave a whole chapter to the 'wall veil', an element of design that was to be a life-long priority
for Bodley.
16
The original architect, J.P. Harrison of Oxford designed the church in Middle Pointed Style.
Adherents of the ecclesiological movement believed that only the Gothic style was suitable for
church architecture, but not just any Gothic style! To them, the "Middle Pointed" or Decorated
style prevalent in the late 13th to mid-14th century was the only true Gothic.
Yet within these constraints the independent personality of Bodley found opportunities to
express itself. The aisle's horizontal line is stressed by the square external heads of the two-light
windows, a fourteenth-century rather than `Middle Pointed' motif.
The ornamental carving Bodley added to the aisle is the most distinctive feature, and one that it
does not share with the original church.
17
Externally this includes:
• burgeoning foliage on
the gabled heads of the
buttresses.
• lilies in relief forming
a cross set into a
quatrefoil niche above
the porch's door-way.
Internally, lilies reappear, prominently tall on the imposts that rise above the aisle's octagonal
piers, into which the arch mouldings die.
18
As an emblem of The Annunciation, the lily also symbolises
The Incarnation, the central fact of Tractarian, sacramental
worship.
This use of iconography was extended into the rest of the
church.
Keble asked Bodley to design glass for the window next to the font,
to be ready in time for the opening of the aisle at Easter 1853
It was made by Hardman of Birmingham, to whom Bodley wrote
on January 15, enclosing a sketch design, remarking:
`The lilies at the bottom I should like retained as symbolic of the
"Sacrament of Purity" — the position of the window is by the
font.'
This adds another, less obvious, level to the significance of the
lilies, as symbols of baptism, which was, it seems, merged in
Bodley's mind with the 'purity' of virginity as well as with the
incarnation.
19
In his use of symbolism, Bodley can be compared with Pre-Raphaelite painters. There are
parallels between the lilies at Bussage and Rossetti's first major painting, The Girlhood of Mary
Virgin, exhibited in London in March 1849
It shows the Virgin embroidering a lily, while St Anne oversees her. A tall lily rising from a red
pot, watered by an angel,
dominates the left-hand side of the
painting.
This painting, and its sequel “The
Annunciation” embodies Tractarian
meanings through a symbolic use
both of objects:


the dove = Holy Spirit
the lamp = piety


the vine = truth
the rose another symbol of
The Virgin)
and of the colour of the books:
20
•
Blue for Faith
•
Gold for Charity
•
Green for Hope
•
Buff for Prudence
•
White for Temperance
•
Brown for Fortitude
This Pre-Raphaelite
interest in convents and
nuns was part of the
movement's wider
concern with
contemporary debates
about women's roles in
society, and in
particular the fate of
the 'fallen woman', the
issue that had
prompted the
penitentiary
movement.
In 1853, the year that
the aisle at Bussage was
opened, two PreRaphaelite painters
began canvases on the
subject.
Holman Hunt's The
Awakening Conscience.
To achieve the greatest
possible visual accuracy
Hunt rented a villa in St.
John's Wood, North
London, an area where
rich men housed their
mistresses. His model
was Annie Miller, his
girlfriend.
Hunt responded to the challenge of photography and the production of bright, new synthetic
colours created for the cloth industry by using the new colours extensively and filling his canvas
with detailed accuracy. The detail and symbolism of the content is as follows:
Upper right quadrant:
(1) Sleeping Cupid - wall paper - "The corn and wine are left unguarded by the slumbering Cupid
watchers, and the fruit is left to be preyed on by the thievish birds." (WH Hunt) Hunt implies
that women must guard their chastity as a farmer guards his crops.
21
(2) Nostalgic song - found on the piano - "Oft in the Stilly Night" is a song about a woman
reflecting on her childhood innocence. Words of the song have stung the woman's conscience.
(3) Cupid bound - clock decorated with the image of Chastity binding Cupid (god of love), which
suggests that the gentleman will not have his "wicked" way. The picture on the wall shows the
biblical story of the women taken into adultery.
(4) Flowers of deceit - flowers in the vase on the piano are the morning glory, which tangles
itself with other plants. It symbolized the embroiled and complicated relationship of the
woman. Tangled skeins of wool at the feet of the piano imply the same thing.
Lower right quadrant
(5) Rings of fingers - Young woman shows her hands. There's a ring on every finger except the
"wedding finger". She is a kept woman, entirely dependent on the support and whim of the
man. If he rejects her, she is likely to resort to prostitution in order to survive.
(6) Posture - She's at the point of rising from her lover's lap - at the precise point when her
conscience is awakened. Her lover is singing and playing the piano, oblivious to her
transformation
(7) Glove - soiled, discarded white glove on the floor symbolizes the woman's fate if she stays
with her lover.
Lower left quadrant
(8) "Tears Idle Tears" - music on the floor - Edward Lear's musical adaptation of a poem by
Tennyson, contrasting past innocence with present wretchedness. Like the music on the piano,
it indicates sorrow over the woman's present predicament.
(9) Artist's initials and date - in the lower left corner - in the opposite comer is a shaft of light,
falling on the foot of the piano, symbolic of the girl's salvation; strands of wool becoming
unravelled from the tapestry is a symbol of her current state, which could well have been her
undoing.
(10) Cat & bird - The cat under the table plays with the bird. There could be a double meaning
here: (a) cat = man; bird = mistress (b) bird seems to have escaped the grasp of the cat,
suggesting her salvation.
(11) Hat and book - the hat on the table says the man is a visitor and not a permanent resident.
The black bound book indicates Hunt's plan to educate Annie Miller who was barely literate.
Upper Left quadrant
(12) Victorian gentleman - the young man, well dressed and well-to-do, visiting his mistress
whom he "lodges" in a comfortable modern house. He visits when he pleases. She is in a state
of undress; lace-hemmed garment is her slip.
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(13) Changing expression - first owner of the painting had Hunt repaint girl's expression
because it was too painful to look at. Girl's face illuminated by the light from the window, which
appears in the mirror.
(14) - "Light of the World" - girl stares out the window at the sunlit garden reflected in the
mirror. "Light of the World" is the title of this painting's companion piece. Light represents her
salvation. White roses in the garden represent purity.
Hunt exhibited the picture with an elaborately decorated frame which he designed himself. It
contained appropriate emblems, such as marigolds symbolizing sorrow, and bells representing
danger. It also included a quotation, "As he that taken away a garment in cold weather, so is he
that singeth songs to a heavy heart." He cited this as his inspiration.
The painting demonstrates the other side of Victorian English life, that not open to polite
society, that which was discussed in Gentlemen's Clubs, but certainly not at home. Imperialism
had opened the world to men and their whims. They lived a life of adventure, of money and
opportunity, all things not yet open to women. Confined and kept home a woman was not even
free enough to venture out to obtain the paper to look for a job.
The painting can be viewed in stunning detail at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Awakening_Conscience#/media/File:William_Holman_Hunt
_-_The_Awakening_Conscience_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s painting “Found” , although never finished, was also begun in 1853,
and has a similar theme. He always regarded 'Found' as one of his most important paintings,
although it was never finished, despite being worked at intermittently over a period of almost
twenty years. The above dates from Rossetti's third major campaign of work on the painting in
the winter of 1869-1870.
Rossetti described the treatment of 'Found' (a countryman discovering that his former
sweetheart is now a London prostitute) in a letter of 1855 to William Holman Hunt:
'I can tell you, on my own side, of only one picture fairly begun - indeed, I may say, all things
considered, rather advanced; but it is only a small one. The subject had been sometime
designed before you left England and will be thought, by anyone who sees it when (and is
finished, to follow in the wake of your 'Awakened Conscience,' but not by yourself, as you know
I had long had in view subjects taking the same direction as my present one. The picture
represents a London street at dawn, with the lamps still lighted along a bridge that forms the
distant background. A drover has left his cart standing in the middle of the road (in which, i.e.
the cart, stands baa-ing a calf tied on its way to market), and has run a little way after a girl who
has passed him, wandering in the streets.
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He had just come up with her and she, recognizing him, has sunk under her shame upon her
knees, against the wall of a raised churchyard in the foreground, while he stands holding her
hands as he seized them, half in bewilderment and half guarding her from doing herself a hurt.
These are the chief things in the picture which is to be called "Found" .... The calf, a white one,
will be a beautiful and suggestive part of the thing.'
Bodley’s main period of cooperation with the pre-Raphaelites was about to begin. This will be
the subject of the next article on Bodley, together with his first complete designs for churches.
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