undyingking (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
undyingking) wrote2007-10-10 10:42 am
undyingking) wrote2007-10-10 10:42 am
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The Wenhaston Doom
Not (as you might think) a lesser-known story by H P Lovecraft, but a medieval art treasure, here in Suffolk. We had no idea of its existence, but my mum and stepdad were here on a visit and they mentioned it. Wenhaston is just across the A12 from Southwold, so you can combine it with a visit there (to be honest, the Doom's probably only worth half an hour or so).
It's a painted wooden screen, depicting the Last Judgement, dating from around 1500. As you probably know, such things are very rare in English churches, having been efficiently destroyed during the Commonwealth. This one survived because it had earlier been whitewahsed over -- probably during the reign of Edward VI, which was less thorough in its iconoclasm. It lay forgotten under the whitewash while all around it was smashed by Puritans, until in 1892 the boards were taken out into the churchyard for junking. It rained overnight, the whitewash came off, and the painting was revealed.
The Doom was painted by an anonymous local monk, it's thought. Stylistically it's reminiscent of Bosch and Breughel -- the hell-mouth in particular is a familiar-looking beast. At around the same time, Michelangelo was painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, so it must be admitted that the Wenhaston Doom is not an outstanding work artistically. But we have so little English religious art surviving from that period, so it's an unusual and interesting chance of an insight into early Tudor life.
It's a painted wooden screen, depicting the Last Judgement, dating from around 1500. As you probably know, such things are very rare in English churches, having been efficiently destroyed during the Commonwealth. This one survived because it had earlier been whitewahsed over -- probably during the reign of Edward VI, which was less thorough in its iconoclasm. It lay forgotten under the whitewash while all around it was smashed by Puritans, until in 1892 the boards were taken out into the churchyard for junking. It rained overnight, the whitewash came off, and the painting was revealed.
The Doom was painted by an anonymous local monk, it's thought. Stylistically it's reminiscent of Bosch and Breughel -- the hell-mouth in particular is a familiar-looking beast. At around the same time, Michelangelo was painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, so it must be admitted that the Wenhaston Doom is not an outstanding work artistically. But we have so little English religious art surviving from that period, so it's an unusual and interesting chance of an insight into early Tudor life.