PAINTING OF ST. GEORGE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 140, 16 June 1932, Page 12

PAINTING OF ST. GEORGE

DISCOVERED IN CHURCH. MEDIEVAL ARTIST’S WORK. Ou April 22, the day before St. George’s Bay, an announcement was made of the discovery of a mid-Fif-teenth Century wall-painting of St. George, which is described by Professor E. W. Tristram, of the Royal College of Art, as one of the most interesting in England. A number of wall paintings of exceptional interest have been uncovered at the church of Nether Wallop, in Hampshire, by Professor Tristram. The painting of St. George is remark able in that it is the only case inown to the professor where such a painting has been associated with the performance of St. George miracle plays in the parish, within the memory of living inhabitants. He puts forward the interesting theory that there may be some connection between the two facts, the painting suggesting a. theatrical “getup” which might well have been taken from life. “During the cleaning of the walls of] the nave,” Professor Tristram explain ed, “the vicar, the Rev. F. W. Hyne 1 Davy, made the discovery that there! were still the remains of wall-paint, ings beneath the lime-wash. I was consulted by him and asked to undertake the exposure and preservation of the paintings. “Very little remains of the earliest scheme, dating from about. 1200, but

on the wall above the two middle arches of the south arcade is a large representation of St. George slaying the dragon, executed in ochre and black. St. George, clad in armour, pierces with his lance the dragon lying at his feet. On the right of the composition is a battlemcnted and turret ud building above which appear the heads of a king and queen. “Several other paintings have also been uncovered. Of the early scheme there are the figures of two angels censing above the chancel arch, probably part of a large ‘Majesty.’ The Fifteenth Century scheme no doubt covered the whole church, and on the opposite wall to St. George are the remains of a figure which in all probability is St. Christopher. “On the south wall of the south aisle there is a painting of a saint, probably James. The figure bears a rayed nimbus, is bearded, and clad in a long grey tunic with a yellow’ border adorned with lozenges and lined with white. In the right, hand is a book and in the left a long staff. The figure is drawn in black line, i. different in technique, from the painting in the nave, and is probably a little earlier in date. ”