Medieval painting of William of York, St Albans Cathedral, Hertfordshire, June 2020
This is one of several medieval paintings whose worn remains can still be seen on the walls of St Albans Cathedral.
They had been long hidden beneath whitewash which was applied liberally after the Dissolution of the Abbey, and they were only rediscovered in 1835. The image shown here dates to around 1308 and depicts William of York. It stands close to the Shrine of St Alban and still has visibly distinct details and vivid colours, with pigments of lapis lazuli, malachite and even hints of gold.
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Copyright Debbie Smyth, 5 July 2020
Posted as part of SquarePerspectives
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Travel with Intent 
Thanks for isolating these shots instead of doing as I do — putting them among a hundred others in the same cathedral. With this isolation, I can appreciate each one fully. Great idea!
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I think it’s something to do with my own limited attention span – I like short blog posts 🙂
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1308! The perspective of two times as well. Great photo, Debbie. I love history!
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I do too. I love it when something so small can tell such a huge story
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A lovely image with a great sense of depth, perfect for my challenge today too! Churches in medieval times were so brightly coloured; they must have been quite magical.
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Yes, my wide aperture was driven by need for light mainly, as being so close to the painting gave me some shallow depth of field anyway. But the 2 worked well together and it’s one of my favourite recent shots.
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How amazing so much has survived, generally these days there are no paintings left
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Most of them are very pale and damaged, unfortunately. In the recent redesigning of the cathedral’s facilities they developed a lighting system that lights up some of them to look as they would have done. I haven’t had a chance to see it yet. It’s hard to imagine what the pilgrims must have thought when they finally got to the Abbey – just its size is impressive, but the colourful images, including gold leaf, must have been stunning.
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oh how amazing – really must come to St Albans in 2021
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I love your post, check out my blog
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I like the two finger gesture
Do you think it meant peace back then?
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It’s meant to signify blessing. So yes, it kind of means peace 🙂
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A gesture passed down from hundreds of years ago
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Amazing how seemingly small things work their way through our cultures.
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It is ..and that painting was covered for so long
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That’s a very artistic looking skware combo, Debs 🙂 🙂
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Yes, I’ve been trying to be creative and force things into skwares that really don’t want to be there! Mainly because I didn’t shoot them with square fully in my mind. 🙂
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Hee hee, like to keep you on your creative toes!
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