High altar. St Thomas of Canterbury
- Object:
Design
- Place of origin:
London, England (made)
- Date:
1847 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Pugin, Augustus Welby Northmore, born 1812 - died 1852 (designer)
- Materials and Techniques:
Pencil on wove paper
- Credit Line:
Given by the Order of the Visitation
- Museum number:
E.415-2009
- Gallery location:
Prints & Drawings Study Room, level E, case A, shelf 147, box D
This is a design for the high altar, showing St.Thomas flanked by angels, for the Roman Catholic church of St. Thomas of Canterbury at Fulham, London. This design shows the retable and central receptacle for the consecrated Host, known as the tabernacle, above the high altar. There is a design dated '1847' for the altar alone which is also by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-1852).
Pugin was an architect, designer, and writer whose work became the theoretical and practical inspiration for the Gothic Revival movement. A convert to Roman Catolicism in 1835, Pugin soon became a leading architect for new Roman Catholic churches. In 1841, when he published The True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture , Pugin felt confident about both the progress of the Gothic revival and the growth of the Roman Catholic church in England.
