Christ Enthroned with Saints (design for a fresco for All Saints, Margaret Street) thumbnail 1
Christ Enthroned with Saints (design for a fresco for All Saints, Margaret Street) thumbnail 2
Not currently on display at the V&A

Christ Enthroned with Saints (design for a fresco for All Saints, Margaret Street)

Design
1849 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This is a design for a mural at the east end of the church of All Saints in Margaret Street, London, which has since been painted over. It represents three stages in the Life of Christ: the Nativity, the Crucifixion and the Glory of God in heaven. The Virgin Mary is here modelled by Isabella Cay, the painter's sister. Veneration of the Virgin was characteristic of Roman Catholicism but treated with extreme suspicion in Anglican circles in Victorian Britain. The centrality of the Virgin in this design thus reflects the High Church sympathies of All Saints' congregation. The colour scheme of the work is also unusual at this date. Its clear blues, pinks and greens, and the prominent gold haloes, were derived from early Renaissance altarpieces. They contrasted with the much darker palette of conventional 'Old Master' religious subjects then prevalent. The design is in an original frame that the artist is believed to have been designed.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleChrist Enthroned with Saints (design for a fresco for All Saints, Margaret Street)
Materials and techniques
oil on canvas
Brief description
“Christ Enthroned with Saints”, oil study for a mural for All Saints, Margaret Street, London by William Dyce, 1849
Dimensions
  • Estimate height: 130.1cm
  • Estimate width: 87cm
  • Frame height: 154.5cm
  • Frame width: 112.2cm
Dimensions taken from Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860, Ronald Parkinson, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1990
Styles
Object history
Study for a mural for All Saints, Margaret Street, London; purchased, 1894
Subjects depicted
Summary
This is a design for a mural at the east end of the church of All Saints in Margaret Street, London, which has since been painted over. It represents three stages in the Life of Christ: the Nativity, the Crucifixion and the Glory of God in heaven. The Virgin Mary is here modelled by Isabella Cay, the painter's sister. Veneration of the Virgin was characteristic of Roman Catholicism but treated with extreme suspicion in Anglican circles in Victorian Britain. The centrality of the Virgin in this design thus reflects the High Church sympathies of All Saints' congregation. The colour scheme of the work is also unusual at this date. Its clear blues, pinks and greens, and the prominent gold haloes, were derived from early Renaissance altarpieces. They contrasted with the much darker palette of conventional 'Old Master' religious subjects then prevalent. The design is in an original frame that the artist is believed to have been designed.
Bibliographic references
  • Fagence Cooper, S., Pre Raphaelite Art in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, V&A Publications, 2003. 176p., ill. ISBN I 85177 393 2
  • Parkinson, R., Victoria and Albert Museum, Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860, London: HMSO, 1990, pp. 73-74
Collection
Accession number
164-1894

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Record createdJanuary 7, 2004
Record URL
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