Panel of oak, carved with a scene of the Last Judgement

Carved panel of oak, of square form, carved in high relief with a representation of the Last Judgement: Christ is seated in an attitude of blessing on a rainbow arch and flanked on the right by four prophetic figures among cloud scrolls, and on the left by two similar figures and a crowned figure. Below the arch are two converging figures of trumpeting angels, above nine small human figures, mostly nude. The Elect, on the left, are rising up. The Damned, on the right, are falling into Hell.
Christ is shown with his cloak open at the chest to display his wounds. Behind him are the lily and the sword to indicate the place of the damned and the elect. On either side sit the assessors amongst whom is a figure with the crown on her head, probably intended for the Virgin.

Given by Harold Thacker

The donor said of the panel that all he knew about it was that it had been acquired by his grandfather about 100 years ago [c.1828] in Horncastle, Lincs., presumably from some local church. The Vicar of Horncastle had been unable to identify any local church from which it might have come.

W.A.Thorpe in 1938 thought that it would have been painted originally.

Notes from R.P. 38/4734

22 June 1938, A J Hatley letter to V & A
encloses a memorandum regarding the boss and requests any information the V & A might add. The boss was apparently given to the Walthamstow Central Library by a man who claimed to have stayed at Horncastle, Lincs., in connection with a church renovation job "about 100 years ago". The man kept the boss "as a souvenir" of his stay.

Mr Roebuck, of the Library, wrote to the Vicar at Horncastle and to the Archdeacon who had no knowledge of restoration work. Hatley has decided to approach the V & A before tracking this through "Spalding Gentleman's Society".

23 June 1938 Transit Room notes
record the condition as "parts missing -- split, worm-eaten".

30 June 1938 R Edwards
writes to Roebuck to accept "this interesting example of 15th century carving" if it is being offered.

1 July 1938 Roebuck to Edwards
explains that at this time he is only requesting information not offering the object. He asks for the object to be returned but requests that the V & A keep an envelope attached to the boss. The outside of the envelope (on file in the R.P.) reads:
"Carving from a Church in Lincolnshire. Donor's family came from Horncastle a century ago".

Enclosed are 2 items; 1) an undated letter from Harold Thacker offering the woodcarving to the Museum. It was acquired by "my grandfather about 100 years ago in Horncastle, Lincs., presumably from some local church. That is all I know of its origin". 2) letter dated April 1937 from the Vicarage in Horncastle stating that the vicar had been unable to find any church where such a piece of carving is likely to have belonged.

5July 1938 letter W A Thorpe to Roebuck
states that the carved medieval boss "may have been designed for a rood screen" and appears to date from the second half of the 15th century. "Like much carved woodwork … of that period from the Eastern counties of England it possesses some indication of Flemish influence, fully consistent with English work as with the provenance (Horncastle, Lincs.) … The carving of the Last Judgement appears to us skilful and spirited. The whole was of course originally decorated in colour. The collections … include no comparable boss, nor can I …. call to mind any very near parallel elsewhere".

Thorpe expresses the V & A's interest in acquiring the boss for the collections of Gothic woodwork if it were to be offered as a gift.

24 October 1938 letter Roebuck to V & A
confirms Mr Harold Thacker's gift of the carved boss to the Museum.

26 October 1938 letter Maclagan to Thacker
thanks him for the gift of the oak boss "from the last quarter of the 15th century (which) shows strong Flemish influence".

16 September 1939 Minute sheet Thorpe to Edwards
suggests that Dr Eeles be contacted to help determine provenance or local parallels for the Last Judgement boss.

(There is nothing in the R.P. to indicate whether or not this was undertaken).

A convincing treatment of the Last Judgement in wood survives only once, on a misericord at Sherborne Abbey, Dorset. But in that case there is only Christ seated on a rainbow, with no assessors.
The artist of the Museum's carving chooses to depict more assessors than is usual in a work on such a small scale. In a fifteenth-century English alabaster in a private collection in Holland, there are only four assessors. However, very often, only the Virgin and St John appeared, as on the mid fifteenth century roof boss in St Peter, Hungate, Norwich. The cone-shaped trumpets of the angels are similar to a pair in the fifteenth-century English alabaster at Rouen (Cochet 1875, 80, No.71).
Unfortunately it is difficult to say much about the carving style since the surface is very rubbed. The date of manufacture must be sometime in the fifteenth century.
Perhaps the most interesting problem in connection with this piece is its original function. It is said to have come from a church in Lincolnshire and it has always been referred to as a roof boss. However, the church cannot be identified, and the scale and treatment of the carving rule out the roof boss hypothesis. The perspective implies that the compostion was intended to be viewed from below in a vertical position. The sides, and particularly the top, which has an uneven profile, do not suggest that it was ever contained within a framework. The panel could have been one of a series intended to be hung on the back of a set of choirstalls as at Winchester Cathedral in the fourteenth century. In the fifteenth-century St George's Chapel, Windsor choir stalls figurative panels incorporated in the desk-fronts include a representation of the Last Judgement of sophisticated composition with two angel trumpeters leaning out of the picture. It has to be said that, by comparison, the Museum panel is relatively weak in design with figure of Christ too small and balanced rather precariously on the rainbow. Even the Sherborne carving works better as a design. Another possibility is that the panel was part of the embellishment of the loft or rood-screen. This hypothesis cannot be proved one way or another due to the virtually total disappearance of such lofts. A panel of similar size and date depicting the Coronation of the Virgin in a private collection may well have had a similar function to the Museum's panel.
Dating this sculpture is difficult. The Sherborne (about 1440) and Windsor (about 1480, see Remnant, 1969, 38, and CAT.92) choir-stalls are separated by some forty years. The relative bulkiness of the drapery on the Museum's panel suggest a date nearer Windsor than Sherborne.
(Charles Tracy)

Possibly Lincolnshire

This small carved panel shows the Last Judgement, with Christ seated on a rainbow arch, beside figures that probably represent prophets or saints. Below are trumpeting angels signalling judgement on humans being raised to Heaven (on the left) or damned to Hell (on the right). The panel (which was probably painted originally) would have decorated an English church. It could have been one of a series intended to be hung on the back of a set of choirstalls, or from a rood screen.

W.63-1938