Catherine of the Wheel 1 November 2007 What do a firework and a painting from a medieval church have in common? Medieval wall painting of St Catherine, from St Teilos church, dating to around 1400. In 1998 St Fagans National History Museum began the challenging work of rebuilding and refurbishing a stone-built medieval church that had been moved from its original site in west Wales in 1984 — one of the first projects of its kind to be attempted in Europe. During the dismantling process, a number of extremely rare wall paintings were uncovered from beneath the limewashed walls. St Catherine One of the oldest paintings uncovered at the church dates from around 1400-1430 and represents St Catherine of Alexandria. It had remained hidden for centuries under layers of limewash, which had to be removed using doctors' scalpels. Once the complete image had been painstakingly uncovered and the many thin layers of limewash delicately removed, St Catherine was revealed dressed in late fourteenth/early fifteenth-century costume, standing next to a spiked wheel and holding a sword. Torture wheel and sword Close up showing detail of St Catherine's face after conservation and cleaning by Jane Rutherfoord & Associates Ltd of Milton Lilbourne, Wilts. The work involved removing the backing that had been applied during initial conservation work in 1986, and replacing it with a modern high-tec solution based on hexlite - a lightweight aluminium hollow board used in aircraft manufacture. The surface was then cleaned to reveal the original paintwork. The spiked wheel she is pictured next to is the instrument of torture that Catherine was condemned to death on by the Roman Emperor Maxentius [306-312] for her strong Christian beliefs. According to legend, the wheel itself broke when she touched it, so she was beheaded with the sword she is seen holding. The torturous wheel that St Catherine is associated with gave rise to the name 'Catherine wheel' for the popular firework. The re-erected church can be seen at St Fagans National History Museum. The wall paintings have been faithfully and expertly reproduced to show how the church would have appeared in about 1530. The St Catherine painting is not represented in the re-erected building, as it would have been covered over by this time. The original wall painting of St Catherine is currently stored at the museum and can be viewed upon request in advance.
'Jeffrey', our recreated medieval Archer Pip Diment, 24 October 2007 Lots more things installed now. It's seems tidier and it's possible to see much better how the exhibition is going to look. We have some of the audio visual aspects being tested and lights are sparkling in the empty cases. You can see the Bryn Celli Ddu stone already in place and covered in bubble wrap to protect it from all the work going on around it. Our recreated medieval Archer, who we affectionately call 'Jeffrey', was first created for our Re:Creations exhibition in 2002. The level of detail on his hands where he holds the string to his bow is amazing - it looks real. He is currently covered in bubble wrap to protect him from all the activity around him. He does look a bit like a mummy - but that's a whole different exhibition!There are a lot more stones you can see in place covered to protect them and their plinths are nearly complete.We're waiting for more mounts and the insides of cases to allow us to start installing our objects. As soon as they arrive the gallery will become a hive of activity with curators and conservators checking and installing large and small, delicate and robust, beautiful and functional objects that together will tell some of the story of the early people of Wales.
Historical records of a forgotten era 23 October 2007 Nantgarw porcelain bowl painted with Pen-y-Rhos, 1821-3 Bone china cup painted with the Pentwyn ironworks, c. 1835 Landscape views have long been used to decorate cups, saucers, plates, bowls and jugs. Some have been scenes from the artist's imagination; others have been views of real places. Examples on display at National Museum Cardiff include views of Dolgellau and of the Vale of Neath on Nantgarw porcelain and a painting of Castel Gandolfo in Rome on an early 19th-century dish made at the Imperial Porcelain Factory in St Petersburg, Russia. The porcelain painter usually worked from an engraving, but they could also work from memory or from an image that no longer survived, making the decorated piece itself a valuable and precise record of somewhere that might otherwise be forgotten. Pen-Y-Rhos Farmyard, Nantgarw One such important piece in Amgueddfa Cymru's collection is a large porcelain bowl. On the front of the bowl is an oval framed image of a house and barns flanked by trees, with a hill behind. This is inscribed 'Pen-y-Rhos'. On the back of the bowl is an image of a farmyard with cattle and poultry in the foreground. Although the bowl doesn't have any identification marks, the paste, the heavy potting and the decoration are all characteristic of Nantgarw. Other evidence includes a fragment from an identical bowl, which was found at the site of the Nantgarw factory. The painter was probably Thomas Pardoe who worked at Nantgarw from 1821 until his death in 1823. Pen-y-Rhos is a farm one mile from Nantgarw, on the outskirts of Caerphilly. In the early 19th century it was the home of Edward Edmunds. In 1814 he sublet the factory site, a cottage and land next to the Glamorganshire Canal to William Billingsley and Samuel Walker. In 1820 he sublet it again, this time to William Weston Young. Three complete sets of dishes were thought to have been made at the factory for Edmunds and his family. None of these sets survive complete but they are thought to date from Billingsley's ownership of the pottery in 1817–19. The Pen-y-Rhos bowl was not part of these sets but is of a later date. It may have been a gift from Young or Pardoe to Edmunds. So as well as being a key documentary piece of Nantgarw porcelain, the bowl bears a rare view of a Glamorgan farmhouse in the 1820s. Pentwyn Ironworks, south Wales valleys If the Pen-y-Rhos bowl reveals a forgotten agricultural view, then this two-handled Staffordshire bone china bowl or cup reveals a forgotten industrial landscape. Dating from around 1835, this piece is decorated on the front with a view of Pentwyn Ironworks within a gilt frame. On the back is the name I Hunt Esq. ('Esq.', short for 'Esquire', was sometimes used in place of 'Mr'). The Pentwyn Ironworks were on the western edge of Abersychan, three miles from Pontypool in the south Wales valleys. The ironworks were established in 1825 and consisted of three blast furnaces built by the Hunt family. By 1839 the works were the property of the Pentwyn Company, but it is not known whether the Hunt family was still involved. Before 1848 the Pentwyn Company passed to the firm of Williams & Co. and all the buildings were subsequently demolished. The image on this piece, which must have been commissioned for or by one of the Hunt family, is the only known view of this industrial site at that time.
All the leaves are brown... Gareth Bonello, 17 October 2007 2007 will be known for the upside down year, when we had a torrential summer and a golden autumn. I pity the poor fungal foragers who are searching in vain for that elusive mushroom. I had an interesting comment last time from pbhj, on the 'intriguing' BSL exhibition I mentioned. He asks 'Apart from being minority languages what are the comparison points (between BSL and Welsh)?' Well pbhj, the idea of the exhibition came from the BSL community, and they drew comparisons bewteen the way Welsh has been treated and the way BSL has been treated. For example, Welsh schoolchildren in the 19th century had to wear a Welsh Not and were punished for speaking Welsh. Similarly, BSL speakers were told to sit on their hands so that they couldn't sign. Another comparison was that there is only one BSL school in Wales, so BSL pupils elsewhere have their education through their second language, similar to many Welsh pupils until comparatively recently. On a lighter note, they wished to draw comparisons between deaf comedians telling jokes about hearing people to Welsh comedians telling jokes about English people, or jokes that only work bilingually. Other aspects came up, and not all to do with the similarities between Welsh and BSL, but that gives a flavour of it. I don't understand the second part of your comment - are you accusing someone? Firstly, I don't think you can 'over-promote' something, and secondly, Welsh translation is aimed primarily at providing non-Welsh speakers with an understanding of the language. Why is this damaging? And why is it to the detriment of other services? Yes there are BSL/Welsh translators - not many, but they do exist. Sabrina Rochemont also commented, and asked 'Are there particular areas of interest that you would like our feedback on?' Well, I would like to hear people's opinions on what is 'Contemporary Collecting'. What objects should we target for future preservation, and why. In this world of mass produced things, should we be collecting televisions, computers, mobile phones? If every museum decided to do this, we'd explode at the seams! Another aspect is the community one - asking communities to curate what's important to them, and recording their experiences etc. Right, to finish, a quick run-through of what I've been up to in the last month - we've had the preliminary meetings to discuss strategies for the 2009 Pop Exhibition; I attended a meeting in Welshpool where we discussed forming a Contemporary Collecting policy for all museums throughout Wales so that we work together; I attended a second Digital Story workshop which we intend to base our community workshops on; I collected the objects from Johnstown for the second community dresser (information about the first is in 'Rhagor' on this website); I visited a couple of museums in Swansea; and I started my MA Museum Studies course. Whew! By the time I write next month, I will have been to Sweden for their SAMDOK conference, which is the leading contemporary collecting conference in the world. See ya then.
The death of Tewdric Mawr - King of Gwent 11 October 2007 This sculpture depicts the death of Tewdrig Mawr, saint and King of Gwent and Morgannwg, who died at the moment of victory over the Saxons at Mathern, around 630AD. The composition originated as a plaster shown at the Abergavenny Eisteddfod in 1848. This was subsequently shown at the Royal Academy in 1849. A bronze electrotype of it was exhibited by Elkington, Mason & Co. in the Great Exhibition of 1851. Two casts are known today, both also made by Elkington’s. The other is on display in the Brecknock Museum. This one, which is dated 1856, was given by a group of subscribers to Morris C. Jones, editor of the Montgomery Collections, in 1876. A brass plate recorded: ‘This bronze group represents the death of Tewdric Mawr, King of Gwent and Morganwg 610 AD. Tewdric Mawr, in his old age, was induced to appear in defence of his country against the Saxons whom he thoroughly vanquished near the junction of the Severn and the Wye. The Welsh King, though mortally wounded, urged his brave followers to pursue the fleeing Saxons. In his dying moments he was comforted by his daughter Marchell, mother of Brychan, while an aged Bard proclaimed to him by harp and song, the victory. The group was designed, from suggestions by Lady Llanover, by the late John Evan Thomas F.S.A. and modelled by his brother W. Meredyth Thomas Medal Student RA. Elkington & Co. fect, Liverpool.’ The sculptor John Evan Thomas was born in Brecon in 1810. He studied under Sir Francis Chantrey and on the Continent. He produced the first of many church monuments in 1831, and began to practice as a portrait sculptor in London in 1834. He established a studio at 7 Lower Belgrave Place, from which he frequently exhibited portrait busts at the Royal Academy until 1862. Despite his move to London, Thomas retained close links with the gentry of his home town and with the principal Welsh landed families, many of whom were to sit for him. Consequently he was the first Welsh sculptor to establish a significant career and reputation largely through Welsh patronage. Thomas’s principal works are a statue of the 2nd Marquess of Londonderry (Westminster Abbey), a statue of the 2nd Marquess of Bute (also exhibited in Great Exhibition and cast in bronze in 1853, now in Cardiff city centre), Sir Charles Morgan (Newport), a memorial to the 1st Duke of Wellington (Brecon), John Henry Vivian (Swansea) and the statue of the Prince Consort erected on Castle Heights, Tenby, in 1865. Although principally a portrait sculptor, he contributed mediaevalising statues of Henri de Londres, Archbishop of Dublin, and of William, Earl of Pembroke to Pugin’s scheme for the rebuilt House of Lords in 1848. Described by Benedict Read as the ‘only unqualified example of ideal sculpture with history as a subject matter’, The Death of Tewdric is a significant episode in mid-Victorian art. It is also of fundamental importance in the context of the Welsh national revival of the 1830s and 1840s, being the principal work of art to emerge from the triennial Abergavenny eisteddfodau patronised by Lady Llanover. Peter Lord calls it ‘the most notable example of national academic art in the first half of the 19th century’. The Death of Tewdric also appears to have been the largest work exhibited by Elkington, Mason & Co. at the Great Exhibition in 1851, employing the firm’s newly invented electrotype process. Both the bard (derived from the well-known de Loutherbourg print of 1784) and his harp are formed as separate sections, and are bolted to the base. The Death of Tewdric, 1848–56 Bronze, height 167 cm (65 inches), length 127 cm (50 inches), width 63 cm (25 inches) Signed: I EVAN THOMAS Sc and Elkington Mason & Co fect 1856 Bronze, cast by Elkington & Co, Birmingham and Liverpool
