Major wall painting unveiled at Shrewsbury Church
A major religious wall painting the first of its kind in hundreds of years is to be unveiled in a Shropshire church which is already renowned for its original medieval wall paintings.
The 10ft high by 20ft wide painting, depicting ‘Christ throned in glory’, situated above the altar of the Shrewsbury Orthodox Church, in Sutton, Shrewsbury, is the work of the renowned liturgical artist Aidan Hart.
Drawing on Romanesque and Byzantine stylistic influences, it has been painted using fresco and secco painting techniques that are thousands of years old.
It took the artist, who is based in Shropshire, two weeks to complete, often working late into the night, with the full-time assistance of one of his students, Alex Echeandria, a Peruvian Benedictine monk currently studying at Oxford.
The 13th century church, dedicated to the Holy Fathers of Nicea and St John the Baptist, is already well known for its unique set of medieval wall paintings dating from around 1380. The most significant is a depiction of the Martyrdom of Thomas Becket.
Parish priest Father Stephen Maxfield said the new wall painting was an exciting addition to the church.
“It has greatly enhanced the decoration of the church and is in empathy with the Medieval wall paintings that were discovered here in 1996,” he said.
“It’s based on two visions of Christ in Glory from the books of Isaiah and Ezekiel. Standing before the painting one feels very much in the presence of God.”
The 9ft-high figure of Christ is shown within a mandorla, surrounded by winged creatures that traditionally symbolize the Four Evangelists, and flanked by two six-winged seraphim.
The wall painting was made possible with the help of grants totalling £4,000 from The Cottam Will Trust, administered by the historic church preservation group The Friends of Friendless Churches, and The Owen Trust.
Mr Hart, 55, who lives in Pontesbury, near Shrewsbury, and is a member of the church congregation, is regarded as one of the UK’s leading painters of religious art.
“The overall scheme of Christ in a mandorla with ‘the four living creatures’ is a theme commonly depicted in Romanesque wall paintings in France and Spain during the 11th and 12th centuries,” he explained.
“I adapted the four living creatures from the Bury St Edmunds Bible, created around 1135 AD, and Christ’s tunic from the stained glass windows at Canterbury Cathedral (1180-1207 AD).”
Fresco, which predates the Romans, is notoriously time pressured and involves painting natural earth pigments mixed with water straight onto fresh lime plaster. As it dries the image becomes part of the wall. Secco, meanwhile, involves painting onto dry plaster using ground earth pigments mixed with a binder. In this case egg yolk and lime water.
Mr Hart’s work is to be found all over Britain and in over 25 countries of the world, including cathedrals, monasteries, churches and private art collections. The Prince of Wales has commissioned him many times to produce paintings and sculpture for Highgrove and Clarence House.
He also teaches a part-time diploma course in sacred icon and fresco painting for the Prince’s School of Traditional Arts at The Trinity Centre, in Meole Brace, Shrewsbury, which attracts students from all over the UK.
Most of the wall painting was executed using natural earth pigments, primarily yellow and red ochres, raw sienna and terre verte.
