Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 11.djvu/85

Rh the coronation of the Virgin.—The martyrdom of St. Thomas of Canterbury; an interior of a church, with an altar at one end, a mitre is placed on the altar, and in front of it are two ecclesiastics, one kneeling; the knights are in the act of drawing their swords.—The martyrdom of St. Sebastian, or, as Mr. Dykes supposes, of St. Edmund; this subject had been much injured by the insertion of a mural tablet. On the south side, beginning from the east, appeared a series of subjects from the Life of St. Catharine, partly destroyed by the monument of a London citizen affixed to the wall. An inscription ran along these paintings, which were arranged in two tiers. The next is supposed by Mr. Spencer Hall to represent St. Cosmo and St. Damian; two persons appear in the garb of pilgrims, and seem to ask hospitality from a man who stands at the door of a house; beyond is seen another figure at the entrance of a house. The following subjects are, a death-bed scene, possibly representing the Sacrament of Extreme Unction; an interment, the shrouded corpse is marked with a red cross. Beyond, on the same level, are subjects of Sacred History—Christ healing the Ear of Malchus; Christ before Pilate; the Flagellation; Christ bearing the Cross; the Crucifixion; the Descent from the Cross; the Entombment of our Lord. Beneath, occupying the spandrel between the second and third arches from the west end, appeared the Descent into Hell. These paintings formed three rows divided by ornamental borders; the first row occupying the spandrels of the arches; the second fills the space between the arches and the clerestory; the third the spaces between the clerestory windows. It is to be regretted that the preservation of these works of early art was deemed impracticable or undesirable.

On Sept. 14th, Mr. Spencer Hall found a workman employed in concealing them anew with a coat of whitewash; they have been wholly destroyed; and the drawings exhibited to the meeting through the kindness of Mr. Hey Dykes and Mr. Procter, and specially prepared for the Yorkshire Architectural Society, now form the sole memorial of these curious examples of design. There were likewise in Pickering Church some vestiges of painting of earlier date. On the south wall of the north transept, a large representation of the Last Judgment was brought to light some years since; it appeared to have been superior in design and colouring to the subjects recently discovered in the nave; but it was condemned to destruction, and at the time of Mr. Hall's visit last year, only a pair of wings were visible. On the soffit of the arches on the north side of the nave were traces of figures, one on either side, immediately above the capitals, with a trefoil-headed canopy of Norman or Transitional style, and a foliated pattern filling up the head of the arch. There were also figures of apostles and saints painted on the splays of the clerestory windows. So remarkable an example of the prevalent introduction of mural coloured decorations in England has perhaps never hitherto come under observation. It would have been very desirable to have preserved at least some portion, which previous injuries had not rendered wholly unsightly to the eyes of modern "restorers," and which might have supplied evidence in regard to the arts of design in the XVth century.

Pickering Church, Mr. Spencer Hall observed, contains some tombs with effigies well deserving of notice. In the north aisle lies a cross-legged effigy. in good preservation. On the north side of the communion table, there is an alabaster tomb with figures of a knight and lady, of the early part of the XVth century; the knight wears plate armour, a collar of SS. and an