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Reredos triptych designed by William Lethaby (1857-1931) for the interior of Richard Norman Shaw's All Saints Church, Leek. Lethaby, still Shaw's chief assistant at this time, designed a good deal of wooden church furniture not only here but also in other later churches by Shaw, "turning to a modified form of the carved wooden decoration of the English Renaissance" (Rubens 54). The listing text describes it in this way: "Triptych designed by Lethaby, originally painted by F. Hamilton Jackson.... Reredos of stained wood panelling, with vine scroll canopy frieze."

As for the scenes depicted in each panel, all the elements of the crucifixion are shown here, and it looks very impressive. However, where Nikolaus Pevsner simply says "[r]epainted in 1954" (169), the listing text states, in the part omitted above, "subsequently poorly repainted," so perhaps it lacks something of its original delicacy.

Related Material

References

"Parish Church of All Saints, Leek." British Listed Buildings. Web. 13 November 2015.

Pevsner, Nikolaus. The Buildings of England: Staffordshire. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2002.

Rubens, Godfrey. William Richard Lethaby: His Life and Work. 1857-1931. London: The Architectural Press, 1986.


13 November 2015