Oak paneling from the rood screen, Dickleburgh Church, Norfolk
Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-52)
1844
31.4 x 25.34 cm.
Source: The Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament
Beckwith, Victorian Bibliomania catalogue no. 42
Collection of Cornell University.
See commentary below.
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Commentary by Alice H. R. H. Beckwith
Reverend Bernard Smith (1815-1903), Pugin's collaborator on The Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament and Costume, invited the architect to redesign the chancel roof of his church, St. Swithin, Leadenham, Lincolnshire, in 1841. Perhaps Smith was impressed by Pugin's True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture (cat. 41), published the same year. In any case, Pugin had a more than architectural influence on Smith, because in 1842 he left his Anglican parish and was received into the Roman Catholic Church at St. Marie's College, Oscott, where Pugin as Professor of Ecclesiastical Antiquities delivered the two lectures which became True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture (Jervis, High Victorian Design, 35). One of the fruits of Smith's conversion was The Glossary, where he is identified on the title page as being at St. Marie's College, Oscott, and as the translator of the passages from the ancient authorities including Durandus, Georgius, Bona, and Catalani.
The Glossary effectively combined Smith's learned text with Pugin's lessons for the working designer and clergy. There are passages about proper liturgical procedures drawn from close study of medieval illuminated manuscripts, including such information as the entry under "Black," where clergy are instructed that "black vestments . . . are seldom figured in the earlier illuminations." Pugin's concern with liturgy reflected his belief that every part of a Christian building should have a meaningful relationship to the activities that took place there. On this basis he found fault with non-Roman Catholics who applied the forms of Gothic architecture to their buildings (Pugin, Contrasts, 58). Such an attitude, combined with events like Reverend Smith's conversion, did not endear Pugin to the Established Church (see cat. 2).
Pugin's remarks about universal principles of art in his introduction to The Glossary were widely read, and influenced the development of a functional approach to design. Every ornament, he said, should have an appropriate meaning and an intelligent purpose. Furthermore, he posited, ornament should be the embellishment of that which is useful, but his buildings were far from being stark or merely utilitarian.
References
Beckwith, Alice H. R. H. Victorian Bibliomania: The Illuminated Book in Nineteenth-Century Britain. Exhibition catalogue. Providence. Rhode Island: Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, 1987.
The Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament and Costume Compiled and Illustrated from Ancient Authorities and Examples. Reverend Bernard Smith, Translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1844. Letterpress: G. Norman. Chromolithography: H. C. Maguire and M. & N. Hanhart. Illustrator; Augustus W. N. Pugin.. Internet Archive version of a copy in the Library of Cornell University. Web. 21 December 2013.
Jervis, Simon. High Victorian Design. Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 1983.
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Last modified 21 December 2013