Medieval Wall Paintings

by Edward Clive Rouse

Medieval churches in England were more or less completely painted - the walls, the window sills, the woodwork, the monuments. After the church had been built and plastered the artists set to work. They painted saints, Bible stories allegories, dooms, crucifixions and even imitation masonry. Except for the last, the object was not decoration but religious and moral education. In an illiterate age wall painting graphically reinforced the message of the scriptures through pictures which needed no explanation. They have been called 'The Poor Man's Bible'.

Today a painted church is a rarity and few have much of their original decoration left. The fascinating story told by the pictures that do remain is told and illustrated in this book. First published as Discovering Wall Paintings, this new colour version, revised and expanded, includes many beautiful watercolour illustrations by the author. At the end a county by county gazetteer lists churches where wall paintings can still be seen, indicating those that are extensive or of high artistic merit.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art History, History, Art

80 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1968

About the author

Dr Edward Clive Rouse MBE FSA, medieval archaeologist and leading expert on English medieval wall paintings. He studied under Professor E. W. Tristram of the Royal College of Art, and carried on his work for many years by uncovering, recording and conserving wall paintings in churches throughout Britain.

Elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1937, made an MBE for special wartime services at the Central Interpretation Unit at Medmenham, Buckinghamshire. In 1969 he received an Honorary MA from the University of Oxford and became President of the Royal Archaeological Institute (1969-1972). The University of Sussex invested him as Doctor of Letters in 1983.

Reviews

[Jan-Maat]

This brief book falls between pews for me. The stories of the destruction of medieval wall paintings, ironically often during the Victorian era just when the Gothic was back in fashion, a destruction to expose the charming stone work of medieval Churches were interesting, but given that the author spent his life finding and restoring medieval wall paintings it was disappointing that he largely passed over those topics.

On the downside I was unconvinced by what the author had to say about the context and purposes of medieval wall paintings in churches. The post reformation lists of the ten commandments, Lord's Prayer and the Creed seem clearly didactic, medieval paintings of St. Catherine's wheel exploding and killing pagans less so to my mind. The discussion of religious themes on wall and panel paintings in secular buildings to my thinking also undercut the argument. Decoration enriched buildings, the culture had a marked preference for certain themes and motivs and in a landscape without bill boards, not dominated by buildings, over lifesized wall paintings must have stood out as something exceptional, eye catching and impressive that amplified the relative magnificence of the stone church among timber huts. But maybe I just find it hard to imagine the decoration being used something like visual aids in the classroom to teach Christianity ('and if you look up to your right...').

Most pages have illustrations, either black and white photographs or colour reproductions of watercolour copies of wall paintings. Most of the illustrations are from churches in the southern counties of England - apparently because the original plasterwork tended only to be preserved in areas without decent stone. Even the Victorians didn't want to uncover those flint and rubble walls.

[Lukerik · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’re ever struck by a sudden and possibly passing interest in English medieval wall paintings then this is the book for you. It briefly explains the basics and there’s a good gazetteer so you can track down some examples. It’s particularly well illustrated. The book is at least half illustrations, a mix of photographs and watercolours by the author. The watercolours are so good I couldn’t have told them from the real thing. This is one of those little Shire books and there’s another in the series by Rouse called Discovering Wall Paintings. Get Medieval Wall Paintings if you can as the text is ‘revised and expanded’ and some of the illustrations are in colour.

[Auriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really great introduction! The watercolours by the author are a particularly great part of the book, very well done and often indistinguishable from the photographs