Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Monday 10 August 2015

Thinking and talking about the Wilton Diptych


Stephanie Mann has a post on her blog Supremacy and Survival based on an article in the latest copy of the Catholic Herald by Leonie Caldecott on the Wilton Diptych. Stephanie's post, with the links to Leonie's original article, can be seen here.

 Quite apart from my own interest in the Wilton Diptych I thought I would draw attention to this post as last week I participated with Leonie in a seminar at the summer school she mentions, and together we led a discussion on the Diptych and its multifaceted imagery. This brought out - if either of us needed to be reminded - just how rich a topic this is.

My participation followed on from a lecture I had given earlier to the group entitled " A Shattered Culture" - I am indebted to  Leonie's daughter Tessa, the organiser of the summer school for this very apposite title - which was a revised and extended talk on the destruction of images, buildings and a whole culture and way of life, and to which I referred the other day in my links to posts from last year on English Iconoclasm.

It was a great pleasure to speak to the group and to meet them, and I look forweard to showing them around Catholic Oxford this coming Thursday.



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