A Bishop Orders a Painting

the church of St. Michael and All Angels, Berwick, East Sussex

Anyone who is familiar with J.L. Carr's novel, 'A Month in the Country', will be aware that pivotal to the narrative is the uncovering of a mediaeval mural in a country church. For, prior to the Reformation, even the remotest of churches would have been decorated with wall paintings, the source of which most likely being traced directly back to Rome.

a weathered sign directs the visitor to Berwick Church

And so it was that in 1941 Duncan Grant, a prominent member of the Bloomsbury Set, was commissioned by the then Bishop of Chichester, as a catalyst for promoting a new relationship between the Arts and the Church, to decorate the interior of the small Sussex Downland church of St. Michael and All Angels at Berwick. This much we knew, but no more.

the approach to Berwick Church [click to enlarge this and all images]

What delight, therefore, to be collected from our Brighton rooms most recently by our dear friends, Peter and Nigel, in their jolly pillar-box red motor car and swiftly transported through the country lanes to this jewel of an English church. And who better as guides and to set all within a context than Peter, a Canon of the Church of England, and Nigel with the wisdom and learning of his Catholic faith?

'Christ in Glory' painted  above and around the Chancel arch by Duncan Grant 

Most striking of all is the Chancel arch where Christ, enthroned in glory, is surrounded by adoring angels whilst, lower down, the Bishop of Chichester and the Rector of Berwick gaze across the open archway to the kneeling figures of a soldier, a sailor and an airman, a strong reminder that Britain is at war. In the foreground scarlet poppies symbolise remembrance and resurrection.

'The Annunciation' on the south side of the Nave by Vanessa Bell

'The Annunciation', seen on the south wall of the Nave, is the work of Vanessa Bell whose daughter, Angelica, is the model for Mary, posed in Renaissance attitude and seen against a garden based on that at Charleston.

'The Nativity' on the north side of the Nave painted by Vanessa Bell

On the opposite wall, also by Vanessa Bell, 'The Nativity' employs as onlookers the children, dressed as for school, of the housekeeper and gardener. A Sussex trug, alongside a lamb, adds a further touch of domesticity with its contents of winter vegetables.

'Spring' and 'Summer', two of the four seasons, painted by Duncan Grant

Time at Berwick has not stood still. In addition to the murals, of which there are many, the inspired inclusion of clear glass to replace Victorian windows destroyed by bombs affords breathtaking views of the churchyard and countryside beyond, whilst flooding the interior with natural light.

clear glass replaces the original destroyed by enemy action during the war

Newly installed oak doors, together with beautifully fashioned ironwork, have a profound strength and simplicity and are worthy twenty-first century additions.

handcrafted oak doors are a recent addition to Berwick Church

But, as if that were not enough, our day was, in fact, only just beginning. Following a delicious lunch at a nearby inn, we sped onward to Monk's House, the home of the writer Virginia Woolf, sister to Vanessa Bell, where the magic of both house and garden proved irresistible. And where, totally captivated, we lingered long.

the interior of Monk's House, home of Virginia Woolf

the staircase hall at Monk's House

an arrangement of decorative china above the fireplace at Monk's House

Then, as the shadows of the afternoon lengthened, to five o'clock tea in the little seaside village of Rottingdean where the ghosts of Kipling, Conrad and D.H. Lawrence forever mingle with the cry of the gulls.