Caption

The Oxburgh altarpiece was acquired to adorn the 19th century Chapel, celebrating the Bedingfelds’ Catholic faith. It was only after the relaxation of laws against Catholicism that such an imposing object could be displayed.

Summary

Sculpture, wood, paint; Altarpiece of the Passion of Christ and of Saint James the Greater; Southern Netherlands, Antwerp, c. 1525-1530, painted wings attributed to an artist in circle of Pieter Coecke van Aelst (1502-1550). The Oxburgh retable is the altarpiece of the private chapel at Oxburgh Hall. Built by Sir Henry Paston-Bedingfeld (1800-1862) in 1836, this small building bears witness to the revival of Roman Catholic worship in Britain after the final restrictions on Catholics’ participation in public life had been removed in 1829. Of Sir Henry's original 1836 altar, the tabernacle cupboard and the altar itself with its three large scenes below (the antependium) survive in situ in the chapel. After his death, probably in the late 1860s the spire section of the first altarpiece was removed and replaced with the present altarpiece, which is a major example of early-sixteenth century Antwerp carving and painting. The altarpiece has carved scenes from the Life and Passion of Christ, whilst the painted wings include more scenes from the Passion but also episodes from the life of Saint James of Compostela, the patron saint of pilgrims. The altarpiece was probably made for a church or building with associations with pilgrims, specifically those making the ‘camino’ to Compostela in Northern Spain.

Full description

The Oxburgh altarpiece is one of the most significant examples in the United Kingdom of the large multi-section altarpieces, often composed of both painted and sculpted elements, that were made in large numbers in various centres in the Southern Netherlands (Flanders) from the late fifteenth century onwards. One of the most productive centres for these altarpieces was the port city of Antwerp, where the manufacture of art objects expanded greatly in the years around 1500, helping to compensate for the collapse in trade in wool in Flanders in the later fifteenth century. In its present state, the altarpiece consists of three main sections, the Antwerp altarpiece, the predella that partly supports it, and the scenes that form an antependium below the altar table. The altar table and its panels and the tabernacle at the centre of the altar belong to the first altarpiece that was created for the newly-built chapel around 1835-37, and was subsequently partly dismantled, in order to accommodate the Antwerp altarpiece. Description: Main altarpiece or retable, with five carved and gilded and painted compartments and a single now empty compartment, and with painted shutter wings, hinged in the middle. The narrative of the Passion of Christ runs across both the painted narrative scenes and the upper carved scenes, whilst in the lower row of the shutters are scenes from the life of Saint James of Compostella. The lower row of compartments in the altarpiece seem to have been much altered but probably originally contained more scenes from the Passion of Christ and, in the now empty central compartment, the figure of the Prophet Jesse: Left painted wing, front outer panel (NT 1209874.2), from spandrel at top downwards: Agony in the Garden; Betrayal and Arrest of Christ, with Saint Peter cutting off Malchus's Ear; Saint James's Miraculous Apparition at the Battle of Clavijo (c.930 AD). Left painted wing, front inner panel (NT 1209874.3): Mocking of Christ, with Flagellation in background; Saint James preaching. Left painted wing, back (NT 1209874.6): Saint Ambrose and Saint Augustine. Right painted wing, front outer panel (NT 1209874.4), from spandrel at top downwards: Christ in Limbo; Resurrection of Christ; the body of Saint James the Greater miraculously transported to Compostella by Oxen. Right painted wing, front inner panel (NT 1209874.5): Entombment, with Mary Magdalene in foreground. Inscribed on hem of Nicodemus's garment YOLRWORPIN; Pilgrims begging the intercession of Saint James. Right painted wing, back (NT 1209874.7): Saint Gregory and Saint Jerome. Upper left carved scene (NT 1209874.11): The Way to Calvary. A semi-architectural space, at top intricate late Gothic pendentives, below at left and right on piers tiny scenes, Temptation of Adam and Eve and Expulsion from Paradise. The main scene shows Christ carrying the Cross, assisted by Simon of Cyrene and surrounded by soldiers; in foreground Saint Veronica uses her veil to wipe Christ’s face. Towards back at left, Saint John assists the swooning Virgin Mary and at right two bound figures, perhaps the two thieves, ascend the hill. In foreground a small boy seeks to join in tormenting of Christ, but is admonished by a boy angel. A figure foreground left, with a staff from which hangs a basket, possibly a pilgrim, gestures towards Christ on the Cross in the Crucifixion scene. Central carved scene (NT 1209874.10): The Crucifixion. Beneath pendentives, Christ on the Cross, either side the two Thieves, and crowd of soldiers. At foot of Cross two figures on horseback, left Longinus about to pierce Christ’s side with his lance (John 19, verse 34), at right the Centurion, converted to Christianity as he witnessed Christ on the Cross (Mark 15, verse 39). A tiny devil sits on rump of Centurion’s horse. Behind the Cross tiny figures seem to fight, possibly High Priests? Below the Crucifixion bystanders and mourners. Saint John supports the fainting Virgin, assisted by Mary Magdalene, and three other mourning women; at right a black soldier holding staff, two more soldiers with shields embossed with masks, who look up towards the Cross. Running around the scene is a Jesse tree, with winding branches containing small figures of the ancestors of Christ and, at very top, the Virgin and Child. Upper right carved scene (NT 1209874.12): Deposition and Lamentation of Christ, the body of Christ held by Joseph of Arimathea and Saint John, the Virgin grasping her dead son’s hand. In foreground, Mary Magdalene and another richly-dressed woman bring jars of ointment to anoint Christ’s body, in left foreground richly-dressed man holds the Crown of Thorns. At right Nicodemus holds the nails from Cross. In background the two thieves still attached to their crosses, in rocky landscape background figures of pilgrims, one on left with staff and panier. On piers at either side of compartment tiny scenes from the story of the Sacrifice of Isaac, a story thought to prefigure the sacrifice of Christ. Lower left carved scene (NT 1209874.13): perhaps originally depicting Christ before Pilate, but the figure of Christ is now missing. Pontius Pilate (?) seated on throne in centre, next to him figure in armour, presumably a Roman soldier. To left of man upon throne, head of another man behind the tracery. At each side towards front, two false witnesses against Christ, left-hand one bespectacled, each holding scroll with partial inscriptions: ‘DESTRUCRE TEMP / POSS /DIXIT / HIC’ and ‘DEI IN TRIDUS REEDIFICARE ILLUD’, based on Saint Matthew 26.61 (‘Hic dixit: Possum destruere templum Dei, et post triduum reædificare illud.’, ‘This man said: ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and, after three days, to rebuild it.’). The sloping floor painted with floral pattern. Lower right carved scene (NT 1209874.13): similar scene, probably originally Christ before the high priest Caiaphas, at centre seated behind a parapet over which draped a Jewish prayer shawl, surrounded by other priests and elders. Man at left carries Crown of Thorns which he seems to offer to high priest. Richly-dressed gesturing figure at front left accompanied by a dog, possibly Saint James the Greater? Scrawny figure front right with bagpipes over left arm, in past identified as shepherd, but perhaps a pilgrim - staff in right hand, broad hat hangs from strap over shoulders. Central compartment: Almost certainly originally held a figure of Jesse with the tree emerging from his chest (see 1209874.15), but adapted to create space with flat floor, presumably to hold some relic or sacred vessel. The walls now carved in low relief with patterns imitating Florentine silk. Spandrels (corners) at top left and right contain what seem to be miniature skulls. The Antwerp ‘hand’ mark stamped into surfaces on all five of the main carved compartments. The castle mark (‘burcht’) guaranteeing the quality of the polychromy appears twice below hinges of painted wings. Predella: In present state, consists of two paintings of Baptism and Execution of Saint Barbara, either side of the central tabernacle. Their style is entirely different from the wing paintings and the scenes do not fit the altarpiece narratives. So these panels probably came from elsewhere and were added to form a predella, when the Antwerp altarpiece was installed at Oxburgh. Unknown whether they came with the Antwerp altarpiece, or were acquired elsewhere. Tabernacle: surviving element from the Chapel’s earlier altarpiece, installed in the mid-1830s. Adorned with two fragments from Tree of Jesse, each two small figures one above the other, applied to sides of tabernacle, and stylistically nothing to do with figures in the Tree of Jesse surrounding the Crucifixion. Antependium: the section below the altar table also survives from the 1830s altarpiece. Three additional carved and painted scenes, set within canopied spaces with openwork backdrops. The scenes composed of disparate elements from different ensembles, somewhat crudely put together. From left: 1. Mocking of Christ, at left Pilate washing his hands, High Priest behind, three figures of tormentors. A turbaned figure standing before Christ perhaps came from an Adoration of the Magi. In foreground left, Peter cuts off the ear of Malchus, servant of the High Priest Caiaphas; at right, Christ greeted by a soldier? Bundle of rods being placed in Christ’s hands has been broken off. 2. Lamentation, Christ lowered into winding cloth by Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, behind the Virgin Mary, supported by Saint John. At back are three angels, entirely different in style and clearly from a different scene, perhaps a Nativity. Angel at centre holds book and is probably singing. At front left and right two grotesque cloaked figures, one with banderole with traces of inscription. Although they appear extraneous to the Lamentation, set on same distinctive sloping base with parallel vertical grooves for the ground. 3. Flagellation of Christ, set against gilded mound, behind which figure in ermine-lined cap, perhaps Caiaphas. The relief is composed of eight separate sections, mostly unrelated. At left, perhaps Peter denying Christ; two holy women plus Saint John at back; on right two male figures in dispute, also Mary Magdalen, holding jar. Condition: Main central section of altar overpainted, most recently in nineteenth century, the repainting possibly largely following earlier paint schemes. Probably elements missing from two lower carved scenes, whilst central lower compartment has lost its Tree of Jesse, now replaced by open compartment in form of tabernacle, with stencil pattern gilded surfaces. Small figures almost certainly once stood in niches in carved pinnacles on each side of the Crucifixion (see Passion altarpiece of c. 1540, St Trudo’s Church in Opitter-Bree; Nieuwdorp 1993, p. 109). Section of foliate decoration around the Crucifixion missing at top left. The painted wings were conserved at the Hamilton Kerr Institute in 1987 (McClure and Woudhuysen 1994), to treat flaking of paint layers, especially on outer wings. This had been caused by combination of the original painting techniques as well as more recent environmental conditions in the Chapel. At least two earlier repair campaigns noted, almost certainly before the altarpiece was brought to Britain. Wooden and metal armature installed to ensure structural stability with the wings open The original altarpiece: The main elements of the original altar for the Chapel at Oxburgh Hall were very probably acquired in Bruges in 1836, where Sir Henry Paston-Bedingfeld, 6th Baronet (1800-1862) and his wife Margaret (1808-1887) were living in the mid 1830s. Early in 1836 Margaret recorded in her diary that the couple had moved from Brussels, where ‘Our only amusement …. was visiting the antiquarian shops’ and settled for a while in Bruges, taking a house at 44 Koeisteertstraat [Cows Tail Street], in the parish of St. Jacques [Sint Jacob]. They remained in Bruges, interspersed with visits home, until January 1838 (Stephen H. Hancock, ‘From Hagiography to History: A Critical Re-examination of the First Forty Years of the 'Life’ of Mother Margaret Hallahan and of its Manuscript Sources’, British Catholic History, 23 (1997), pp. 341-71, p. 362). In the same passage from early 1836, Margaret noted of their time in Bruges that ‘Here then we began to lead the life of hermits in good earnest, devoting all our money to making purchases for Oxburgh. We were fortunate enough to find a beautiful altar &c for our new Chapel (which Henry arranged out of a Chapelle Gothique) & several other pieces of carving, Cabinets &c. Pere Augustine, the Superior of the Carmes, presented us with various things, amongst others, a well carved Madonna &c in oak’ (Journal of Margaret Paston-Bedingfeld, 1829-1839, NT 1211847, fols. 124-25). This first altar for the Chapel can be seen in its original complete form in a watercolour by Matilda Bedingfeld from the early 1850s, when the present altar table supported a tall spire-like ‘exposition throne’ (a structure for displaying the Blessed Sacrament to worshippers), that sat upon the present tabernacle (the cupboard in which consecrated communion wafers, the ‘Eucharist’, are kept). Of this earlier altarpiece, the altar table with its antependium of three carved and gilded scenes survives in situ, as does the tabernacle and the older unassociated carvings of Jesse figures on its sides. The exposition throne above the tabernacle was removed when the Antwerp altarpiece was installed. Sold from the house in 1951, it was bought back for Oxburgh at the Banningham Hall sale in 2004 (NT 1209874.16). It has frequently been stated that the architect of the Chapel was the celebrated Medieval revivalist Augustus Welby Pugin (1812-1852), but with no real evidence. It is far more probable that it was designed by John Chessell Buckler (1793-1894), whom the 6th Baronet employed on the works to remodel the main house both inside and outside, to return it to something more approaching its late medieval appearance. Buckler no doubt also assisted Sir Henry Paston-Bedingfeld with the furnishing of the Chapel, built in 1835-36. Margaret Paston-Bedingfeld’s description in her journal of ‘a beautiful altar’ might suggest that the altar seen in Matilda Bedingfeld’s watercolour was more or less what the Bedingfelds bought in Bruges and brought back to Norfolk. The Antwerp retable: The Antwerp altarpiece was probably acquired after the 6th Baronet’s death in 1862, by his son and heir Sir Henry Paston-Bedingfeld, 7th Baronet (1830-1902), probably in the late-1860s. Sybil, Lady Paston-Bedingfeld (1883-1985) claimed that her husband, the 8th Baronet and another Sir Henry (1860-1941), recalled its arrival at the docks in Kings Lynn and a stevedore exclaiming ‘There’s another crate of idols for Oxburgh!’ (Wainwright 1993, p. 43). The altarpiece is certainly Antwerp work, confirmed by the city’s ‘hand’ mark, stamped into all the carved sections, as well as the ‘burcht’ or castle (guaranteeing the quality of the polychromy), stamped twice below the hinges of the painted wings. Altarpieces were made in enormous numbers in the Antwerp workshops in the early decades of the sixteenth century. The Oxburgh altarpiece compares especially well with three similar works: a passion altarpiece documented in 1535 in the chapel of the château de Pagny in France, now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (Inv. 1945-25-117,a—s); Passion Altarpiece from Oplinter in Brabant, Museum of Art and History, Brussels, (Inv. 3196; Dervaux-van Ussel 1977, pp. 12-13, Pls. 26-36; de Boodt 1999); Passion altarpiece from church of Saint-Laurent in Pont-à-Mousson, France (de Boodt 1999, pp. 42-43, figs. 10-11). These altarpieces are broadly identical in format, with a curvilinear top, the main element composed of carved sections with painted wings. The Philadelphia altarpiece has a predella with three painted scenes that coincidentally resemble the made-up Oxburgh predella. The Oplinter altarpiece has a rectangular caisson with three sculpted scenes, therefore closer in form to the antependium at Oxburgh Hall. The Pont-à-Mousson altarpiece now lacks any predella. The subjects of the upper carved scenes are identical in all four altarpieces: Way to Calvary, Crucifixion and Lamentation, and incorporate similar iconographic details, e.g. the small boys before Christ on the Way to Calvary. This iconographical arrangement was in fact standard in Antwerp in this period, appearing in numerous other Passion altarpieces made in the city (Nieuwdorp 1993). The radical teachings of the theologian priest Martin Luther (1483-1546) and the rapid growth of the Lutheran church (Green 2019, pp. 155-57) are principal reasons why Christ’s Passion, in particular the Crucifixion, features so prominently in most of the carved Antwerp altarpieces from this time. Luther’s ‘Theology of the Cross’ ('Theologia Crucis') was given its full shape in 1518 in the Heidelberg Disputation, Luther’s defence of the 95 Theses he had nailed to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg in the previous year. He used the occasion to articulate fully his theological creed, in which the Cross was at the basis of Lutheran faith and worship. Only in contemplating the sufferings of Christ upon the Cross could God be revealed, thus meditation on Christ’s Passion was the true way through which the believer could grasp the full extent of human sin and the gift of divine redemption. Antwerp played a central role in the rapid spread of Luther’s ideas through Europe, because the city was one of Europe’s major centres of printing, many editions of his books being printed in Antwerp. Already by 1519 the city was full of followers of Martin Luther. Compared to the upper panels, there is much greater variation in the lower compartments of many carved Antwerp altarpieces: the Philadelphia altarpiece, Adoration of the Shepherds and Magi with, in centre, the Circumcision; Pont-à-Mousson altarpiece, the two Adorations either side of Presentation in the Temple. It is though more normal for scenes from Christ’s childhood to be found in the predella, e.g. the Oplinter altarpiece. The Oxburgh altarpiece may never had had a predella, but if it did have one it would probably also have featured New Testament scenes, as in the Oplinter retable. The main Crucifixion scene is framed by a Tree of Jesse, spiralling branches within which are small figures culminating at the top in the tiny group of the Virgin and Child. The roots of this popular iconography during the Medieval and Renaissance periods lay in Isaiah’s prophecy that the Messiah would spring from the family of Jesse, the father of David. This came to be interpreted pictorialy as a genealogical tree of the ancestors of Christ, with the stem of the tree emerging from out of the body of the reclining figure of Jesse. Jesse iconography became especially popular in Antwerp in the early sixteenth century (Green 2019, p. 141-63). More than 20% of surviving Antwerp carved altarpieces contain some kind of representation of the Tree of Jesse (against none in carved altarpieces made in the same period in another major centre, Brussels). This was partly because the main subject of the majority of Antwerp altarpieces is the Passion of Christ, the emphasis on the Crucifixion reflecting the strong influence of Martin Luther’s teachings. But the visual connection between the Tree of Jesse and the sufferings of Christ on the Cross emerged earlier in the writings of the Italian monk and theologian Peter Damian (1007-1072), who explained in his 'De exaltatione Sanctae Crucis' [‘On the exaltation of the Holy Cross’] that ‘Out of the rod (virga) of Jesse we came to the ‘rod’ of the Cross, and the beginning of redemption was its conclusion.’ This is why, in these altarpieces, the figure of Jesse is almost always placed below the Crucifixion scene, and why, in the Oxburgh Altarpiec,e the ‘branches’ of the tree run up the sides and around the top of the central Crucifixion scene. The figure of the prophet Jesse is invariably depicted asleep and with the tree growing out of his chest, as in a carving at Oxburgh (NT 1209874.15), formerly believed to be part of the Oxburgh retable, but in reality quite different and earlier in style. The Oxburgh altarpiece must originally though have had a similar figure of Jesse in the central lower compartment, later adapted to provide a space for the display of some vessel. The likely original configuration can be seen in the Antwerp ‘Altarpiece of the Martyrs’ in the Cathedral Church of St Victor in Xanten, Germany, dated 1525 (Green 2019, pp. 142-43, fig. 5.1), in which the figure of the sleeping Jesse is flanked by four Prophets. In the Xanten altarpiece the climbing branches of the Tree seem to emerge from out of the group of standing figures below the Cross, just as in the Oxburgh retable. The most problematic elements of the Oxburgh retable today are the two lower compartments, either side of the empty central compartment. It is impossible to know without further technical examination to what extent they have been reconfigured; there are no visible clues pointing to missing figures, for example filled holes in the sloping floors, now painted with an attractive floral pattern. But in their present state the compartments are not iconographically coherent. That on left most probably originally showed Christ before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, the figure of Christ now lost. Two figures in the compartment hold scrolls repainted with inscriptions that make up the line (“This man said: ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and, after three days, to rebuild it.’ ” Matthew 26.61), so seem to represent the men who gave false witness against Christ when he had been brought before the High Priest (not Pilate). These figures might therefore originally have belonged in the right-hand compartment, the subject of which was probably Christ before Caiaphas, and which is also now missing the figure of Christ. The figure on the left apparently offering the High Priest the Crown of Thorns is an iconographic puzzle, while the man before him at left may be another prophet. The strange figure at right has been described as a shepherd from a Nativity, but may represent a pilgrim. Possibly some of these prophet figures in the side compartments originally came from the dismantled central Jesse scene, as seen in the Xanten altarpiece. Insufficient importance has been given to the Oxburgh altarpiece as a work celebrating the life and miracles of the Apostle Saint James the Greater, which makes it very likely that it was made for a church or chapel dedicated to the saint, or for a pilgrim's building such as an hospital. After Christ’s Crucifixion, James was said to have travelled to Spain before returning to Judea, where in A.D. 44 he was beheaded on the orders of Herod Agrippa. The centre of the cult of Saint James is the Cathedral of Santiago da Compostela in north-western Spain, the reputed burial site of Saint James and the final goal for the millions of pilgrims who over many centuries have made the 'camino' pilgrimage. Four of the painted panels depict episodes from the life and legend of Saint James: his miraculous appearance on a white steed at the mythical battle of Clavijo, fought between Christian and Muslim armies in A.D. 844; the Saint’s preaching in Spain, accompanied by his faithful dog; the body of Saint James the Greater miraculously transported by oxen to Compostela; and, pilgrims praying before the saint’s altar. The sculpted compartments of the altarpiece also have pilgrims inserted into some scenes: the figure with a staff and basket at the extreme left of the Way to Calvary; in the rocky landscape background to the Deposition, the pilgrim on left with staff and panier; the figure at far right of the right-hand lower compartment could also be a pilgrim, with his staff and the hat on his back, similar to the woman’s hat in the painted panel showing pilgrims praying. There is no evidence on the hat of the Cross of St James or the cockle shell famously worn by pilgrims to Santiago, but such details might have been concealed under later overpaint. Elsewhere in the lower compartments, the dog next to the man at left in the right-hand panel might suggest that the man is James, although this richly-dressed figure hardly looks like an Apostle and Saint. It is in theory possible that the two lower compartments originally told stories from the life of Saint James the Greater. In the Antwerp altarpiece of c. 1515-20 in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Waase-auf-Ummanz in Germany, the three lower compartments are filled with scenes from the life and martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket (Nieuwdorp 1993, pp. 64-69, no. 9). However, in their present state it is difficult to identify any of the the better-known stories from the Saint’s life in these compartment; the left-hand compartment might just possibly have shown James being brought before Herod Agrippa, to be condemned to death. Attribution: The painted panels in the Oxburgh altarpiece are generally attributed to a follower of Pieter Coecke van Aelst (1502-1550), who ran a highly productive workshop in Antwerp (Grössinger 1992). Although stylistically reasonably comparable to the painted wings, the two predella panels with scenes from the Life of Saint Barbara must have come from another ensemble; they were probably added when the Antwerp altarpiece was installed in the chapel. The carved sections are characteristic works of the Antwerp sculpture workshops from the period around 1530, when high demand for their products led to quasi-industrial production, many altarpieces being exported across Europe from Antwerp. The Oxburgh altarpiece has been described (Woods 2007) as ‘a particularly flamboyant work’, the figures ‘lively, stout and highly-stylised, almost like cartoon characters, the scenes crowded and full of movement.’ Idiosyncratic features include two tiny figures peering over the gate in the ‘Way to Calvary’ or the two men, soldiers or priests in the background of the Crucifixion, seemingly in a sword fight. The Oxburgh retable was designed in an unusually geometric fashion, making extensive use of horizontals, verticals, diagonals and parallel lines, as seen very well in the three main sculpted groups. Variations in style and quality of carving within even the same scenes are to be expected in such a large and complex object, on which a number of carvers would have worked. The French Revolution and succeeding wars saw the destruction and despoiling of churches and religious houses across Europe, releasing vast quantities of objects onto the market. In the decades after Waterloo and the downfall of Napoleon in 1815, Europe opened again to travel and trade, with enormous quantities of wood sculpture being imported into Britain from France, Germany and the Low Countries. Churches and monasteries continued to be restored and modernised, releasing church furnishings, much of which was imported into Britain (Tracy 2001; Woods 2007, esp. pp. 143-80). The interest in old wooden altarpieces, stalls and pulpits was driven by a renewed passion for the arts of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. This fashion saw new buildings being created in the ‘Gothic’ style and existing buildings, Oxburgh Hall an excellent example, remodelled both in- and outside. In addition, Catholic emancipation in 1829 led to the construction of new churches and chapels, again including the chapel at Oxburgh, which was built and furnished between 1835 and 1837. As well as its magnificent altarpiece, the Oxburgh chapel contains fine 17th- and 18th-century Flemish altar-rails (Tracy 2001, pp. 120-21, B/10-11) and early 17th-century choir stalls (Tracy 2001, p. 259, M/25). Jeremy Warren June 2025