The Holy Trinity
Boris Anrep (St Petersburg 1883 - London 1969)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
1945
Materials
Stone, Cement
Measurements
635 x 508 mm
Place of origin
London
Order this imageCollection
Mottisfont, Hampshire
NT 769991
Summary
A mosaic inlay portraying the Holy Trinity with a heart in pink and blue and a dove in blue on a background of blue, green and white. The wording reads TRINITAS SANCTISSIMA. Embedded in the south wall of the Red Bedroom at Mottisfont Abbey.
Full description
This mosaic was a private commission from Maud Russell, the owner of Mottisfont Abbey from the Russian-born mosaicist Boris Anrep (1883-1969). At the time, Anrep was in the process of designing the 'Modern Virtues' mosaics for the National Gallery in London which Maud Russell paid for. The commission is well-recorded in Maud Russell's diary. The mosaic was made on 2 August 1945 at Anrep's studio in London, with Maud joining him to watch the process. Anrep was unhappy with the initial colour in one half of the heart in the design and Maud volunteered to remove the stones here before they set. She also placed "five small dark blue stones that came from the great mosaics in St Sophia which B[oris] had been given." into the mosaic. St Sophia probably refers to the Cathedral of St Sophia, Kiev, Ukraine.which contains several early 11th Century mosaics. Maud originally intended for the mosaic to be placed over what she called the chapel porch, which provides access from the east to the basement area at Mottisfont Abbey, but when she placed it there she felt the area was too dull for such a bright piece of ar and took it back inside. The mosaic then lived on a bookshelf in her bedroom until 1970 when she had it embedded on the south wall of the Red Bedroom. This was the room in which Anrep normally stayed when he visited her at Mottisfont. The mosaic portrays the Christian Holy Trinity; God the Father, God the Son and The Holy Spirit. God the Father is represented by the hand - apparently based upon Anrep's own hand. God the Son is represented by the heart which has been pierced by what appears to be an Eastern Orthodox Cross, and the Holy Spirit by a dove.
Provenance
Commissioned by Maud Russell from Boris Anrep in August 1945. Embedded in the wall of the Red Bedroom, Mottisfont Abbey, Hampshire by Maud Russell in 1970 and given to the National Trust by letter in the same year.
Makers and roles
Boris Anrep (St Petersburg 1883 - London 1969), artist
References
Russell 2017: Emily Russell (ed.), A Constant Heart; The War Diaries of Maud Russell 1938-1945, Wimborne Minster, 2017, pp.292-296