Brangwyn painting the panel St Paul Shipwrecked
The chapel was designed by Sir Aston Webb and E Ingress Bell, built 1902 and Brangwyn was commissioned in 1912 to paint 16 panels illustrating the ‘mission and expansion of Christianity’.
Aston Webb had worked with Brangwyn previously and suggested the artist. Brangwyn was sent a scale elevation of the east wall of the chapel on which he painted a few quick sketches. The scale of the figures is consistent throughout and the panels are linked visually by the blue banners proclaiming the themes.
Alan Powers reckons these panels hark back to Brangwyn’s Parisian experience with bright dabs of colour flattened into shimmering patterns, reminiscent of the Russian Ballet or Gustav Klimt. He says they are ‘among Brangwyn’s most convincing evocations of the Mediterranean spirit that Matisse developed as an antidote to the Flemish north’.
For more information on the panels see Libby Horner, Christ’s Hospital Murals.
Studies on this website – Caxton Printing and Man playing harmonium and Choir