Restoration! St John the Divine Richmond

There was a full house yesterday for a Victorian Society event at St John the Divine Richmond on 'Restoration!'. Paul Velluet and Peter Cormack led the event which highlighted the history of the church, its artistic and historical significance as well as its recent restoration. Additionally, there were presentations on the organ and the church textiles.

The Church of St John-the-Divine was built between 1829 and 1831 under the Church Building Commission’s funded programme for new churches as a chapel-of-ease to the Parish Church of St Mary Magdalene to serve the growing community of ‘New Richmond’.

Designed by the early Gothic Revival architect Lewis Vulliamy, it is a fine but much altered example of a Commissioners’ church – economical in design and construction, but distinguished by some delicate ‘Gothick’ features inside and out. The particular significance of the church lies in the reconstruction and major extension of its ‘eastern’ end carried out in 1904-1905 under the direction of designed by Arthur Grove and its enrichment in subsequent years with fittings and furnishings by leading designers, artists and craftsmen of the Arts and Crafts tradition including Nathaniel Westlake; stained glass artists Christopher Whall and Mabel Esplin; Henry Wilson; Eric Gill and Macdonald Gill; Ernest Gimson; William Bainbridge Reynolds; sculptors Richard Garde and A.G. Walker; and painter Dorothy Smirke.

Later works of note include the low-relief Stations of the Cross along the lower aisle walls carved by Freda Skinner who studied sculpture at the Royal College of Art under Henry Moore and Alan Durst.

Major works for the refurbishment and re-planning of the body of the church, the creation of a glazed narthex, the building of a new church-hall attached to the ‘north’ side of the church, and the construction of residential accommodation above the sacristy and vestry were undertaken in 1980-1981, designed by Dry Hastwell Butlin Bicknell, Architects. More recent redecoration of the interior has been undertaken under the direction of the Parish Architect, Peter Bowyer, and the very recent restoration of the reredos in the Lady Chapel undertaken by Howell and Bellion.

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Peter Garvey - A Clear Midnight.

The 3 Mothers

Our current exhibition The Divine Image continues until Friday 20 January, with an evening opening until 7.00pm on Thursday 19 January. Then the exhibition's themes of welcome and hospitality will continue as the 3 Mothers will visit St Stephen Walbrook from Monday 23 January – Friday 3 February. See the 3 Mothers here: Mon – Fri, 10.00am – 4.00pm (Weds 11.00am – 3.00pm).

In 2007 the Bishop of London commissioned Revd Regan O’Callaghan to paint a triptych on the theme of hospitality and the 3 Mothers was the result.

They were blessed by the Bishop and installed in the reception of Diocesan House, London where they resided for a few years. After this they have been on the move and have been installed in different places including the Jewish Museum London, St James’s Piccadilly, St Paul’s Cathedral Melbourne and Lambeth Palace.

They are 35 cm x 40 cm each, painted in egg tempera, gold leaf on gesso with a dark wooden frame. This triptych written by Revd Regan O’Callaghan depicts three smiling women from the congregation of St John on Bethnal Green Church, seated around a table. The women reflect the diverse nature of the congregation at St John’s as well as the local East End community. Each woman is a wife, mother, and grandmother, a person of faith and a committed hard working member of their church, something the artist wanted to celebrate. The three women also symbolise in part the important role of women – particularly older women – in the Church of England. The opened hand of Mother Pearl is held out to greet the viewer to the table, a place of fellowship and hospitality while Mother Becky and Mother Miriam look on. What offering do you the viewer bring to the table? The stars on the table cloth symbolise the many descendants of Abraham. The colours the three women wear represent the Christian liturgical seasons and the gold leaf a belief in the ‘sainthood of all believers and divine light.’

The triptych is understood as a contemporary religious icon which functions to instruct the faithful, theologically, spiritually and liturgically. An icon is believed a portal into the heavenly realm where the eternal light of God permeates all things and where no shadow is cast. The 3 Mothers thus represent the divine spark within all of us.

Regan O'Callaghan will be leading an icon painting course starting January 2017. It will be held in the recently renovated Emmanuel Church West Hampstead. The class begins the 28th January 2017 and is for adults with any artistic ability or none! Cost is £250 with all materials included.

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Pink Floyd - Mother.