KNEELING BISHOPS: VARIATIONS ON A SCULPTURAL THEME BY FRANCIS LEGGATT CHANTREY (1781–1841)

Abstract

This paper will describe and illustrate variations on a sculptural theme in late-Hanoverian and early-Victorian funerary monuments by Sir Francis Chantrey (1781–1841), which, taken as a whole, demonstrate a shift in taste from severe Neo-Classicism to Early Romanticism. In the 1820s and 1830s, Chantrey carved several memorials to Anglican bishops featuring the prelates kneeling in prayer or contemplation: some showed the bishops in high relief against architectural backgrounds, others depicted them as free-standing figures. From the 1840s onwards, the impact of the Gothic Revival and Ecclesiology led to numerous bishops being commemorated by recumbent effigies, so the kneeling type was a relatively short-lived form, and could even be called an invention of Chantrey.