The Eton College Chapel Wall Paintings - 9781843834182

The late fifteenth century wall paintings in Eton College Chapel are the finest surviving examples in northern Europe. Over sixty five feet (19.812 m) long, they depict scenes from the Miracles of the Virgin separated by standing figures of saints. Largely painted in monochrome - or grisaille - style and enriched with flashes of colour, the style is reminiscent of Netherlandish art and represents a visual stepping stone between traditional gothic imagery and English renaissance art. In the first full length study of these magnificent paintings, Roger Rosewell describes the human stories behind them; who they were made for and why, the beliefs that underpinned them, the nationality and style of the painters, the fate of the paintings during the Reformation when the College barber was paid `to wipe them out' and how they were eventually rediscovered centuries later behind layers of whitewash. Illustrated by over 150 stunning photographs, this book is a magnificent pictorial record of one of the most sophisticated masterpieces of late medieval art; a masterpiece that was almost lost to us for all time.Roger Rosewell was educated at St Edmund Hall, Oxford University. A former journalist, he is Director of a private European Art Foundation and the News Editor of the on-line stained glass journal, VIDIMUS. His other published works include Medieval Wall Paintings/ (Boydell 2008).