Carving out a Niche
If you get as far as St Olave's Church to look at the bones above the door (yesterday), do take the time to go inside. It is, to use a hackneys phrase, a little gem. This here is the lectern, said to be carved by Grinling Gibbons at the beginning of the 18th Century. Me? I'm not so sure. Although the work is astonishing, it looks as if it might have be done by one of his students to me. Maybe I'm being a bit unfair, what do you think?
posted by Ham at 00:02 -- Comments here: 3
Comments on "Carving out a Niche"
In the USA, it would be cast in resin and available from "Wind and Weather."
Isn't St. Olave Church where Samuel and Elizabeth Pepys are interred? I've wanted to go in there and say "hello" to Sam for ages.
It looks enough like Gibbons that I'd think it was his work. A student would probably make him more grotesque. A variation on the old stone carvers' tradition to put yourself in your work. Check out the columns in Lincoln Cathedral if you get a chance, or the North side of Notre Dame, where one of the gargoyles is wearing a mason's helmet!