This photograph was generously contributed by Adrian Powter, Churches Conservation Trust area volunteer, whose copyright it remains. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Jesus Blessing the Children on the west wall of All Saints, Cambridge, a church designed by G. F. Bodley in 1863 and subsequently completed and decorated by William Morris and Company, Charles Eamer Kempe, and others. This painting was probably the work of Wyndham Hope Hughes (l849-l948), an artist associated with Kempe (see Tricker et al., 5). It dates from 1874 and hangs on the west wall, illustrating the text given at the top of it, "And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them" (Mark 10, 16).
Closer view of the central part of the painting.
It is a crowded scene and has none of the dazzle of the repainted chancel scene of Christ in Majesty, but is a full of interest: it shows mothers with children of different ages, a thoughtful-looking father, onlookers and so on, generating the feeling of an occasion — like a christening – appropriate to its location near the font.
Running along the pomegranate stencilling above is another text, among various such inscriptions in the church, taken from Revelation 14, 4: "These are the ones who follow the Lamb whithersover He goes." Again, this is most appropriate to this part of the church.
Related Material
- All Saints Church, Cambridge: IV, Christ in Majesty, also painted by W. H. Hughes (with more about his connection with Kempe)
- All Saints Church, Cambridge: I, the Church Building
- All Saints Church, Cambridge: II, Fixtures and Fittings
- All Saints Church, Cambridge: III, Stencilled Decorations
- East Window by Morris and Company (also a series)
- West window angels by Morris and Company
- Three windows by Charles Eamer Kempe / Kempe & Co. (see his index)
- Windows by Ward and Hughes (see the firm's index)
- Womanhood window by Douglas Strachan
- Godwin tiling in the sanctuary
Bibliography
"All Saints Church." Historic England. Web. 3 April 2018.
Barlow, Adrian. "John Betjeman and Kempe." The Kempe Trust. Web. 3 April 2018.
Stavridi, Margaret. "Wyndham Hope Hughes l849-l948." Wheat Sheaf Newsletter of the Kempe Society. No. 49 (March l996): 5-8.
Tricker, Roy, and others. All Saints Church. London: Churches Conservation Trust, 2004 (kindly supplied by Adrian Powter).
Created 3 April 2018