St Pauls Cathedral London - Elevation of Apse Interior

SPCAA/D/3/4

Bodley and Garner, Thomas (1839 - 1906) Garner

Pencil, ink and watercolour drawing on paper showing a proposed design scheme for the apse in grey, gold, red and blue watercolour ink.

Pencil, watercolour and ink drawing showing a proposed design scheme for the interior of the Apse. Design shows the Apse with the stonework painter (or left) grey and white. There is gilded decoration for the capitals of colums, the vaulting of the arches and along the friezes below both tiers of the Apse windows. Above the lower tier of windows are garlands and putti heads decorate the raised parts of the walls. The surrounds to the window frames have gilded decoration and the roof of the apse has decoration in the Vaulting. The Apse appears to be split into three panels, each surrounded by a narrow, twisting double border. The panels are separated by a wider band of floralistic carving. The sketch includes the painted windows in the Apse, the lower one showing a male saint with swags/ floral designs surrounding him, the upper centre containing the crossed swords on a red shield (the arms of the Dean and Chapter). These are probably the windows that were in the Apse at the time. This drawing was reproduced in the book St Pauls The Cathedral Church of London.

Access is strictly by appointment only with the architectural archivist. Material dating from 1990 to the present day is not currently available for public consultation. Some records are subject to a closure period of 75 years under the Data Protection Act.