November 2008

Explore the Apollo archive

Look back over two vibrant years of Apollo: browse every issue from January 2006 to the present day.

This summer Philip Hardwick, the architect of Goldsmiths’ Hall in the 1830s, would not recognise his 40-foot-long White and Gold Drawing Room. Bracketed by a gothic-revival archway and an Inigo Jones portico, and glazed to evoke Georgian stained glass, it has been transformed through Paul Dyson’s design into the central gallery – dedicated to Anglican and recusant plate – for this striking exhibition. It combines bravura display with beautiful objects, knitting them together in a strong narrative. Its precursor, a modest show at Goldsmiths’ Hall a few years ago, focused on plate from the diocese of London. In 2008 the curator, Timothy Schroder, has drawn in more than 300 objects from churches and cathedrals across England; the earliest is a pre-Conquest rarity, an exquisite small calendar discovered at Canterbury. Medieval Mass chalices and patens, the post-Reformation evolution of Anglican plate, Continental and domestic silver, as well as a small section on recusant plate, lead up to a strong conclusion, the remarkable recent commissions. The past 20 years have been fruitful for artist-makers invited to devise liturgical plate. Congregations in many parishes may be in decline, but the ancient urge to commemorate and to give glory to God through artistry remains strong. From the entrance steps in Goldsmiths’ Hall, flanked by the colourful altar and processional silver services commissioned for Lichfield Cathedral from 16 makers in 1990 and the sleeker Millennium commission from York Minster, the exhibition travels back through time, winding around the Staircase Hall with displays of 20th-century altar and processional plate. Thanks to a local benefactor, Anthony Elson has been creating a service for Lincoln Cathedral with a uniform theme, the swan of St Hugh; his newly-completed censer (Fig. 3) is a contemporary reworking of an ancient object, with arched apertures echoing those of Lincoln’s lofty 13th-century nave.

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