Praxiteles
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If one wanted to do a job on the inside of the odme in Westport, then perhaps it might not be a bad idea to see what has been done with domes:
St Peter’s, Rome
@apelles wrote:
Agree John..BTW..Don’t refrain from making honest comments on this thread..no one reads it anyway..
I am not at all sure of that …..
While on the subject of painted ceilings – and here is an idea for Apelles – Praxiteles would draw attention to the seasonal theme painted on the ceiling of the Michaelerkirche in Hildesheim – the Tree of Jesse referring to the geanology of Christ and the words of the propher Isaiah:
University Church, St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin
The High Altar
The Pulpit
The bust of J.H. Newman
The decorated apse
Newman’s University Church, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin
The other Neo-Byzantine prototype for the University Church was the Ludwigskirche in Munich. The architect was Friedrich von Gaertner.
Like the Basilica of St Boniface, it was heavily bombed during the war but has been completely restored.
The last judgement by Peter von Cornelius
The Basilica of St Boniface Munich
Te basilica before the war:
The partial reconstruction carried out by Hans Doellgast as a Notkirche. It was only in the 1960s that the decision was taken not to rebuild the basilica.
In the mid-1970s, the Altar was placed in the middle and the seting surroundng it. In the 1990s, the excentric lighting scaffolding was installed over the altra. Enough said….
By the end of all this vandalism, we have very little left of either an early Christian Basilica or of a Byzantine basilica of the time of Justinian.
Basilica of St Boniface in Muniich
Unfortunately, the basilica was destroyed during the war and ony partially rebuilt:
Newman’s University Church, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin.
One of the prototypes for the University Church was the Basilica of St. Boniface in Munich, built in 1835. Here is a description:
The most splendid monument ever consecrated to St. Boniface is the Basilica which bears his name, and which was founded by King Louis of Bavaria in 1835, in celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his marriage. The interior is sustained by sixty-three pillars of white marble. The whole of the choir and nave are covered with frescoes, executed by Professor Hess and his pupils ; those in the choir represent our Saviour, and on each side his mother Mary and St. John the Evangelist; beneath, in a line, stand St. Benedict and the most celebrated of those teachers of the Christian faith who preached the Gospel in Bavaria, St. Boniface, St. Willibald, St. Corbinian, St. Rupert, St. Emnieran, St. Cylien, and St. Magnus, abbot of Fussen,1 all of whom were Benedictines. Along the upper walls, on each side of the central nave, runs a series of compositions in thirty-six compartments, representing incidents in the lives of all those saints who preached the Gospel throughout Germany, from the year 384 down to the baptism of Wittikind in presence of Charlemagne in 785. Beneath these thirty-six small compartments are twelve large compartments, containing on a larger scale scenes from the life of St. Boniface, in each compartment two : 1. The father of Winfred (afterwards Boniface), being healed of a grievous malady by the prayers of his pious son, solemnly devotes him to the priesthood. 2. Boniface receives the Benedictine habit 3. He leaves the monastery at Nutsall, and embarks at the port of Southampton for Rome. 4. He arrives at Rome. 5. Pope Gregory II. consecrates him as missionary. 6. Boniface crosses the Alps into Germany. 7, He preaches the Gospel in Friesland. 8. He receives the papal command to repair to Rome. 9. Pope Gregory creates him bishop of the new converts. 10. Returning to Germany he is miraculously fed and refreshed in passing through a forest. 11. He hews down the oak sacred to the German divinity Thor. 12. He founds the bishoprics of Eichstadt and Wurzbourg. 13. He founds the great monastery of Fulda. 14. The solemn consecration of the monastery. 15. He receives into his monastery St. George of Utrecht as a child. 16. He crowns Pepin d Heristal king of the Franks. 17. He is created first Archbishop of Mayence. 18. He resigns his archiepiscopal dignity, resumes the habit of a simple monk, and prepares to depart on his second mission. 19. He suffers martyrdom at the hands of the barbarians. 20. His remains are borne to Mayence, and finally deposited in his monastery at Fulda.
I have given the list of subjects, because it will be found useful and suggestive both to artists and travellers. The frescoes have been executed with great care in a large, chaste, simple style. I have etched the scene of the departure of St. Boniface from Southampton. The dress of the saint, the short black sleeveless tunic over the white cassock, is the travelling and working costume of the Benedictine monks.
Newman’s University Church, St. Stephen’s Green, Dubin
the wall paintings:
Newman’s University Church, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin
[align=center:2wjsjraa]Newman and The Church
Newman in Dublin[/align:2wjsjraa]
Presided over by the Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop Paul Cullen (1803-1878), a national synod of the Catholic bishops of Ireland sitting at Thurles, Co Tipperary in 1850, decided to establish a Catholic University of Ireland. Archbishop Cullen, then occupying the See of Armagh and formerly Rector of the Irish College in Rome, had made the acquaintance of John Henry Newman (1801-1890) when the latter was studying for the priesthood in the Eternal City. Following his conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1845, Newman, who had enjoyed a significant career at Oxford University, was ordained priest in 1847. Archbishop Cullen invited him to come to Dublin to lecture on mixed or non-demoninational education and also made Newman a tentative offer of the rectorship of the proposed university.
On accepting Cullen’s dual invitation, Newman came to Ireland in October 1851 and following a meeting with the committee charged with the setting up of the university he was appointed its rector on 12 November 1851. However, some difficulties arose and a lack of unanimity between the trustees of the new university meant a delay in calling Newman back to Dublin to make a start. Matters were eventually resolved and Newman was installed as rector on 4 June 1854 at High Mass in Dublin’s Pro-Cathedral. The University was officially opened at 86 St Stephen’s Green on 3 November 1854 and one of Newman’s first expedients was the provision of a university church. In fact, he had this in mind, he said, as early as any other work. For him the church would “recognise the great principle of the university, the indissoluble union of philosophy and religion”.
Newman looked at several sites for the church among them numbers 80 and 85 St Stephen’s Green, which were then on the market, but when the chance of purchasing number 87 presented itself he immediately took it. Not as imposing as either of the other considerable properties, it served Newman’s purpose extremely well. Almost immediately on signing the agreement of purchase in June 1855 he was able to commence the building of the church in the side and back gardens, which extended as far as the wall of Iveagh Gardens, as did the grounds of the adjoining properties.
Hungerford Pollen
To assist him in the building and decoration of the church Newman sought the help of his friend John Hungerford Pollen (1820-1902). They met in Oxford and Pollen, who had shown considerable artistic talent, was ordained an Anglican priest in 1845. He had designed and painted the ceiling of St Peter-le-Bailey Church in Oxford and that of the Chapel of Merton College. He became a catholic in 1852 and was later editor of the Department of Art and Industry of the South Kensington (now the Victoria and Albert) Museum in London. At Newman’s request Hungerford became honorary professor of fine arts in the new university.
However, while Pollen was the architect, painter and decorator of the new church, the plan was Newman’s with the basic ideas stemming from his enthusiasm for the ancient basilicas of Italy but particularly the reconstruction of S Paulo fuori le Mura in Rome and the round arch style of the Basilica of St Boniface and St Ludwig’s Church in Munich, the latter serving as both parish church and the church of the Ludwig-Maximilian University.
Building by the firm of Deane and Woodward, which had been involved with the Engineering Department at Trinity College, Dublin and the building of the Kildare Street Club as well as constructions in Oxford and London, continued apace and the church, although not entirely finished, opened on Ascension Day, 1 May 1856. The final decoration was completed by the end of the summer. The cost was £6,500, almost double Newman’s original estimate. There were donations of £640, including £100 from Newman but, when hopes of securing a low interest loan from university reserves were dashed, Newman paid £3,000 from the surplus of funds subscribed for his defence in the Achilli trial (the apostate Dominican Giovanni Giacinto Achilli who successfully took an action for libel against Newman in 1852) and he borrowed £2,000 from the Birmingham Oratory – Newman, who was an Oratorian of St Philip Neri, had established a house of the order at Maryvale, Birmingham in 1848.
As well as continuing to act as superior of the Birmingham Oratory Newman remained as rector of the Catholic University until August 1859 although he had submitted his resignation as early as November 1858. He was not a practical organiser but, despite that, the University made slow, if steady, progress. Its trustees, mainly the four Catholic Archbishops, however, became a little concerned about justifying expenditure on it, particularly as most of the Catholic population of Ireland were only recovering from the effects of the disastrous famine of the 1840s. Besides Newman’s tendency to select English professors and officials to staff the University indicated a certain lack of sensitivity to Irish national aspirations.
John Hungerford Pollen:
From the New York Time of 3 December 1902:
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9C01E4D81E3DEE32A25750C0A9649D946397D6CF
