Chapter X: The Caroline Brasses. 1625-60

The art of monumental brasses shows signs of rapid deterioration, and from it there was to be no recovery. About 150 were laid down during the reign of Charles I and 13 during the Commonwealth.

Only two are really fine: Archbp. Harsnett’s brass at Chigwell, 1631, and Sir Edw. Filmer’s, here shown.

Armour is seldom worn, knights being usually depicted in civilian dress, and where it is worn, it generally consists of a demi-suit of cuirass, with laminated plates for the thighs and small knee pieces. Jack boots protect the legs. There are many variations, but the brass of Sir Edw. Filmer and wife, East Sutton, Kent, is fairly typical.

Of the nine sons, only one wears armour and none wear ruffs. The eight daughters are similar to their mother, who wears a gown without farthingale and a veil over the head. The brass consists of two large rectangular plates and though too much shading is put in, yet is a good example for the period.

The ladies have abandoned the farthingale and wear more graceful gowns, sometimes with ruffs and sometimes with falling collars. A light veil often covers the head. Sometimes the embroidered petticoat can be seen underneath the gown, which is divided in front. An example is to be found at Ardingley, Sussex, to Eliz. Culpeper, aged 7, 1634, and also in a larger brass to her mother.

The civilians are still fairly numerous, but the engraving is usually poor. The long gown is worn no more, the costume being the tunic with falling collar, knee-breeches, stockings and shoes or jack boots and a short cloak. Sometimes a ruff is worn instead of a collar. Most of these details will be seen in the sons of Sir Edw. Filmer. Point lace was often worn and is occasionally seen, as in the small, badly engraved brass of Thos. Holl, 1630.

The brass of John Moorwood and wife is characteristic. He kneels opposite his wife, Grace, at a desk. Besides the costume described above, he wears a ruff and a skull cap. His hair is long and he has a moustache and a pointed beard. His sons are similar, save that they are hatless and have no beard or moustache. His wife has a very plain dress and a high-crowned hat, her daughters have no ruffs, veils, or bonnets.

The six at Llanrwst, Denbigh, are quite distinct and represent either the work of a local school or of a special artist. There was also a local school at York. Its peculiarity was that the figures were large demi-figures, usually on a quadrilateral plate, which was narrower at the top than at the bottom. A considerable amount of fur is displayed, and the faces appear to be good portraits. The Elizabethan have already been mentioned in the last chapter, but there are several others.

There is one good Caroline brass--that to Thos. Atkinson, All Saints, North St., York, 1642. It may have been engraved a few years earlier.

Among ecclesiastics there is but one fine example, and that is perhaps the best Caroline brass still extant. It commemorates Samuel Harsnett, Archbp. of York at Chigwell, Essex, 1631. He had left special instructions in his will as to how it was to be made. The metal was to be an inch thick and to be rivetted right through the stone so that it could not easily be torn up. The result is a fine monument. He wears cope, rochet, chimere and a mitre. He holds his crozier in his left hand and a book in the right. The face is evidently a portrait. There is a border inscription with the evangelists at the corners. The figure is 6 ft. long. The crozier is not a cross, but a crook and has a rose in the volute.

During the Commonwealth naturally few brasses were laid down, and the distrust with which all representations of the human form were regarded by the Puritans, who considered them a breach of the Second Commandment, probably gave the death blow to the failing art. Besides those already mentioned, the following have been noticed: Ralph Assheton (in armour) and wife, Middleton, Lancs., 1650; Adam Beaumont (in armour) and wife, Kirkheaton, Yorks., 1655. These are the only men in armour. Assheton was a leader on the Puritan side and did good service. Beaumont was his son-in-law and is clad in similar style. The armour is a demi-suit, consisting of skirted cuirass, pauldrons, elbow-pieces and laminar cuissarts extending to the top of his tall boots. There is no actual representations of a cleric, but Dan. Evance, rector, quadrilateral plate, Calbourne, I.o.W., 1652 is commemorated by a plate with a drawing of Time and Death.

Most of these are but miserable caricatures and reveal the final stage of decay. Yet they are not without interest, though perhaps a melancholy one.

During the Caroline period many brasses to young children were laid down. Sometimes the babe is shown lying on a tomb, at others it is represented in its cradle. Two in St George’s Chapel, Windsor, may be quoted, and commemorate the children of Dr John King. They are dated 1630 and 1633.