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Rare early 16th-century wall paintings have been uncovered – for the first time in almost 300 years – in the loft space of the First Court building at Christ’s College, Cambridge.
Restoration work to the 15th-century building revealed three crowned motifs with a red Lancastrian rose in the centre, a portcullis on the left, and either a fleur-de-lis or the Prince of Wales’ feathers on the right (below). These paintings were probably commissioned due to the College’s close relationship with the Tudors, having been re-founded as Christ’s College in 1505 by Henry VII’s mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort. The portcullis was the badge of the Beaufort family, the Lancastrian rose was a symbol probably created by Henry VII after his victory at the Battle of Bosworth to mirror the Yorkist white rose (the better-known Tudor rose combined these two flowers after Henry married Elizabeth of York in 1486), while the fleur-de-lis had been used by English kings since Edward III (r. 1327-1377).
The paintings cover an area 6m wide, and were found in the roof space of what was probably the north-west wall of the original library. Further examination revealed that they had been painted on a fine plaster layer with limewash applied around the edges. It is also apparent that the circles used to create the Lancastrian rose had been incised using a compass. An archival search of the college records suggests that the last time these paintings were visible was around 1738. Their out-of-the-way location has meant they remained well-preserved in the intervening centuries.
Dr Christina Faraday, art historian, said: ‘Such survivals are extremely unusual. Wall paintings were a relatively cheap and disposable form of decoration, and so were rarely deliberately preserved.’
Dr Faraday remarked how they serve as a great example of how ‘savvy’ the Tudor family was about visual ‘branding’: ‘Henry VII had a very weak claim to the throne, but became adept at using visual symbols like this to promote his kingship. The motifs continue to be tied up with the College’s identity to this day, but as an early example of Tudor “marketing”.’
Text: Kathryn Krakowka
