Our Very Own Pulpitum

The carved stone pulpitum replaced an earlier gilt screen, likely to have been wooden, that had piers and beams upon which a Rood stood. The exact date of the production of Lincoln Cathedral’s carved stone pulpitum is not known although it is believed to be between 1330-40 during King Edward III’s reign.

The pulpitum has been a part of our history for some 700 years. In that time it has been witness to many things, subject to and at the mercy of political and religious agandas. The decoration has suffered greatly during The Reformation and the English Civil War in the mid 17th century. It has survived world wars and has had many famous and notable visitors. Just two of these visitiors are noted here, Pevsner has stated, “A gorgeous piece of 1330’s decoration, the finest in a county of many splendid Decorated splendours. It makes one understand how the Decorated Style came to be called Decorated.” AWN Pugin, on his many visits to Lincoln, spent considerable amounts of time drawing the Early English Gothic style of St. Hugh’s Choir, the pulpitum and associated architecture, (Hill, God’s Architect, 2007). It is no suprise his time at Lincoln Cathedral influenced his work, both architecturally and decoratively. We know that AWN Pugin was one of the most influential designers/architects in the 19th century, he did more than anyone to make Gothic Revival a national (and international) style.

In 2018 we were asked to investigate the decorative history of Lincoln Cathedral’s pulpitum. We knew the screen had been decorated in the past but to what extent? What pigments were used and what paint type was employed? How did they do it and how often has it been decorated? To help answer these questions we take paint samples and analyse them using various methods such as microscopy, chemical analysis and TFIR. The following here can only be a very short summary of our findings due to the large and complex nature of the project.

The above microscopy images from left to right; vermilion and gold leaf, cinnabar, oil gilding samples and azurite.

The above microscopy images from left to right; vermilion and red lead cross section, red lead chemical paint analysis and the crystalline structure of lapis lazuli.

The above photographs shows the extent of the paint that still remains on the pulpitum. From left to right; the background of the gilt crockets is the remains of a strong blue line which follows the architectural edge of the stone. A strong black outline to the painted red ornament. Gilt and polychrome animals on a strong red background. The gilt and polychrome foliated capitals.

Our reasearch identified three red pigments; vermilion, red lead (minium) and cinnabar. All reds present were employed in the original scheme. Two blue pigments; azurite and lapis lazuli were also identified. It was found that the blues were used as a colour in their own right, they were also mixed together to produce a different shade of blue. Interestingly, a particular sample showed that azurite had been applied over an ultramarine layer. This suggests one of two things: Firstly, the lighter azurite may have simply formed part of an overpainted design, such as stencilwork or applied freehand design. Secondly: the lighter azurite may have been applied by the process of ‘strewing’ to create a beautiful crystalline finish. Other pigments and materials present on the screen were; verdigris, carbon black, lead white, oil size with a litharge (lead monoxide) siccative and a linseed oil and egg emulsion.

The above photographs show some examples of the differing diaper on the pulpitim. From left to right; blue, white and gold diaper is found on the back walls of the arcades. Red and gold diaper are found on the pillars. Blue white and gold diaper are also found on the pillars. The large diaper found on the upper section of the pulpitum have red and gold decoration on a green background.

The screen, although having suffered structural damage, has remarkably retained much of its decorative history. The intentional removal of decoration in the past has not been entirely successful and much evidence still remains on the surface. The extent of gold leaf decoration found is extensive and alot still remains on the upper areas and crevices of the screen. All surface areas were painted and/or gilded and it has, quite surprisingly, only ever been decorated once in its lifetime. This decoration is believed to have been carried out, in situ, once the screen had been erected in the cathedral sometime in the 1330’s. It is believed the screen was constructed with the intention of it being decorated in bold, bright strong colours and with a great deal of gilding applied.

The above photographs show three polychromed faces. From left to right; This face has much paint left on the surface to allow a full understanding of its originally deocration. There’s flesh tone, hair colour, eye colour, black outlining/detailing, lip colour, teeth colour and even black to show missing teeth. The right eye of the secong face retains nearly all of the original paintwork. The inside of the open mouth and the innner nostrils still reatin the original red, blue/green. The third face has most of the paint missing except for the red of the lips and the white that depicts individual teeth.

Above, from left to right; the first animal face has alot of the original paintwork, two notable things are the blue around the outer areas of the eyes and a very strong thick red line defining the eyes. The second photograph shows one of twenty five gilt carved ornaments on the uppermost cornice. These all have a strond red background. The third photograph shows deep incised scratch marks that are present on the surface of the pulpitum, these are presumably caused by a sharp metal tool during The Reformation and/or English Civil War to remove the decoration. During this time the ten figures that are believed to be originally saints had their heads knocked off in 1644 by Parliamentarian soldiers. It is noted that in the restoration of the pulpitum in the 18th century the heads were replaced, however, this time all the statues received a mitred bishops head.

During our time studying the screen at close quaters we dicovered historical graffiti of the names and dates of previous restorers/masons. The graffiti has been incised into the stone with a sharp tool, it can be found on the underside of the right arcade. It can be difficult to detect in the low, flat lighting, see the photograph below which has a raking light to aid interpretation. The wording reads as follows:

RESTrd

1767 BY

W PINK BY

RH AGUE

1869

Below, from left to right; the discovered historical graffiti which is likely to have been executed by RH Ague in the 19th century. The next photograph shows 2018 graffiti which is occasionally found, in pencil, on the lower parts of the screen. The far right photograph shows the historical restoration of one of the ten saints which have had their heads replaced with  a mitred bishops head.