XII.—On the Panel Paintings of Saints on the Devonshire Screens

Abstract

It is a curious fact that in these days when so much notice is taken of and so many papers have been compiled on the various objects of architectural interest, which fortunately still abound in our English churches, so little attention has been paid to perhaps the most distinctive feature to be found in the churches of Devonshire, namely, the series of scriptural subjects, apostles, prophets, and saints, depicted on the panels of the screens, of which so many and such fine examples have been preserved throughout the county. Elsewhere, except in Norfolk and parts of Suffolk, it is extremely unusual to find figures of saints painted on the panels of the screens, though it is probable that the vandalism and mistaken religious zeal of former days have obliterated many which then existed, and it therefore seems especially important that some attempt should be made to describe and thereby perpetuate a memorial of these specimens of religious art, so comparatively uncommon in this country.