G41. APSIDAL CHAPEL N5S: STUART MONUMENT AMT
We now move to the last of the apsidal chapels. This is dominated by the Stuart Monument. It is also a curious chapel in that it is separated from the main Lady Chapel by a low masonry wall with a lockable door. The window has some lower brilliantly coloured panels. There are two statues on the left wall, but none on the right wall. The chapel feels cluttered and unwelcoming. Ludovic Stuart and his wife Frances have a very large monument of black marble and bronze by sculptor Hubert Le Sueur which fills the small chapel. Gilt bronze recumbent effigies of the Duke and Duchess hold hands; he is wearing plate armour, coronet, mantle and collar of the Order of the Garter and carries a wand, while wife Frances wears a ruff, stomacher and coronet. At his feet is a bull’s head and at hers is a chapeau with a couchant lion. At each corner of the tomb are large bronze life size figures representing Hope, Truth, Charity and Faith, acting as caryatides, supporting the domed open-work bronze canopy, with vases at each corner and a figure of Fame on the top. INDEX
G42. LADY CHAPEL VAULTING AND WINDOWS AMT
We leave the apsidal chapels and turn our attention once more to the glory of the central Lady Chapel. In front of us are the three high Eastern windows, and just below the windows we see some of the host of small standing sculptures.
G43. EAST WINDOWS AMT
A World War II bomb shattered the Eastern windows of the Lady Chapel. The centre East window of the Lady Chapel was filled with a window depicting the Nativity by Alan Younger in 2000. In 2013, the flanking blue windows by artist Hughie O’Donaghue were installed.
G44. DETAIL OF EAST WINDOWS AMT (x3)
The blue windows were installed in 2013 in time for the special service marking the 60th anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in the Abbey. the blue and gold windows – incorporating stars and lilies, emblems of the Virgin Mary and linked to royalty – are the first commissioned by the abbey in more than 10 years. The windows cast light on the tombs of Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots.
G45. CENTRAL WINDOW AMT (x3)
This window was one of Younger’s two great achievements. The other he designed was the ‘Great Rose’ window at St. Albans Cathedral. The competition brief explained that the window was to be figurative with Mary as the central image surrounded by angels. Younger stuck to the instructions he was given by his commissioners. The top portion of the window contains a portrait of the Virgin Mary with angels on all sides of her. Below this are images of a Nativity scene: the Baby Jesus, the manger, and stable animals.
G46. LADY CHAPEL: LATE MEDIEVAL STATUES AMT (x4)
St Winifred, St Margaret, St Anne (teaching Mary to read), St Catherine and St Matthew
St James the Less, St Thomas, St John, St James and St Andrew
St Peter, St Gabriel, Christ, St Mary and St Paul
St Martha or Elizabeth, St Mary Magdalene, St Dorothy, St Barbara and St Wilgefort (sporting her beard!)
We conclude our visit to the Lady Chapel by looking at some of the very fine sculptures displayed around the walls.