The historic stenciling project surprises & what we might do with them

Transcription

1 The historic stenciling project surprises & what we might do with them Some of the tools used by our project, all of them contemporary equivalents of 19thc tools of the trade Panoramic photo of the Trinity nave at the end of the re-creation of the late 19thc stencil band just above the wood paneling at the pews Two complete repeats of the lowest late 19thc stencil pattern in Trinity s nave Trinity on the Green is celebrating its Bicentennial, as its cornerstone was laid in 1814 and its new building was consecrated in The Historic Stenciling Project has been part of our celebration. It was matching grants from the State of Connecticut Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) and the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP) that have made possible the inclusion of both Trinity parishioners as well as students from the Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School (the Co-op) in the hands-on work of our Historic Stenciling Project. It took all summer and well into the fall of 2014 to complete the grant-funded work of the project. Now only clean-up finishing touches are left to be done. As that work comes to completion, the time is right to consider any deeper meanings implicit in what was replicated and to imagine how to continue our quest and possible further stenciling.

2 Trinity thanks all participants for their fine help and enthusiasm Anyone who came to work on the stenciling began by learning how the interior evolved from its first nave to its present nave. Participants were simultaneously introduced to historic stenciling materials and techniques and their contemporary counterparts as used by Canning Studios. As we worked, we often chatted about local issues of preservation regarding not only the Green s three churches but of the New Haven Green itself. All were encouraged to bring their own knowledge of local, national and even world history to our chats. We came to realize that this parish hopes to always honor with care and preserve this historic building called Trinity and that anyone, at the very least, can be a part of that preservation process by watching for updates on the Trinity website. Trinity Interior in 1816, print, n.d New Haven Museum. Trinity at the 50 th Anniversary, 1866 Trinity s Interior c 1884 Trinity s Interior at the 100 th Anniversary, 1916 Trinity s Interior in 2013 (photo by John Kane)

3 The rev. edwin harwood s refinishing of the nave at trinity Trinity on the Green, Amos Doolittle print, 1817 Trinity on the Green, as it looked in 1871 and still looks now Edwin Harwood period ceiling with geometrically derived floral stencil motifs similar to those on the walls (detail above from 1884 photo on far right) Rev. Harwood, in an effort to improve, saw to removing Ithiel s rotting 1815 wood crenellations and wood tower top, and then he added the final stone tier with its pinnacles to Ithiel s original stone tower base. But most important to the Historic Stenciling Project, Edwin also brought about the redecoration of the entire nave. See the captions below and to the right. David Riccio (Canning Studios) & Peg Chambers (our Consultant) expected the lowest stencil band to consist of a floral pattern repeat. It proved to be simple and geometric! This was a fine surprise! Detail of stencil band we have uncovered and are recreating between top of stringcourse and bottom of sill. Note second band up; it s floral. (detail above from 1884 photo to right) Trinity s Interior c 1884 at end of Harwood s refinishing campaign. This photo is our Primary documentary source. (above) Tudor roses and tulips form the imagery on the brass fence of Trinity s 2010 Columbarium are an homage to Rev. Edwin Harwood s nave! An Edwin period stencil still exists behind the organ pipe cabinets in the Chancel! It shows the Tudor rose & crown of henry VIII and the pomegranate of Catherine of Aragon. Of course, there was much more to the Protestant Reformation in England than the King s antics! (above)

4 Nothing offhand in edwin s solution: more than one scheme was reviewed A good bit of consideration and thought seems to have gone into the plans for the new chancel and nave refinishing. The building s original altar was replaced, perhaps due to greater numbers of the 1845 Book of Common Prayer being available. It seems at first to have been unclear as to whether the recently installed lancet windows would be included in the new chancel, but by ca.1880 both the lancets and Edwin s 1871 grisaille glass nave windows were shown in the watercolor at the lower right. Trinity Chancel proposal in watercolor, by E.P. Sperry, Trumbull St., ca. 1880, New Haven Museum That Rev. Harwood was concerned about the meaning inherent in the forms created in this refinishing campaign is evident in the notes in Sperry s works to the left. A border of flowers represents Christ s Passion, grapes & wheat the Euchar- ist, the warm wall color the love of God. Trinity Interior as completed by Edwin, ca. 1884, photo, Collection Trinity Church Trinity s new altar by Ithiel Town, 1815, given to St. James by Rev. Harwood and now in St. PJ s Trinity Nave and Chancel proposal in watercolor, ca. 1880, New Haven Museum An early watercolor for Edwin s proposed Chancel. New Haven Museum

5 how plato & aristotle fit in So the stencil elements in each repeat of the pattern proved to be simple geometries, all of one dark color against a lighter background. From the primary photographic document, we know the next stencil band above our re-created band consists of representational floral elements, of many colors, forming quite a contrast. A Platonic abstraction in the lowest band, the one re-created by this project, seems to support an Aristotelian natural world manifest in all the other stencil bands in Edwin s nave! How such interpretation relates to the precepts of the Neo-Platonist group of theologians within the Anglican Oxford Movement of the late 19thc is another story for the next slide, but for now it is important to note how the Co-op students came to understand this potential meaning inherent in this stencil form they were working at re-creating in Trinity s nave. The Co-op students were encouraged by their teacher, Peg Chambers, our Consultant, to share examples of their own work. Two brought samples of their photography, one brought her poetry and another his drawing. We talked about meaning inherent in their own artistic forms, a process they then allowed Peg to use so as to understand our simple stencil band s repeat. See captions to right. Pope Julius II s Library, Stanza della Segnatura, the Vatican, early 16thc Raphael, The School of Athens, fresco, 1505, Stanza della Segnatura, the Vatican Plato on left points with assurance to the sky, asking us to zoom out and see things more abstractly, distilled from particulars, while Aristotle on right points all his hand s fingers to the earth around him. Together, their dual approaches suggest we all keep a balance in how we understand our world. Detail from fresco to left.

6 Edwin harwood as the incurable romantic in a lingering romantic age Edwin Harwood as a young man and at left as rector of Trinity Episcopal, Edwin, as a young priest before the Civil War, was an Episcopal Church leader who with others saw the need to reach across denominational lines in an effort to bring order and clarity to and through the work of the gospels. That perceived need increased during and after the Civil War, and the conversation continued. Seeking balance thru enlightened reason, the Neo-Platonist men of the cloth sought to improve the human condition by practical applied means of youth-oriented Christian education that was to never lose sight of the Romantic quest for both the beauty of the earth and the sublimity of the heavens and the unknown, thru inquiry, doubt and skepticism. For Rev. Harwood, Trinity could not have been a better place to implement these ideas. Ithiel Town, from 1810 to his death in 1844, was so very active on the New Haven Green, designing and building Center Church, then Trinity and finally the State House, all from In their styles, the three embody much of the history of the western world, causing awe in the onlooker. Late Romantic Britain loved the Gothic church, Trinity, which no doubt reminded them of the late 18thc use in the UK of that style to elicit thoughts on Sublimity in the midst of Beauty in the Picturesque landscape. The Gothic Church, 1837, drawn by William H. Bartlett, hand-colored print, published in London, 1842 Capability Brown, St Mary s, Croome, UK, 1763

7 The kindergarten movement Sunday school & the broad church Seattle nine year olds learning with Froebel Gifts, photo, ca (F.L. Wright was taught to play with the Gifts at age nine.) A German Kindergarten, print, 1876 In 1844, coincidentally the same year that our Ithiel Town died, the German philosopher and educator, Friedrich Froebel, first used the term kindergarten, accompanying use of the term with a theory of how to teach young children. At the same time, our Edwin Harwood was also seeing the value of a moral education for the youth of the broad church. Certainly Edwin s advocacy after the Civil War prompted the growth of Sunday School, particularly in the Episcopal Church. The pedagogy of learning of the nattural world in any of its abstractions and specificities surely for Edwin had the potential of encouraging anyone s understanding that there is an interrelation between all that is in God s universe. With education, harmony would no doubt result, at least ideally So, now we can begin to appreciate the simplicity of the stencil we have re-created. If you are interested in joining an HM Building Team committee to explore where to go next, let us know! Friedrich Froebel, Some of the Froebel Gifts, 20thc reproductions, wood Frank Lloyd Wright, Fifth Gift, American Edition, Milton- Bradley, 1870, wood