Enquiry information

THE EXTREMELY RARE AND REDISCOVERED 15TH CENTURY WARWICK PRIORY CARVED OAK ROOF ANGEL AND ANOTHER. CIRCA 1450

THE EXTREMELY RARE AND REDISCOVERED 15TH CENTURY WARWICK PRIORY CARVED OAK ROOF ANGEL AND ANOTHER. CIRCA 1450

THIS EXQUISITLEY CARVED OAK SCULPTURE HAS A VERY INTERESTING HISTORY, ORIGINALLY HOUSED IN THE ROOF STRUCTURE OF WARWICK PRIORY, THIS MAGNIFICENT 15TH CENTURY ROOF ANGEL WAS WITHOUT DOUBT CARVED IN THE SAME WORKSHOP AS THE FOUR SURVIVING ANGELS FROM THE SHAKESPEARE BIRTHPLACE TRUST MUSEUM IN STRATFORD UPON AVON, IMAGES ATTACHED. WHEN THE WHOLE OF WARWICK PRIORY FELL INTO DISREPAIR THE WHOLE PRIORY WAS PURCHASED BY A WEALTHY AMERICAN WHO DISMANTLED THE ENTIRE BUILDING AND INTERIOR AND HAD IT SHIPPED TO RICHMOND, VIRGINIA WHERE IT STILL STANDS TO THIS DAY.

AFTER THE REBUILDING OF THE PRIORY IN VIRGINIA THE REMAINING DECORATIVE INTERNAL OAK CARVINGS WERE INCORPORATED INTO A GREAT HALL CUPBOARD THE ANGEL INCLUDED. A MASTER CARVER WAS THEN COMMISSIIONED BY ALEXANDER WEDDEL IN 1925 TO CARVE ANOTHER IDENTICAL ANGEL FROM LEFTOVER OAK FOR THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE HALL CUPBOARD. THIS ANGEL ON THE LEFT OF THE PICTURES IS INCLUDED WITH THE ORIGINAL WARWICK PRIORY ANGEL .

Priory HISTORY OF THE WARWICK PRIORY OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE Warwick is at the heart of the Order. Entrusted to Augustinian Canons of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, the first Priory outside the Holy City of Jerusalem was established at Warwick in 1109 by Henry de Newburgh, a Knight Crusader and first Earl of Warwick. The monastic buildings were completed in about 1119. The Prior became Superior of the Order in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The Priory was confiscated at the start of the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536. At that time it had a Prior, three Canons, eight dependents and servants and three “corrody-holders” (“holders of charitable allowance of provisions”). Over the centuries the Priory passed through the hands of different owners.

Shakespeare trust angels In 1449/50, rafters and scaffolding were purchased to build a new chancel, and in 1451/2 further bequests of money were made to furnish the new structure. It is possible that these wooden sculptures were installed about the same time – although it is difficult to fix their actual location. The winged angel, who holds up his hands in supplication, was probably attached to a central beam in the roof of the Chapel, whilst the other two larger figures may have stood in niches near the east window.

PROVENANCE-
In 1925, the shell of the house on the Priory site was bought by the Weddell family of the United States. Alexander Weddell was then US Consul-General to Mexico City (1924) and later, US Ambassador to Argentina (1933) and Spain (1939). The shell was dismantled and shipped to Richmond, Virginia and rebuilt there . It is now owned and occupied by the Virginia Historical Society.

STOCK NO 1841.