File:Brass of Joan, Lady Cromwell, Tattershall (12247949843).jpg

Original file(1,504 × 2,256 pixels, file size: 2.8 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Summary

Description

Joan was the younger daughter of Sir Richard Stanhope of Rampton. By 1455/6 Joan had married Sir Humphrey Bourchier, the third son of Henry Bourchier, Earl of Essex. Humphrey, cousin to Edward IV, was created Lord Bourchier de Cromwell in 1461 and died fighting on the Yorkist side at Barnet in 1471. They had a son, Robert. Joan subsequently married Sir Robert Radclyffe, of Hunstanton, Norfolk, who outlived her, dying by May 1498, when his will was proved. Like her aunt, Lady Cromwell is depicted in the ceremonial robes of a peeress, though she has her hair loose, with a jewelled circlet, and wears an elaborate necklace. The foot inscription reads: Orate p(ro) a(n)i(m)a Johanne d(omi)ne Cromwell qua obit decimo die MaYCii Anno d(omi)ni Mill(esi)mo CCCC Lxxxx cui(us) a(n)i(m)e p(ro)piciet(ur) deus amen. (Pray for the soul of Joan, Lady Cromwell, who died the tenth March, AD 1490, on whose soul may God have mercy Amen). The date of death has often mistakenly been read as 1479, but close examination shows it to be 1490. The shields survive only as indents, but their charges are recorded in antiquarian sources. That at the upper left bore quarterly: 1. France and England differenced with a bordure and label, 2. Bourchier, 3. Louvain, 4. Cromwell impaling Tattershall, representing Joan’s 1st marriage alliance. The upper right shield bore Ratcliffe impaling Cromwell quartering Tattershall, for Joan’s 2nd marriage. The lower left bore Stanhope impaling Cromwell quartering Tattershall and the lower Right bore quarterly 1&4 Stanhope, 2&3 Cromwell quartering Tattershall, for her parent’s alliance. Although the canopy is mutilated at the top, it retains its full complement of saints. On the left are the Blessed Virgin Mary, Ss. Christopher and Dorothy and on the right Ss. Anne, George, and also Edmund. The uppermost four are general favourites, which also featured on Ralph and Maud’s brasses, but St Edmund points to a link with East Anglia, and St Dorothy whose cult was more established in Germany and the Netherlands, had begun to appear on East Anglian roodscreens by the late fifteenth century.

When commissioning Joan’s brass, her executors turned to the Norwich 3 workshop, run by the glazier William Heyward. Though Joan’s brass is on a much larger scale than most Norwich brasses, it has stylistic similarities to brasses at Narborough (1496), Alysham (1499), and Wes Lynn (1503), suggesting it was made in the later 1490s. The treatment of the hands, face and inscription lettering are all distinctive. Two factors may have prompted Joan’s executors to abandon the family’s patronage of the London D workshop, by the 1490s based at the London Blackfriars and run by John and Henry Lorymer. The workshop was in a period of decline, eventually coming to an end around John’s death in 1499, and by then their products were of an inferior quality. Joan’s 2nd husband, Sir Robert Radclyffe, a native of Norfolk, may have suggested using instead the more competent Norwich 3 workshop. His will dated 1496 requested that he be commemorated by a brass at Hunstanton, now lost; this may also have been a Norwich product. But the fact that the inscription on Joan’s brass calls her Lady Cromwell, a title she derived from her first husband’s peerage, makes no reference to her second, less prestigious marriage, may suggest that it was her sister Maud, not her widower, who ordered the brass. (Photo by J.Hannan-Briggs)
Date
Source Brass of Joan, Lady Cromwell, Tattershall
Author Jules & Jenny from Lincoln, UK

Licensing

w:en:Creative Commons
attribution
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
You are free:
  • to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work
  • to remix – to adapt the work
Under the following conditions:
  • attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
This image was originally posted to Flickr by Jules & Jenny at https://flickr.com/photos/78914786@N06/12247949843 (archive). It was reviewed on 6 August 2018 by FlickreviewR 2 and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0.

6 August 2018

Captions

Add a one-line explanation of what this file represents

Items portrayed in this file

depicts

18 August 2012

image/jpeg

218fc290877e04bc4a212419057a8186803ec460

2,936,514 byte

2,256 pixel

1,504 pixel

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current14:25, 6 August 2018Thumbnail for version as of 14:25, 6 August 20181,504 × 2,256 (2.8 MB)TmTransferred from Flickr via #flickr2commons
The following pages on the English Wikipedia use this file (pages on other projects are not listed):

Metadata