At the end of five weeks, through July into August 2003,[1] an archaeological excavation in bay 2 at the east end of the cathedral nave revealed a remarkable discovery.[2] On the last day of the dig and in the last hour of the day three pieces of oolitic limestone with a sculptured figure were found in a pit close to Chad’s grave.[3] The pieces joined together and formed half of the left end of a shrine chest[4] and the figure, now thought to be the archangel Gabriel, is known as ‘The Lichfield Angel’. It has been dated to around 787 which places it from King Offa’s reign and the time of raising the bishopric to an archbishopric.[5]. It has had very little weathering and has been described as the best-kept Saxon sculpture in Europe. The honey-coloured limestone is from Ancaster, Lincolnshire.[6] Tool marks on the external faces of the fragments suggest the panel was roughed out from a single block using an axe.
Enhanced
image of the Lichfield Angel to show what might have been the original colours.
The eyes might have had glass inserts such as red garnets. The upper edge is
slightly cambered and would have been roofed. There is no base supporting the
idea it was over the grave. The back was most likely against a wall.
It has some resemblance to other sculpted
angels.
 |
From the left is half of an ivory diptych showing Archangel Michael. This panel belongs to the British Museum (reference OA9999) and is from Constantinople, c. 525-50. Next shows a replica of the Breedon Angel, Leicestershire, thought to be 9th or 10th century. Then a plate in the Codex Amiatinus drawn around 70 years before the Lichfield Angel. Finally, the Deerhurst Angel, Gloucestershire, probably 9th century, now well worn, might have had a similarity
The wings resemble those depicted in the Book of Cerne, now thought to have been written at Lichfield.
Archangel’s
wing (left) compared with the wing shown in the John miniature in the Book of
Cerne, Cambridge U.L. MS. L.1.1.10.f.31v.
Similar figures can still be seen in stonework at Bakewell, Breedon, Fletton in Northamptonshire, Peterborough and Wirksworth, but many are worn and comparisons are difficult.[7] Numerous coped monuments survive in the region of Mercia from the eighth and ninth centuries so it is no surprise to find another.[8] From early on, it was realised the appearance and position has good similarity to the head end of Cuthbert’s wooden coffin, c. 698, with the figures of Gabriel and Michael incised crudely. This is most likely another link between Lichfield and Lindisfarne.
Michael and Gabriel on the left end of Cuthbert’s coffin.
Artistic reconstruction of the two archangels.
The background stone was dressed in priming white, the angel was red,
yellow, white and ochre and the halo gilded.[9]
It still has microscopic specks of yellow and white pigment on the costume and
black on the wings, in the nostrils and slit of the mouth.[10]
The hair was yellow, the frame outlining the panel was red. The stem of the
plant was red and the leaves yellow, which is an odd colouration.
Reconstructed angel with colouration added by Angela Geary and shown with
thanks from the Dean and Chapter.
Offa’s head on some of his coins
Conjecture on the artistic
significance
The eyes are turned to the side that is missing, which has led to the idea
the missing figure was Mary. Another suggestion is it was Chad; the angel being
the ‘beloved guest’ recorded by Bede as visiting Chad prior to his death.[11]
Blows from an axe have cut the panel into two. This may imply that the figure
of the angel on the left-hand part of the panel was deliberately separated from
whatever occupied the lost right-hand half. It could be argued this would not
be likely if there were two angels or an angel and the virgin. Finally, the
staff with leaves, not flowers, has generated several ideas. Cramp and Hawkes[12]
stated the pose of the figure and the holding of a foliate sceptre indicate it
is the Archangel Gabriel. Brown thought the figure was in the fashion of the
Annunciation to the Virgin Mary. However, the unusual pose with a Latin
blessing is unlike most Anglo-Saxon depictions. If the Virgin Mary is alongside,
then Gabriel does not appear to be communicating with her and, perhaps, the
emphasis might have been on Gabriel’s initial appearance to Mary; Luke 1, v28,
“And he came to her and said, Greetings favoured one”. Gabriel is honouring
Mary’s humility, obedience and purity. These are the same attributes accorded
to Chad. The figuration will forever be a source of speculation. Whatever the
interpretation the sculpted angel provides a glimpse of the theologically and
visually sophisticated ecclesiastical culture that flourished early on at
Lichfield.[13]
The sculpted stone
most likely belonged to a shrine chest over the grave of Chad.
It is thought Chad’s relics were obtained from his recessed grave, pit
or hypogeum at least 800 mm deep into the sandstone bedrock some decades after
his death. Bede said they were translated. His relics were placed in a wooden
box surrounded by what Bede called a ‘little house’ on the surface of the
grave. Sometime, most likely early in the 8th century, the box with relics was later
placed inside the shrine chest.[14]
Did the wooden house-shaped shrine dictate the shape of the stone shrine chest?
Brown stated the arrangement probably formed part of a house-shaped shrine, like
that at St Andrew’s, and may represent an innovation at the end of the eighth
century.[15]
There is a possibility there is more of the shrine chest under bays 1
and 3 of the nave.
[1]
W. Rodwell, J. Hawkes, E. Howe and R. Cramp, ‘The Lichfield Angel: A
spectacular Anglo-Saxon painted sculpture.’ The Antiquaries Journal (2008),
88, 48–108.
[2]
The excavation occupied a roughly octagonal area, some 7.5 m across, centred
within the second bay and taken down to the required depth of 1.2 m below the
present floor level.
[3]
At least two of the pieces were placed face down, and the third may have been
before it was disturbed by a grave, points to deliberate burial.
[4]
There remains uncertainty of the size
of the sepulchre and ideas vary from a small shrine chest to a large
sarcophagus. The commonest view is a small shrine chest.
[5]
See Rodwell et all (2008), 27.
[6]
Ancaster lies 95 km north-east of Lichfield and there is no easy route between
the two places.
[7]
All have been seen in the past as exhibiting eastern Christian traditions and
have been compared with Continental figures in manuscripts and ivories
reflecting the cultural renaissance of Charlemagne and his successors in the
late eighth and early ninth centuries.
[8]
See Rodwell et al (2008); 18.
[9]
A detached speck of gold was observed on soil adhering to the nimbus.
[10]
Iron oxide gave red and yellow, calcium carbonate and lead white gave white and
carbon soot gave black. It has been said the pigments were dispersed in egg
white.
[11]
G. Henderson, ‘New thoughts on the iconography of the Lichfield Angel’, unpub. letter, (2007) and G. Henderson, ‘St Chad and
the angels’, Current Archaeol, (2007), 209, 53. It is not certain that Chad
personally was visited by an angel, but he was visited by his brother Cedd who
would be in angelic form.
[12]
R. Cramp and J. Hawkes, ‘The Lichfield Angel: statement of
significance’, unpub.report for the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield Cathedral
held in Cathedral Library, (2004).
[13]
See Rodwell et al (2008), 33 and the conclusion from J. Hawkes.
[14]
R. Cramp, The art historical context of the Lichfield Angel’, Unpub. Report in
Cathedral Library (2006), 4.
[15]
M. P. Brown, ‘Mercian Manuscripts:
the implications of the Staffordshire Hoard, other recent discoveries, and the
‘new materiality.’ Inaugural Lecture to the Chair of Medieval Manuscript
Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, 22 June 2010, in E.
Kwakkel, ed., Writing in Context: Insular Manuscript Culture,500-1200 (Leiden:
2010). Also, M. P. Brown, ‘The
Lichfield Angel and the manuscript context: Lichfield as a centre of Insular
art’, J Brit Archaeol Ass, (2007),160, 8–19.