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Canterbury Cathedral Quire, 1657
Thomas Johnson (1613-1705)
Oil painting on canvas
This extraordinary painting is the earliest known depiction of the Cathedral Quire.
The viewpoint is the top of the Pulpitum Screen at the west end of the Quire. The painting shows the building with extraordinary detail and accuracy. It records many features that are no longer present in the Cathedral, including screens, railings, stained glass, and wall-paintings.
This scene depicts the visit to the Cathedral in December 1643 by the Puritan Richard Culmer. Culmer directed and personally undertook the destruction of stained glass, statues, and other decorative features of the Cathedral.
Although painted after the events, the painting shows the destruction (iconoclasm) carried out during the Civil War.
It features men smashing out stained glass and a group of smartly dressed men, who are commissioners, seated and standing around a table placed in the middle of the Quire.
This painting appears to have served as a propaganda piece for the iconoclasts.
On the left of the painting, one of the commissioners is stopping a man about to strike the Quire stalls with a pickaxe, seemingly demonstrating the commissioners' restraint and their desire to halt inappropriate destruction.
About the artist
Thomas Johnson was born in Canterbury in 1613, and died there, after a long life and profitable career as a painter, in 1705. He lived in the Cathedral Precincts in the 1650s during the Interregnum.
Other works he painted of the Cathedral during this period survive: a view of the south side (currently in Lambeth Palace) and a scene in the ‘triforium’, high above the floor of the Quire (now in Tate Britain).
He also produced a remarkably detailed floorplan of the Cathedral. It seems that he used lenses and optical instruments in the preparation of his paintings, which contributed to their accuracy.
Johnson was a lifelong non-conformist. He served as a deacon of Canterbury's Congregational Church and donated books and property to this church at the end of his life.
This painting was formerly owned by William Douglas Caröe (died 1938), architect to the Cathedral.
Accepted in lieu of Inheritance tax by HM Government in 2023 and allocated to Canterbury Cathedral.
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