Jenny, this is our last episode and I thought we could begin it here in Westminster Abbey,
which is the place of worship of English Monarchs. Where most English Monarchs were crowned and
many of them are buried. I wanted particularly to look at this image, which is of Richard II
the 14th century English king.
You might wonder why on earth we're looking at an image of Richard II in a series on John the Baptist.
There is a particular reason for that which is that Richard had an unusual
devotion to John.
He was born on the 6th of January, which amongst other things is a day on which the church
remembers Jesus's baptism by John. He in fact, nearly died according to the accounts, and
so the midwives did an emergency baptism and used the name John because of its association
with that day. Then of course, he survived and was renamed Richard. From that point on,
throughout his life he retained this very strong sense that the Baptist was his protector
and someone with whom he had a special relationship to the extent that many years later when he
was king and he'd had a falling out with the authorities in the city of London in the east
of the city, they knew that the way to his heart, to win him back, would be to do something
related to John the Baptist. So they staged for him a tableau vivant of John the Baptist
in the wilderness in the middle of the Strand at Temple Bar and populated it with dense
vegetation and wild animals, and even some relics of the Baptist. Richard was fascinated
by this. He spent a great deal of time looking at it and indeed they were reconciled. It
worked, it was a good ploy.
I'm struck by the scale of this image because for the 1390s there's hardly anything comparable.
I was reading a little bit about the construction of the panels that it's painted on and it
seems that it was once part of a larger construction. It was very likely part of the king's pew
because it was documented close to the altar within the sanctuary. That struck me as very
interesting because of course, it represents the king on his throne and what it represents
actually was what it once formed.
So a throne in the picture, but part of the throne itself, and the king in the picture
often an actual king in front of it.
And if we imagine it not here -- not close to the West Door on a pier -- but in that
most charged space, most holy space within the church, you can imagine this wonderful
set up between the earthly power and celestial power.
Absolutely. And it is an extraordinarily powerful image isn't it? The sheer scale of it of course,
but the fact of the throne, the fact he's in his coronation robes, that he's carrying
emblems of power, the orb and the scepter, and the fact that he's facing directly out
at us from the picture. And it's a curious thing to think about kingly power in relations
to the Baptist, given that he's a victim of kingly power.
Of course.
But of course the power misused by Herod and I wonder whether one of the reasons that a
king like Richard might have wanted to be seen in the company of the Baptist, to have
been associated in people's minds with the Baptist is precisely because he wanted to
be not Herod, a sort of anti-Herod. A king properly exercising his power. And in other
ways, too, kings might have seen a relevance of the Baptist to themselves in that as he
prepared the way for Christ's first coming, their just rule and their bringing in the
values and principles that the Kingdom of God might have been seen as the preparation
for Christ's second coming. In that way, although he's dressed in very fine clothing, not camel
hair by any means, he's Baptist-like as a preparer again for Christ. And I think any
Christian monarch might have had reason to think of themselves in that way.
According to some traditions John the Baptist, even after his death, prepared the way for
Christ. He went down into the underworld and he dwelt there until Christ came down and
rescued some of the souls. So often, John is associated with the Last Judgment and with
the preparing of the souls for entry into Heaven. This is something that artists pick up on.
I'm thinking in particular of an altarpiece by Giovanni dal Ponte in the National Gallery
in which he describes, he represents John the Baptist already in the underworld as Christ
descends holding the banner of the Resurrection, descending down into Hell.
That's fascinating. So does all over again what he's done already on earth, but this
time in the underworld for those people who are also waiting for Christ to come.
So always these associations with death and resurrection whether it be through baptism,
preparing the way in the underworld and I imagine that these were things that rulers
such as Richard II were also anticipating, their own deaths.
Yes and also that their judgment is an anticipation of the Last Judgment too, that their exercising
judgment until Christ's final Judgment.
Actually, that reminds me that this isn't the only representation of Richard II in the
Abbey. He's actually buried here and there's an extraordinary tomb sculpture that's all
gilded. So we know very well what he looked like. Actually, there's some contemporary
accounts that describe him as rather young and beautiful looking and extremely tall.
He was apparently about six feet, which for the 1390's is extraordinarily tall. But perhaps
one of the most famous images of Richard II is at the National Gallery in the Wilton Diptych
where he's accompanied by his patron Saint John The Baptist. Perhaps it would be most
appropriate to end on that image.
And make a last visit to the Gallery.
Yes, let's.
Ben, this is one of the jewels of the National Gallery's collection, the Wilton Diptych.
We actually don't know who painted it. It may well have been an English or a French
painter painting around 1395 to '99. And the construction is such that these two panels
as you can see are hinged at the centre so this object can be opened and closed like
a book. And for that reason it makes it very portable. This must have been commissioned
for the private devotions of Richard II who you see kneeling here. He kneels with his
hands open in a gesture of prayer. He's identifiable not only because of his similarity. ...
He's recognisably the Richard we saw in Westminster Abbey.
... to the portrait in Westminster. But he also wears his own symbol, which is the white hart.
Can you see that brooch on his chest? And the white hart actually, if you look closely,
appears in the pattern of his mantle in that exquisitely gold-tooled mantel that he wears.
And actually appears again in the entire retinue of the angels in Heaven that we have here
in the right hand side.
So they're wearing his livery which suggests this is quite a high aspiration on the part
of Richard that the court of heaven will be dressed in his own livery.
Indeed. And actually he's in very good company here. You see that on the left hand side we
have King Edmund he's holding the arrow with which he was martyred. You also have Kind
Edward who's holding a ring, or rather large ring and there's a wonderful story about that ring.
He actually gave it to a poor man or so he thought, who actually happened to be John the Evangelist.
In disguise.
Exactly. And most importantly for us, John the Baptist here holding his lamb presents
King Richard to the heavenly retinue. And it's beautiful the way the diptych opens up,
because actually the presentation occurs across the divide of the diptych so that he is being
presented into the court of heaven.
A divide between Earth and Heaven expressed in the very structure of the object.
Beautiful, isn't it?
It is. And so we see John holding the lamb, the Agnus Dei in Latin, the Lamb of God which
is a symbol of Christ. One of his famous statements as we've seen in the scroll is he sometimes
carries it and says "Behold the Lamb of God." And it's as if Christ is present twice in
the image. Both there in the arms of his mother and again in the arms of the Baptist in the
form of the lamb. And when the diptych was closed they almost map on to each other.
That's true.
The fact that he's with two kings and two English kings and two saintly English kings
seems to me really important. Both of them represent a sort of model of how to be a godly
king and have already gained the status of saints. Edward the Confessor of course, is
the one buried at the heart of Westminster Abbey. There are chapels to Edmund and indeed
John the Baptist facing one another on either side of the shrine. So this is hugely a significant
choice for Richard to have his three favorites in a sense with him.
Likening himself to them and maybe hoping that in the afterlife he may well be like them.
He'll win the halo himself.
It's hard not to see three kings together and think of another three kings.
It's the magi of course, arriving at the birth, just after the birth of the Christ Child and
here they are present at the kingdom of Heaven with the Christ Child there as well. And of
course, that feast day of the Epiphany of that moment is January 6th.
The birthday of Richard II and also the day that the Baptism of Christ was often commemorated
in the church.
You can see all of these elements coming together, becoming part of the personal iconography
of Richard II.
The Baptist's plainness of clothing stands out even more starkly here than in many of
his depictions, because he's surrounded by kings. It's an extraordinary thing that this
saint both keeps the company of kings and yet he's a man of the people, a man for everyone.
Very humble looking here.
Very humble and on the side of justice for the ordinary person. Some of the descriptions
of his preaching in Luke's gospel especially describe him as, if you like, almost somebody
to whom people come for advice on matters of justice. He says if you have two cloaks
give one to the poor and keep one for yourself. Do the same with your money. The tax collectors
come and ask him what they should do and he says "Basically don't collect more than is
due." Soldiers come to him and say "How should we live a righteous life and he says
"Don't extort money, be satisfied with your wages." He's almost like a sort of popular judge,
giving verdicts on matters of ordinary everyday justice. I wonder whether in that respect
too, Richard might have looked to him as a model for how to administer justice in his realm?
He's suggesting he too is a just ruler, isn't he, as well in that? Speaking of his realm
it's quite interesting, when this diptych was cleaned in 1992, if you look at the very
top of this flag of the resurrection, the white banner with the red cross, it's often
the flag of that Christ holds that he's resurrected and stepping out of the tomb. When this was
cleaned in 1992, that orb, that silver orb at the very top was cleaned and examined,
it was discovered that there's actually a little green island represented on there.
That must be a representation of England. So we have a representation of England on
the top of the flag of the Resurrection, within the kingdom of Heaven surrounded by angels.
The Virgin and Child there, serving as the protectors of this island.
Under their special care.
Yes.
And Richard, with the help of the Baptist who's so kind of touchingly and reassuringly...
Presenting him forward.
... presenting him, is going to make that transition I suppose to the protection of
the Virgin himself with the Baptist's help.
From the earthly to the ...
From the earthly to the heavenly realm. And the Baptist is able to do that because as
we've seen so often he has this very, very special status. He's very close to the heart
of heaven and in some ways he's even an angelic figure, the one who first appeared as one
sent proclaiming the coming of Christ. So he represents one who can cross the boundary
between the two realms of Earth and Heaven, who can bring those who wish to, with him.
And I think as we come to the end of this series of episodes, it's a good place to leave
him: in the heart of Heaven, in the company of the Virgin and the Christ Child as one
of the most special and most celebrated saints of Christian tradition.
So let's leave him in the company of angels. We can leave him for visitors to the National Gallery
to enjoy for themselves