Thanks, Gordon, for updating me on the Canterbury restoration studio. In relation to Tom's point, I would not like you all to think I was criticizing Rachel Koopmans' lecture. Scholarship, which is what most people on this list are engaged in, is certainly important, but so is disseminating the results of scholarship to the public. That is one of the things that makes us "relevant", and anything that can be done to further engage public interest in things medieval is a good thing.
As well, in addition to all of the restorations and "fakes" among the Canterbury glass, it is also worth pointing out that there is still a substantial amount of original glass surviving in the cathedral. Another problem in its study is that much of it is displaced, both within the cathedral and there is even some in museum collections now. It can be a daunting task to approach this important body of stained glass. Besides the solid scholarly works of Madeline Caviness, a recent book which makes this glass very accessible is M.A. Michael, Stained Glass of Canterbury Cathedral (London, 2004), which has a short chapter by Sebastian Strobl on the restoration and conservation of the glass. It is also put into useful context in Richard Marks, Stained Glass in England during the Middle Ages (London and Toronto, 1993).
Cheers,
Jim

From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Luongo, F. T [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: November 13, 2012 1:09 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [M-R] The Fake Medieval Images in Canterbury Cathedral

medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

I think it is worth pointing out that in the lecture in question, Koopmans was not asserting the discovery of the fakes as news. I take it that she was discussing the reasons why the fakes took people in and (apparently) persist in being treated popularly as legitimately medieval. In the lecture Koopmans stated that the fakes were exposed beginning in the '70s. (I'm getting this from the medievalists.net report cited by Paul Chandler.)

Tom Luongo

From: Revd Gordon Plumb <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tuesday, November 13, 2012 1:32 AM
To: "[log in to unmask]" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [M-R] The Fake Medieval Images in Canterbury Cathedral

medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

Sebastian is now in Germany once more and the Canterbury Workshop is led by Leonie Seliger.

But I totally concur with what Jim has said - this is very old hat indeed and anyone wanting more should consult Madeline Caviness's superb volume.

Gordon Plumb

In a message dated 13/11/2012 01:19:28 GMT Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes:

medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear Paul,
This makes good copy for the media, but stained glass scholars have long been aware of this situation, thanks to the consummate scholarship of Madeline Caviness, whose volume for the British Committee of the Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi, The Windows of Christ Church Cathedral Canterbury (London: 1981) carefully charts the original glass and the many "restored" and made-up panels by its 19th and 20th century restorers, amongst whom Samuel Caldwell Jr. is certainly the most notorious. In the freewheeling world of stained glass restoration at that time, this was pretty common practice, and there are lots of "fakes" about, both in churches and in museum collections. At that time, the conservation of stained glass was, if one was lucky, in the hands of professional stained glass artists, but if one was not available, the local plumber (who knew how to work with lead) might be called in. Conservation was not actually taught as a subject in its own right, and there were no ethical guidelines to follow. Now, of course, stained glass conservation itself is a highly technical business which must keep to scrupulous ethical standards, and is taught as a university subject. And the Canterbury glass is now in very safe hands, thanks to the stained glass restoration workshop at the cathedral, led, I believe, by Dr. Sebastian Strobl.
Cheers,
Jim

From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious culture [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Paul Chandler [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: November 12, 2012 6:46 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [M-R] The Fake Medieval Images in Canterbury Cathedral

medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From medievalists.net:
http://www.medievalists.net/2012/11/12/the-fake-medieval-images-in-canterbury-cathedral/

In ‘Fakes and Forgeries in Canterbury’s Stained Glass’, a lecture given last week at the University of Toronto, Rachel Koopmans explained how these images came into the cathedral and have fooled people for so long. One of the faked images is known as the Pilgrims panel, which shows four figures on the move and has been associated with the characters of the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. The other is a portrait of the famous martyr and saint Thomas Becket, which some books have even described as being a contemporary depiction of the twelfth-century Archbishop.

Koopmans explains that both of these images, and many more in the Cathedral, were actually created by Samuel Caldwell Jr., who was the person in charge of restoring Canterbury’s glass for more than fifty years. During this time he created dozens of works and duped various church officials into believing they were genuine medieval images.

--
Paul Chandler, O.Carm.
Holy Spirit Seminary | PO Box 18 (487 Earnshaw Road) | Banyo Qld 4014 | Australia
office: (07) 3246 9888 | home: (07) 3246 9894
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