Antiquaries in the Age of Romanticism: 1789-1851 - Queen Mary ...

philosophy of the Picturesque which developed, in the 1790s, into a sophisticated and
wide-ranging system of ideas. 38
Aesthetics were of the essence for both sides at Salisbury. What Wyatt did at the
cathedral, under the aegis of the bishop, Shute Barrington, was classed as ‘improvement’,
a distinct category from repair, though repair, as the antiquaries noted, was much needed.
It should be pointed out that Wyatt was not responsible for everything he was charged
with. As Eastlake put it: ‘No English architect has perhaps been so much overrated by his
friends, or so unfairly abused by his enemies.’ 39 The details are less important to the
argument here, but the essential facts are as follows. With the funds enthusiastically
raised by Barrington, Wyatt had demolished the free-standing medieval bell tower (one
of the last to survive). He also took down the Beauchamp and Hungerford chantry
chapels. He removed screens and replaced the altar on the east wall of the Lady Chapel
into which there was now a clear view from the nave, opening up the whole length of the
cathedral. To accomplish this, floors had been lowered, tombs and bodies moved,
including that of St Osmund, founder of the first cathedral, grave slabs cut up for paving
and medieval wall paintings whitewashed. He also removed some of the stained glass to
lighten the interior.
The aim of these improvements was not to impose classical taste on Gothic
architecture so much as to show the Gothic to supposedly greater advantage, albeit in line
with Georgian taste, which preferred the classical criteria of symmetry, clarity and light.
As the Enthusiastic Admirer put it the lengthened vista through the nave into the Lady
Chapel was ‘infinitely more beautiful’ than before. 40 The obliterated paintings had been
‘wretched daubing’ of ‘uncouth disproportioned figures’ while the new whitewash
created ‘harmony, propriety and effect’. 41 The Antiquary would not be so despised, the
letter continued, if he were not so indiscriminate in wanting to retain ‘every antient
38
For the development of the Picturesque see, inter alia, Ballantyne, ‘Genealogy of the Picturesque’ and
Townsend, ‘The Picturesque’.
39
Eastlake, A History of the Gothic Revival, p.93.
40
Gentleman’s Magazine, 59, (1789), p.1064.
41
Gentleman’s Magazine, 59, (1789), p.1064.
45