Aelred Bartlett, Artist/Church Restorer
Bill Schenley
Artist, designer and church restorer
Aelred Joseph Celestine Bartlett, artist and church restorer: born
London 6 April 1918; married 1941 Elizabeth Stephen (one son, two
daughters); died London 9 April 2004.
---
Harry Bartlett ran the Art and Book Company, publishers and church
furnishers. The shop, opposite the main door of Westminster Cathedral,
was known for its good taste, and disdain for bondieuserie.
Of his 12 children (the last now surviving is the Dowager Lady
Gethin), three of Bartlett's sons were to make distinguished
contributions to the life and adornment of the cathedral - Monsignor
Canon Francis Bartlett, who was its Administrator from 1967 to 1977;
Anthony, who was last Gentiluomo to the Cardinal Archbishop, and an
indefatigable supporter of the Church's work; and the youngest brother
Aelred, who became an artist, designer and church restorer.
Aelred Bartlett had to leave Ampleforth at the age of 15, as his
parents could no longer afford the fees, and went to the Slade, where
he studied under Vladimir Polunin, who had come to England with
Diaghilev. When Bartlett was 16, Polunin entrusted him with the
decoration of a railway bridge in the City of London for the 1935
Silver Jubilee of George V. At the Slade, Bartlett met his future
wife, Elizabeth Stephen (known as Steve): they were to have one son
and two daughters. He moved in an interesting circle of painters, who
included Nancy Carline and Rosemary Gwynne-Jones.
He saw varied service in the Second World War, as an anti-aircraft
gunner (he claimed to have shot down a JU88 with a Bren gun), a
dispatch rider, and in the Intelligence Corps. He refused a
commission, and was known as "Bundle" because he was so untidy. On his
return he joined the family firm, by then run by Anthony.
Aelred Bartlett's interest in decorative design (he would have liked
to be a stage designer) came in useful. Two of his major projects were
the handsome sanctuary furnishings of the chapels of Heythrop College,
Oxfordshire, for the Jesuits, and the Convent of the Holy Child Jesus
at Mayfield in Sussex. His great opportunity came in 1956 when he was
commissioned to undertake the marble revetment of the nave at
Westminster Cathedral by Cardinal Bernard Griffin, Archbishop of
Westminster, who had just been left £100,000 by Dorothy Makepeace,
about to enter a Carmelite convent. The idea was that Francis (then
Sub-Administrator) and Aelred Bartlett would "interpret" the drawings
which J.F. Bentley, the cathedral's architect, had fortunately left
when he died in 1902.
The job (for which Aelred Bartlett became independent of the family
firm) required a painstaking search for the right marbles, taking him
to Italy, Greece, Turkey and Ireland, and constant supervision of the
work of the stonemasons Messrs Whitehead.
Bartlett had to face a great deal of criticism from members of the
Cathedral Art Committee, and especially from the sculptor Arthur
Pollen, who had doubts about his abilities, and also complained about
the Bartlett family's monopoly at the cathedral. Pollen managed to
raise doubts in the minds of Sir John Rothenstein (described by
Bartlett as "a pain in the neck"), and H.S. Goodhart Rendel, though
Sir Albert Richardson and especially John Betjeman supported Bartlett.
It was a time of great anxiety, but finally it was proved beyond doubt
that he was faithfully and skilfully following Bentley's drawings, and
in 1957 the committee expressed full confidence in him.
Aelred Bartlett was given a few more creative commissions for the
cathedral. He designed and executed a delightful mosaic of St Nicholas
for the head of a niche in the north aisle, using the late Roman
pointilliste style. He also designed mosaics for the soffits of the
transept arches, and the marble paving in front of the statue of Our
Lady of Westminster, as well as supervising the installation of the
marble floor of the Lady Chapel to Bentley's design.
His training had made him an ingenious improviser: as money could not
be found for bronze grilles to the porches, he did them in wood,
painted to look like bronze. Another work was the restoration of two
paintings of saints which he found in the triforium: they turned out
to be by Bartolomeo Montagna, and were hung in the sacristy, but later
fell victim to Cardinal John Heenan's passion for selling things off
(they are now in the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool).
Monsignor Gordon Wheeler, the Administrator, had proposed to reward
Bartlett for his labours with the marbles, by commissioning him to
design the mosaics for St Paul's Chapel, but the Art Committee
preferred to give the job to Justin Vulliamy, a protégé of Boris
Anrep.
In 1995 it was decided to celebrate the centenary of the laying of the
foundation stone of the cathedral by filling in some of the empty
panels in the nave (originally intended for figurative mosaics) with
slabs of marble, and Bartlett was asked to advise. His old suppliers
had gone, but he found a new one near his home in Wandsworth, and it
was there that he discovered a remarkable blue marble from Brazil.
Although Bentley never knew it, Bartlett was convinced that he would
have approved.
---
More:
http://www.westminstercathedral.org.uk/art/art_marb_dream.html
Bob Feigel
wrote:
>FROM: The Independent ~
>
>Artist, designer and church restorer
>
>Aelred Joseph Celestine Bartlett, artist and church restorer: born
>London 6 April 1918; married 1941 Elizabeth Stephen (one son, two
>daughters); died London 9 April 2004.
What an absolutely splendid name! If only *I* was so lucky ... b
"When weaving nets, all threads count." - Charlie Chan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wax-up and drop-in of Surfing's Golden Years: <http://www.surfwriter.net>
Waterlou4
for the head of a niche in the north aisle, using the late Roman
pointilliste style.<<
Can someone explain how a mosaic portrait can be other than in a pointilliste
style.