Later Foreign Brasses.

Roger Thornton and wife, All Saints, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1429.

Thos. Pownder and wife, St Mary Quay, Ipswich, 1525.

Margaret Hornebolt, Fulham, Middlesex, 1529.

Andrew Evyngar and wife, All Hallows, Barking, c. 1535.

Duncan Liddell, M.D., St Nicholas, Aberdeen, 1613.

The Newcastle brass measures 7 ft. × 4 ft. 4 in. The civilian and his wife completely fill the spaces under the canopy, so that no background is necessary. There are saints and angels in the niches, and each soul is shown borne aloft by angels and again in God the Father’s arms.

Below the main figures are seven sons and seven daughters, each under a canopy. It is probably North German work. There are no less than 92 figures altogether.

The brasses to Pownder and Evyngar are both Flemish, and somewhat similar in size and design. These sixteenth century brasses are much smaller than those of the fourteenth century.

Pownder’s has a marginal inscription and an outer border of foliage. The merchant and his wife stand beneath a Renaissance canopy. Two sons and six daughters kneel at his feet.

Evyngar’s brass is very similar, but there is no border, and the inscription is at the foot instead of round the edge.

Margaret Hornebolt was the wife of a Flemish painter from Ghent. The brass is lozenge-shaped and shows her as a demi-figure in a shroud with angels supporting the inscription. The Scotch brass was engraved in Antwerp by the instruction of Liddel’s brother John. It is just over 5 ft. high. There is a marginal inscription, and half the space within it is also filled with inscription.

The doctor is shown above this seated at table, with books, writing materials, etc. around him. It reminds us of the seventeenth century brasses to Airay and Bp. Robinson.

In the Victoria and Albert Museum are two other foreign brasses. The larger is also Flemish, to Sire Louis Corteville and wife, 1504. It was originally in the ruined chapel of the Castle of Corteville, Flanders, thence passed to a shop in Antwerp and thence to the Jermyn Street Museum. Recently it has been set up at South Kensington. It has a fillet of foliage and within that a border inscription. The places of the four Evangelists at the corners are filled by shields; there is no canopy. Above the knight, his crest, helmet and coat-of-arms appear, above his wife, a coat-of-arms is supported by an angel. The heads of both rest on embroidered cushions, and the background is covered with a design of foliage.

The armour of the knight, though similar to that of the same date in England, shows several minor variations, which should be studied by those interested in the subject.

The other brass is much smaller and is of German origin. It is to Henry Oskens, canon, from Nippes, near Cologne, 1535. It is beautifully engraved. Oskens kneels in adoration to the Virgin. Rays of light stream from behind her. These are coloured red, the rest of the engraving being mostly filled in with black wax or some similar substance. This, coupled with the fineness of the engraving, renders it impossible to take a good rubbing.

This completes the list of foreign brasses in England. It will be noticed that the majority of the earlier ones are German, and the later Flemish.

One or two other brasses show traces of foreign (probably French) work, but to them reference has already been made. Thus the knights at Chartham and Minster, and the priest at Horsmonden were probably engraved by French craftsmen. Since, however, only five or six late brasses still survive in France, it is impossible to say for certain.