1/25 THREAD Going to try to explain the extraordinary 14th-cent. painted chamber in Longthorpe Tower nr #Peterborough. I must be mad! Many, more qualified people have gone before me & interpretations abound. But here goes. My take on this mind-blowing space. 
2/25 PART 1 Context. The existing house at Longthorpe dates to the 1260s. It was home to the Thorpe family. The 3-storey tower was added in the 1290s by Robert Thorpe, lawyer, for 2 periods steward of Peterborough Abbey, who served the royal household & was knighted in the 1320s.
3/25 The wall paintings adorn all 4 walls & ceiling of the 1st-floor tower chamber. It measures c. 5x5m. The unusual off-centre location of the windows, offering large unbroken wall space, has been interpreted as evidence that the space was intended to be painted from the outset.
4/25 On stylistic and heraldic grounds, the paintings have been dated to c. 1330 (poss. 40 yrs after the original construction). They represent ‘one of the most complete & interesting examples of medieval domestic wall painting in northern Europe’.
5/25 PART 2: Tour. I start with the ‘north’ wall. Main scene above the window recess the Nativity of Christ. Below, the 12 Apostles (& female fig. of Ecclesia, 2nd r.). Above the 7 Ages of Man: clockwise from Infancy to Decrepitude. Naturalistic birds and teaching scene not shown
6/25 ‘East’ wall. A Wheel of ?Fortune embellished with personifications of the 5 senses: clockwise boar (hearing); cockerel (sight); monkey (taste); raptor (smell); spider (touch) controlled by crowned fig. Above young man with gloves & dog. Foot of 2nd fig. Squirrel with shield.
7/25 ‘South’ wall. Faux cloth hangings. Above two enthroned figures. Arms of Edward II or III & Edmund of Woodstock. Above the doorways, the cyptozoological bonnacon (if you don’t know about them, then do so for your own safety!) bestiary.ca/beasts/beast80…
8/25 ‘West’ wall. Main scene 2 figs Aristotle (l.) & Alexander the Great (r.)? (See (bl.uk/manuscripts/Vi… f.37v.). Above scene from Life of St Anthony, with 2 accomp. figs representing prayer & work (basket-making). Rabbits & birds. Overarching, the 12 Labours of the Months.
9/25 Ceiling. Symbols of the 4 Evangelists (2 survive): Luke (Ox); John (Eagle). 8 musicians playing bagpipes, cymbalum, harp, psaltery, portative organ, ?strings, rebec, drum. On the ceiling, these might symbolically represent the Boethian idea of the harmony of the spheres.
10/25 Thus contained in this room are scenes of religious significance, those inspired by natural philosophy (ages, senses, labours), bestiaries (animals & birds), & the local environment. Others significant scenes include teaching & the moral tale of the 3 living & dead kings.
11/25 PART 3: Interpretation. Previous interpretations include simply entertaining audiences, challenging them through visual riddles, or reminding & reassuring them of Man’s redemption/deliverance from sin by the atonement of Jesus’.
12/25 However no-one has previously suggested that there is an order in which the room should be read. No-one has previously tried to explain why particular scenes are depicted on particular walls. To make sense of this, one first has to think about the orientation of the room.
13/25 Conventionally the walls have been described (as above) as N, S, etc. In reality they are turned clockwise & might better be called NE, SE, SW, NW. It is easy to conceive the angle between the old W & N wall as the true north point. This matters because of the ceiling.
14/25 One natural philosophical reading of the Evangelists’ symbols in med. natural philosophy associates them with the zodiac & 4 elements: Matthew-Man/Water bearer-Aquarius-Water; Mark-Lion-Leo-Fire; Luke-Ox-Taurus-Earth; John-Eagle-Scorpio (don’t ask!)-air.
15/25 On the elemental wheel, Luke & John oppose each other as they do on the ceiling. It allows us to position Matthew (l.) & Mark (r.). So far so good; but the problem: at Longthorpe John occupies the ‘N’ quadrant; Luke the ‘S’, i.e. not where their assoc. elements should be.
16/25 Air-E; Fire-S; Earth-W; Water-N or in some schemes (see slide) Air-NE; Fire-SE... The true orientation of the chamber resolves this conundrum if the mural painters recognised the NW angle as the N point & thus the ‘north’ wall as the East-Air wall, E wall as S-fire wall...
17/25 John & Luke are now in their correct cardinal/elemental positions on the ceiling. And we can start to unlock the order & meaning of the principal scenes shown on each wall by other elemental associations. In particular the human life-cycle. (2 figs)
18/25 I propose that the scheme begins on the old N wall, now E & works clockwise around the room. The cypher is the Ages of Man. Below it the nativity scene symbolising among other things birth & infancy. The teaching scene (nr the modern door) shows children being schooled.
19/25 On the new S wall, adolescence, depicted as young man out hunting (the falconer’s gloves & dog). This was the period when individuals gained reason. Does the wheel of the senses commanded by the crowned figure stand for the emergence of common sense?
20/25 New W wall. Maturity & responsibility. Here depicted two figures of authority & rulership.
21/25 New N wall. Old Age & wisdom personified by Aristotle, topped with a religious message: St Anthony’s search for salvation. Finishing the scheme, a hooded fig. with the inscription NO[TR]E DAME N[O]US ASOUDRA DE LA PE[CHE] ‘Our Lady will absolve us from sin’.
22/25 PART 4. Conclusion. I propose that the Longthorpe painted chamber is a carefully conceived & ordered artistic representation of the human life-cycle (Robert Thorpe’s life?), pregnant with religious and natural philosophic overtones.
23/25 The great artistic achievement here is that the painters conceptualised this in three-dimensional form & with an acute awareness of the actual cardinal orientation of the space they painted, moving clockwise from E around the room.
24/25 Once the room is properly orientated in the mind, then its reading becomes elementary, my dear readers.
25/25 With thanks to @kilby_susan for permission to use some of her photographs. As always, happy to answer questions in replies.
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