St Simon, by Edward Armitage RA

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St Simon (fresco)

Edward Armitage RA (1817-1896)

1862

Water colour, plaster

Estimated size: H. 30", W. 25"

Courtesy of Victoria and Albert Museum

Given to the original South Kensington Museum in 1883 by Armitage himself, "probably as an example of technique" (museum note).

Image downloaded by Jacqueline Banerjee, who also added the text (see comments below) and formatting. Mouse over the text for links.

Please see the museum website for terms of image use.

The note accompanying this work on the museum website explains that it is a detail of Armitage's second fresco for the Roman Catholic church of St John the Evangelist in Islington (the first had shown St Francis before Pope Innocent III):

In 1861 he used different methods for a second fresco in the church, Christ and the Twelve Apostles. The present work, dated 1862, is a replica of part of this second fresco, showing the head of St Simon the Zealot in profile. Simon Zelotes (the Zealot) was one of the most obscure of Christ's apostles, and is mentioned in Luke 6:15 and Acts 1:13. The neo-classical solidity and simplicity of outline of the bust-length profile is modified by the saint's sensitivity of expression.

Jill R. Armitage adds the sad story of the apse fresco's decline at St John's. Despite work on it during the 1920s, when a rural background was added instead of the diapering seen here, it was felt necessary to paint over it in 1962 (see pp. 94-95). How interesting, though, to read that Armtage;s friend and fellow enthusiast for fresoes, G. F. Watts, had modelled for one of the other saints' heads (St Thaddeus), and that Armitage in turn had modelled for the head of the Earl of Pembroke in Watts's huge fresco at the Great Hall of Lincoln's Inn — The School of Lawgivers. The Earl stands in the foreground, third from the right, bearing the Magna Carter! It is such a shame that only one detail from Armitage's own fresco remains.

Bibliography

Armitage, Jill R. Edward Armitage RA: Battles in the Victorian Art World. Kilworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire: Matador, 2017.

"St Simon." V&A. Web. 12 October 2019.

Created 12 October 2019