History of Art Group

We belong to a new home-educators' History of Art Group in Oxford! It seems very appropriate that I'm now in a HAG group.{g}

Our first outing was yesterday. We went on a tour of the medieval architecture inside the private courtyards of New College, Oxford. It's not new any more, but was when it was built in 1380. It was founded as a theological college for the training of priests after the Black Death (plague) had taken so many.

Our guide was a home-educating dad. He is also a stone mason and has worked on many of our most important buildings, such as cathedrals. He showed us the tools of his craft: a hammer, a chisel and a compass. All, he said, that was needed for the building of a large and beautiful cathedral. He was well-informed about the spiritual significance of medieval architecture and was a fascinating speaker as he was clearly passionate about his subject. Which, itself, was interesting, as I think he and his family are Muslim.

He also explained quite well the changes that occurred to religious architecture during and after the English Reformation, though he wasn't quite on target with the significance of the destruction of the old stone altars and their replacement with wooden tables. He believed it was purely symbolic, though protestants would see it as much more fundamental than that.

Grace and Jack in the cloister garth (courtyard). The chapel is behind.
Grace sitting on a stone window seat in the cloister. Oxford was the centre of the Charles 1st power during the English Civil War. And this cloister served as a royalist arsenal! Jack sees all educational visits as an opportunity to be funny in front of an audience.

A window by Joshua Reynolds in the chapel.

It was a fascinating visit and we are excited about going on more HAG outings!