Three Henry Cheere Monuments at Winchester Catherdral, Old Alresford Hants and Fifehead Magdalen, Dorset.

 

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These three remarkable monuments by Henry Cheere each deserve a post of their own but to save time I will post them here.

All three monuments are notable for the extremely fine quality of the carving, the excellence of the design and the use of the rare and expensive veneers of Sicilian Jaspar and Brocatella marbles.

All photographs taken by the Author.

The Monument to Dean Thomas Cheyne (d.1760) in Winchester Cathedral,

and the monument to Jane First Lady Rodney (d. 1757) at Old Alresford, Hants.

and the Newman Family Monument in the Newman Chapel at Fifehead Magdalen, North Dorset.

1. Monument to Dean Thomas Cheyne (d 1760).

Designed by Henry Cheere.

Winchester Cathedral.

For the shear exuberance of the carving there is little to equal it.

The full flowering of the Rococo in a Church Monument.

The Iconography should be compared with the Roubiliac Monument to Mary Myddleton at Wrexham. 

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2018/10/roubiliac-monuments-in-wrexham-church.html

https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2018/10/roubiliac-monuments-in-wrexham-church.html

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The Monument to Jane Rodney (1730 - 57).

nee  Compton

Wife of George Bridges Rodney (1718 - 92). Rear Admiral of the Blue.

She died in childbirth aged 27 leaving two young sons.

St Mary's Church.

Old Alresford. Hampshire.

For an useful short biography of the family see -

https://www.alresford.org/displayed/displayed_18-6.php#:~:text=Rodney%20used%20prize%20money%20from,later%20he%20married%20Jane%20Compton.

This was a very difficult monument to photograph - the light was very low and I had no access to stepladders etc.

The monument is very dirty - I would advise a gentle wash with a little dilute Fairy Liquid.

I suspect that the staining of the bust has been caused by a liberal application of bird poo in the past

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The Monument to Sir Richard Newman and his family.

Fifehead Magdalen. North Dorset.

Another difficult monument to photograph but in this case because of too much light - making it very difficult to obtain a good overall photograph.