Detail of the foliate decoration and carved cusps on the arched canopy over the Percy Tomb in Beverley Minster. The cusp ends are in the form of angels and in the spandrels are carved figures of knights

Date:
1890 - 1940
Location:
Minster Church of St John, Minster Yard, Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire
Reference:
OP28832
Type:
Photograph (Printing Out Paper Print)
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Description

The Percy Tomb is described in The Buildings of England, Yorkshire: York and the East Riding by Nikolaus Pevsner and David Neave as ‘the most splendid of all British Dec funerary monuments’. It is not known for whom the tomb was actually built, although it is thought that it is for Lady Eleanor Percy, the wife of the first Lord Alnwick, who died 1328. The tomb is located adjacent to the high altar of the church, indicating the wealth and status of the Percy family in the 14th century. It dates to around 1340 and has an elaborately decorated canopy showing the journey of the soul after death. There is no effigy on the tomb and the top slab was removed in 1825.

Archival History

This photograph was withdrawn from the open Red Box Collection for conservation reasons during the 2011-2012 Red Box Project.

Content

This is part of the Series: RBO01/20 Early Photographic Print Collection: Humberside; within the Collection: RBO01 Early Photographic Print Collection

Rights

© Courtauld Institute of Art

People & Organisations

Photographer: Crossley, Frederick Herbert

Keywords

Human Figure, Parish Church, Medieval Minster, Medieval Canopied Tomb