An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, or a set of them, the word can also be used of the whole ensemble behind an altar, otherwise known as a reredos, including what is often an elaborate frame for the central image or images. Altarpieces were one of the most important products of Christian art especially from the late Middle Ages to the era of the Counter-Reformation.
John Egerton Christmas Piper CH was an English painter, printmaker and designer of stained-glass windows and both opera and theatre sets. His work often focused on the British landscape, especially churches and monuments, and included tapestry designs, book jackets, screen-prints, photography, fabrics and ceramics. He was educated at Epsom College and trained at the Richmond School of Art followed by the Royal College of Art in London. He turned from abstraction early in his career, concentrating on a more naturalistic but distinctive approach, but often worked in several different styles throughout his career.
Hildreth Meière (1892–1961) was an American muralist active in the first half of the twentieth century who is especially known for her Art Deco designs. During her 40-year career she completed approximately 100 commissions. She designed murals for office buildings, churches, government centers, theaters, restaurants, cocktail lounges, ocean liners, and world’s fair pavilions, and she worked in a wide variety of mediums, including paint, ceramic tile, glass and marble mosaic, terracotta, wood, metal, and stained glass. Among her extensive body of work are the iconographic interiors at the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, the dynamic roundels of Dance, Drama, and Song at Radio City Music Hall, the apse and narthex mosaics and stained-glass windows at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church (Manhattan), and the decoration of the Great Hall at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.
Henry Ward ARIBA was a British architect who designed many large public buildings in and around Hastings, East Sussex, some of which are listed buildings.
Phoebe Anna Traquair was an Irish-born artist, who achieved international recognition for her role in the Arts and Crafts movement in Scotland, as an illustrator, painter and embroiderer. Her works included large-scale murals, embroidery, enamel jewellery and book illuminations. In 1920, she was elected as an honorary member of the Royal Scottish Academy.
Hans Nathan Feibusch was a German painter and sculptor of Jewish heritage who lived and worked in Britain from 1933 until his death. He is best known for his murals, particularly in Anglican churches. In all he worked in thirty Anglican churches and produced what is probably the largest body of work in his particular métier by any artist in the history of the Church of England.
St Wilfrid's Church is a former Anglican church in the Elm Grove area of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Designed and built in the 1930s to replace a temporary building in the densely populated Elm Grove area, its unusual design—not conforming with architectural norms of the era—was widely praised. It was declared redundant after less than 50 years as a place of worship, and was converted into sheltered housing with minimal alteration to the exterior. Shortly after its closure, it was granted Grade II listed status.
St Mary's Church is an Anglican church in the Goring-by-Sea area of the Borough of Worthing, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex. The late Norman parish church of the ancient village of Goring retains some architectural elements from that period, but Decimus Burton's comprehensive restoration of 1837 has given the church its present Gothic Revival exterior appearance. German artist Hans Feibusch, who worked extensively in the Diocese of Chichester, provided a mural in 1954: it is considered impressive, but caused controversy at the time. English Heritage has listed the church at Grade II* for its architectural and historical importance.
Aylesford Priory, or "The Friars" was founded in 1242 when members of the Carmelite order arrived in England from Mount Carmel in the Holy Land. Richard de Grey, a crusader, sponsored them, and conveyed to the order a parcel of land located on his manor in Aylesford in Kent. The estate came back into the ownership of the Carmelite order in 1949. After refurbishment, which revealed 15th century remnants, the manor house was Grade I listed in 1959. After subsequent work on site, the 15th century gatehouse and the NE section of the wall were also Grade I listed on 25 February 1987. The priory now contains an array of contemporary artworks by notable artists. It is a pilgrimage destination of national significance.
The former Central Methodist Church was until 2018 the main Methodist place of worship in Eastbourne, a town and borough in the English county of East Sussex. The large town-centre building, with attached schoolrooms and ancillary buildings, was the successor to earlier Methodist places of worship in the area. Soldiers brought the denomination to the area in 1803, when an isolated collection of clifftop villages stood where the 19th-century resort town of Eastbourne developed. A society they formed in that year to encourage Methodism's growth and outreach survives. Local Methodist worshipper and historian Carlos Crisford designed the lavish church in 1907, and it has been used for worship ever since—even as several other Methodist churches in the town and surrounding villages have declined and closed. For several years until 2013, it also housed a Baptist congregation displaced from their own church building. Central Methodist Church is a Grade II listed building.
St Mary's Church is the Anglican parish church of the Hampden Park suburb of Eastbourne, a town and borough in the English county of East Sussex. Originally linked to the church at nearby Willingdon, it later became a separate parish church. The first building was destroyed by a bomb during World War II, and Edward Maufe was commissioned to design a replacement church; the hilltop building, finished in 1954, has been called "one of his most charming designs". English Heritage has listed it at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.
John Leopold DenmanFRIBA was an architect from the English seaside resort of Brighton, now part of the city of Brighton and Hove. He had a prolific career in the area during the 20th century, both on his own and as part of the Denman & Son firm in partnership with his son John Bluet Denman. Described as "the master of ... mid-century Neo-Georgian", Denman was responsible for a range of commercial, civic and religious buildings in Brighton, and pubs and hotels there and elsewhere on the south coast of England on behalf of Brighton's Kemp Town Brewery. He used other architectural styles as well, and was responsible for at least one mansion, several smaller houses, various buildings in cemeteries and crematoria, and alterations to many churches. His work on church restorations has been praised, and he has been called "the leading church architect of his time in Sussex"; he also wrote a book on the ecclesiastical architecture of the county.
Ernest William Tristram (1882–1952) was a British art historian, artist and conservator, and Professor of Design at the Royal College of Art (1926–1948).
130–136 Piccotts End is a medieval timber framed building in Piccotts End in Hertfordshire, England. Originally a hall house, the structure has been divided into a row of cottages. Two of the cottages are of interest for the art they contain. Important 15th century murals were discovered, at 132, in 1953 and the entire building was listed Grade I the following year. Later murals have been recorded at 134.
St Wilfrid's Church is a Roman Catholic church serving the town of Hailsham in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. The present building was completed in 2015 and is the third church to serve the town; it stands between its predecessors, a small hall opened in 1922 and a larger church of 1955, on a site which had belonged to a Catholic family since the 19th century. The Hailsham area was historically supportive of Protestant Nonconformist beliefs and had few Catholics, and for many years worshippers had to attend Mass in basic premises: rooms in private houses and, from 1917, a subdivided loft in the stables of a brewery. Numbers grew rapidly after the first permanent church opened, and after six decades of being served from Our Lady of Ransom Church, Eastbourne, Hailsham became an independent parish in 1957. The town's rapid postwar growth and an increasing Catholic population prompted the construction of the larger new church.
South Street Free Church is a church in the centre of Eastbourne, a town and seaside resort in the English county of East Sussex. Originally Congregational, it is now aligned to the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion—a small group of Evangelical churches founded by Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon during the 18th-century Evangelical Revival. The church was founded in 1897 as an offshoot from an earlier Congregational chapel, and initially met in hired premises. Local architect Henry Ward designed the present church in 1903; the "characterful" and "quirky" Arts and Crafts-style building has been listed at Grade II by Historic England for its architectural and historical importance.
St Mary the Virgin Church is a parish church in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley. It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The church is in the Archdeaconry of Lewisham & Greenwich, in the Diocese of Southwark. It is notable for the range of 20th-century art contained within it.
