Select a site alphabetically from the choices shown in the box below. Alternatively, browse sculptural examples using the Forward/Back buttons.
Chapters for this volume, along with copies of original in-text images, are available here.
Object type: Harrowing of Hell panel [1]
Measurements:
Stone type:
Plate numbers in printed volume: Ill. 786; Fig. 32H
Corpus volume reference: Vol 10 p. 151
(There may be more views or larger images available for this item. Click on the thumbnail image to view.)
(For detailed description and discussion, see Cramp 2006, 145–6, no. 1, ill. 198. Also this volume, Chapter VIII, p. 90.)
HISTORICAL COMMENT: Bristol Cathedral originated as an Augustinian abbey established in the mid twelfth century; it became a cathedral in 1542. Nothing is known of any earlier establishment on the site, though a nearby chapel dedicated to St Jordan perhaps pre-dated the foundation of the abbey (Walker 1998, xiv–xxii). The question of the original provenance of this sculpture needs to be considered in relation to the origins of Bristol, which are still little understood (see Chapter II, p. 16).
