New exhibition at the Archbishop's Palace at Southwell Minster

A new exhibition taking place at the Archbishop’s Palace at Southwell Minster showcases artwork that has a special connection with the building.

The palace’s spring art show, which runs throughout April, will feature Wolsey’s Angels, alongside canvases of The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Both are by artist Claire Fried.

The angel paintings are inspired by Florentine sculptor Benedetto da Rovezzano’s four bronze angels. They were commissioned by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in 1524, as part of a magnificent tomb reflecting Cardinal Wolsey’s wealth and statesmanship.

The angels, each measuring a metre in height, were created between 1524 and 1529. They were lost for three centuries but are now at the V&A museum in London.

The head of marketing and events at Southwell Minster, Glenn Formoy, said: “We are privileged to have such a display here in the state chamber of the Archbishop’s Palace ­— a place where Cardinal Wolsey himself had such an affinity and spent much of the latter part of his life after failing to get King Henry VIII a divorce from Catherine of Aragon.

“The Archbishop’s Palace, opposite the south door of the minster, has played a huge part in English history over the centuries and we encourage all locals and visitors alike to step back in time and take a look around.”

Claire Fried’s compositions based on the four angels are in oil and charcoal on board, each 30cms x 30cms. There is also Bronze Angel 1­— back view, Bronze Angel 2 ­— back view, and Four Angels With Wings.

Claire said: “In response to these beautiful bronze sculptures, I started to draw and paint.

“I love their colour patina, their texture, and individual facial characteristics, and fascinated not only by their story but by the curious slots in the form of a cross on their backs for the wings they would have had originally.

“I created a series of paintings to portray the heads of the four angels, the intriguing back views and a group imagining the wings.

“As the work advanced, I realised that these are not the sweet angels of my childhood that we put on the top of the Christmas tree each year. They are much sterner. They are soldiers, defending, protecting. This realisation enabled me to finalise the paintings with light behind.”

The Six Wives of Henry VIII is a group of six canvases painted by Claire at the beginning of 2017.

From childhood, the stories of Henry VIII sparked her imagination and she was moved when historian Lucy Worsley made a programme for BBC1 revealing new stories about the wives. Claire wanted to see them all together in a new light.

Claire attended St Martin’s School of Art in London in the 1970s and graduated with a first class honours degree in art and design. She went on to work as a fashion designer in Paris, including for Dior and Givenchy.

She has painted daily since 2016 and run a gallery in Suffolk since 2017.

The spring show at the Archbishop’s Palace, Southwell, runs from April 1 to 30.