The Mysteries of the Painted Room

The 'Painted Room' at St. Mary's House

The timber framed structure known as St Mary’s House in Bramber began life as a Medieval courtyard inn in the 1470s. Crucially in the late-16th and 17th centuries the building was transformed into a luxurious domestic dwelling. If you want to find out more about just how lavish the renovations at St. Mary’s were then take a look at my previous article An Inn, A Restoration, and A 17th Century Wheeler Dealer.

In this article we will explore ‘the painted room’, one of the most mysterious and historically baffling rooms within St. Mary’s House. Its expense and indulgence matches only those rooms of the grandest houses such as Somerset House and Ham House. For many years the date of the painted room, the hidden meanings of its paintings, and its patron have remained a mystery…through this article I hope to uncover the secrets of St. Mary’s painted room.

Trick of the Eye

The painted room is on the first floor of St. Mary’s house. Once a cold and sombre dorm of the medieval inn, it was transformed into a room of splendour, warmth, and comfort some time in the 17th century. Set into one wall is a beautiful stone fireplace, with a Tudor arch, decorated with foliate spandrels and carved stops, clearly dating from the late-16th century.

The 16th Century Stone Fireplace with Tudor Arch

The walls are lined with full height panelling which has been meticulously painted to imitate walnut. With any luck the owner hoped to trick his guests into thinking they were looking at expensive walnut panels!

This is not the only trick of the eye though; depicted on each panel is an arch, and within each arch is a little painted landscape scene. The way these scenes have been painted is an illusion known as ‘trompe ‘l’oeil’ which uses realistic imagery as a way to trick the viewer into seeing something which is not there. In this case the artist is trying to trick the viewer into thinking they are looking out of a window or archway onto a scene in the landscape. We know that these panels were made for this room, because the artist has painted light and shadow on each panel imitating where the light would naturally fall from the room’s east window.

In addition to the little archway scenes, a larger mural is painted over the fireplace depicting a seascape of ships in combat, something I will come back to shortly.

Surrounding this mural is an elaborate carved wooden overmantel, which is decorated with classical arches and wooden studs. Linda Hall, a building historian, notes that these overmantels were only used in the most important rooms within the most important households, once again revealing the wealth and exuberance of whoever owned St. Mary’s in this period.[1]

The Unique Marine Mural and Rare Wooden Overmantel

Dating Debates

The date of the painted room has often been under debate. Previous theories centred on the seascape, which was thought to depict the Mary Rose. But several features in the room go against such an early reading.

Large, carved, wooden overmantels like the one at St. Mary’s only really came into use in the late-16th and early 17th centuries. The classical style of the carved arches with their fluted Doric columns also suggests a date of the mid-17th century.[2] Large panelling (the type used in the painted room) only came into use from the mid-17th century, and only really became common from about 1670.[3] So our date has been narrowed down significantly.

The tradition of framing perspective scenes within arches seems to have emerged during the Renaissance, but particularly during the 15th century Northern Renaissance (an artistic revolution that occurred in Europe north of the Alps, from the end of the 15th century).[4] In the 17th century Trompe L’oeil painting was fashionable, mainly used in Italian church interiors for mind-boggling architectural illusions. Dutch artists of the 17th century seem to have combined these two effects – arches and illusions- creating deep, illusionistic scenes framed by arches, like those at St. Mary’s.

St John Altarpiece by Rogier van der Weyden c.1455

The marbling/graining effect used at St. Mary’s will be familiar to you if you have ever visited the grand buildings of Dyrham Park, Ham House, or Hill Court. Early graining is quite painterly and impressionistic, such as the panels at Ham House, which are not very convincing.[5] Later, graining becomes much more realistic, as at Dyrham park, where the Balcony Room quite successfully imitates walnut. Comparing the two we can either conclude that the artist employed for graining at St. Mary’s was not very skilled…or that these panels are of the earlier typology.

The Wood Graining of Ham House and Dyrham Park

The paintings themselves can also help with dating - detailed marine painting seems to have been virtually non-existent in Britain until Charles II called for Dutch artists to emigrate in the 1670s, with painters such as Willem van de Velde I and II bringing with them the tradition of marine painting.[6] The paintings at St. Mary’s would have been influenced by this mid-17th century imported fashion.

Coastal Combat

Finally we come to the greatest mystery of all – what do the scenes in the painted room show?

Within each arch is a small painted landscape or seascape. Some of the images are very difficult to see due to years of deterioration and apparent over-painting. The scenes depict coastal sea views, with waning trees, cliff edges, and crashing waves. A few of the scenes include little figures, many of them depicted in painterly red clothes. One of the arches, immediately opposite the fireplace mural of ships in combat mirrors this scene; showing three ships - one with a red flag, one with a white flag, and another caught mid-explosion.

Such a scheme has not been found anywhere else in the country, although a series of frescoes at Eastbury Manor do depict a series of panoramic seascapes framed within arches. This scheme was painted at the turn of the 17th century, and was probably commissioned by the wealthy merchant owner of Eastbury.

The theories surrounding the meaning and history of St. Mary’s scenes have long been disputed. One theory is that these paintings are of local coastal scenes.

Certainly the coastal images might suggest a local reading with Bramber’s proximity to sea. It has also been suggested that certain features of the paintings imitate the salterns (pools where water is left to evaporate to make salt) that were located at Bramber up until the 16th century.[7] One of the scenes depicts a windmill, and although there are no mills today, there was a coastal mill located on the riverbank north-west of Beeding bridge in the 17th century.[8]

Shoreham Shipbuilding, Privateers, and the 'Foreign Enemy'

But what of the maritime combat? Could this have been a local scene?

The mural over the fireplace shows a naval engagement, there are two ships with the Stuart Coat of Arms flanking a central ship with a swan symbol. The gun ports of the ships are open, indicating combat. The Stuart ship to the left has lost part of its mast. To the left of the painting a ship is on fire, whilst the masts of several ships disappear below the surface of the sea.

Nicholas Ball, the Archaeological Data Manager for HMS Victory notes that the ships look like parliamentary, or very early restoration ships – providing a mid-17th century date. He also notices that the style of the stern architecture looks slightly Dutch, but this is contradicted by the inclusion of a Stuart Royal Coat of Arms. He also identified that the ship with the prominent swan symbol could be a French ship known as the Cygne Blanc…but the type of ship does not match with any of the 5 owned by the French navy. He concludes that this ship was likely a privateer. The whole scene is full of contradictions and confusions.

The flags are not much aid to us either, the two royal flanking ships use the red ensign which was used to identify ships of a certain rank within the naval squadrons.[9] But the red ensign was also used by merchants in this period. The white ensign was used by French ships in the 17th century, but a plain white ensign was also used by British ships in home waters, and to denote their position within the naval squadron.[10] To make things even more confusing the striped red and white flag flown by the ‘swan’ ship was used by Stuart ships in the 17th century.

Nicholas Ball also stated that this is not a major fleet engagement…so perhaps we should be looking closer to home for an explanation? After all, the nearby town of Shoreham was still a significant port and shipbuilding centre in the 17th century.

One possibility is that the central ‘cygnet’ ship is an English Privateer, fighting alongside the two flanking Royal vessels. In the 1620s Shoreham sea captains and ships were given ‘letters of marque’ authorising them to attack foreign ships as privateers.[11] One of these, Captain William Scras, successfully attacked at least 7 ships.

During my research I also came across an Edward Cottrell, a shipwright of Shoreham, who was recorded as the captain of a ship called ‘Cygnet’ between 1661-2 that fits with our timeline.[12] Although there is no record of any combat conducted by this ship.

There are also numerous accounts of combat on the Shoreham coast ‘a man slain by the enemy off Shoram’ and ‘the French men-of-war being very busy along the coast.’[13] The accounts of Benjamin Furzer of Shoreham gives a detailed insight into the coast at this time:

“French Privateers on the coast west of Shoreham, which are not seen by the men of war passing by, who come close into shore when a warship appears and strike their sails”[14]

So we know that a scene of local combat is a possibility…maybe…

Men of War and Frigates such as this were built at Shoreham throughout the 17th Century

Mysteries That Remain

Unfortunately due to the deterioration of the mural it is unlikely we will never know the full story of the glorious painted room, or uncover the hidden history embodied in these works of art. Unless some new documents come to light the 17th century owner, the skilled painters, the true date, and the naval battle, will remain a mystery.

Nevertheless, whatever battle is depicted, it is clear that this scene was exceedingly important to whoever owned St. Mary’s, and represented a great victory and proud moment in their life. The paintings continue to enthral visitors today, as their splendour must have done 350 years ago. It is a marvel for the public to be able to admire them today, thanks to the hard work and preservation of their current owners, Peter Thorogood and Roger Linton.

[1] Linda Hall, Period Houses Fixtures and Fittings, p 188 [2] Linda Hall, Period Houses Fixtures and Fittings, p 188 [3] Linda Hall, Period Houses Fixtures and Fittings, p 140 [4] Susan Frances Jones, Van Eyck to Gossaert: Towards a Northern Renaissance, p 36 [5] Joanna Banham, Encyclopaedia of Interior Design, p 105 [6] David Cordingly, Painters of the Sea, Exhibition Catalogue, p 29 [7] Victoria County History, A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 6 Part 1, Bramber Rape (Southern Part), p 200-214 [8] Victoria County History, p 200-214 [9] John Roberts, Safeguarding the Nation: The Story of the Modern Royal Navy, p 78 [10] Frederick Edward Hulme, The Flags of the World: Their History, Blazonry and Associations, p 123 [11] Henry Cheal, The Story of Shoreham, p 136 [12] John Charnock, Biographia navalis, p 53 [13] The Story of Shoreham, 139 [14] National Archives, Kew, ADM/106/431/108, Folio 148