Author(s): Martin Kemp

Architecture General

'The Chapel of Trinity College, Oxford', completed in 1694, is a magnificent essay in integrated form, effect, function and meaning. The harmonious ease of the design draws on the architectural vocabulary of Christopher Wren, yet speaks with its own, distinct accent. A remarkable campaign of interior decoration resulted in one of the most effective and integrated ensembles of painting and sculpture in any chapel in Britain, including altar carvings by Grinling Gibbons, and a ceiling painting of Christ in Glory by Pierre Berchet. Martin Kemp, the renowned art historian, has been a Fellow of Trinity College since 1995, and in this volume he pays tribute to the masterpiece of art and architecture within his own college's walls that has fascinated him over the years. He argues that Ralph Bathurst, the 16th-century President of the College, is the effective 'author' of the Chapel.