Images of Christ: Standing at God’s right hand

Rowena Loverance discusses a sculpture of Christ in Llandaff Cathedral

by Rowena Loverance 18th August 2017

Like Coventry Cathedral, the location of last month’s art work, Llandaff Cathedral in South Wales was heavily bombed during the second world war. When it was repaired in the 1950s, one unusual feature added to the twelfth century cathedral was a contemporary version of a medieval roodscreen, intended to break up the long view down the nave. At Coventry, this view is dominated by Graham Sutherland’s vast tapestry of Christ in Glory; at Llandaff, Jacob Epstein was commissioned to produce a three-dimensional version of the same theme. Against a hollow drum, supported on wide, wishbone-shaped arches, the sculpture would appear almost free-floating.