One of the eight 'Tablets of the Word' at Coventry Cathedral. Photo: Herry Lawford / flickr CC.
Images of Christ: Tablets of the law, tablets of the word
Rowena Loverance discusses an enduring artwork in Coventry
Words set in stone have a long history in the Judaeo-Christian tradition. The first version of the Ten Commandments was believed to have been inscribed by the finger of God (Exodus 31:18). Funerary inscriptions from the Roman catacombs are among the earliest visual forms of Christian witness. They are characterised by their often uneven lettering, and by simple line drawings of early Christian symbols – fish, anchor, palm of victory, Good Shepherd.
Of all the artists approached by Basil Spence, winner of the 1950s competition to design the new Coventry Cathedral, the work of letterer Ralph Beyer has proved perhaps the most enduring. His eight ‘Tablets of the Word’ are carved on white Hollington stone and measure fifteen feet by six feet; they process in majestic style down the staggered nave walls, each pair illuminated by richly coloured light from narrow hidden windows.
Their simple, unforced but rhythmic style instantly recalls those catacomb inscriptions, so it is no surprise to learn that these were well known to Ralph Beyer from the work of his art historian father, Oskar Beyer. The family had arrived in England as German refugees in the 1930s, and the young Ralph was soon apprenticed to Eric Gill, the sculptor and letter-carver. After the second world war his first commissions were with architects rebuilding churches in east London: he made the altar frontal for the Royal Foundation of St Katharine at Stepney and the porch lettering for St Paul’s Bow Common, which still boldly proclaims to passing traffic: ‘This is the Gate of Heaven’. It was this work that won Ralph Beyer the Coventry commission, which it took him six years to complete.
Seven of the eight texts chosen are from the gospels, and six of these are from John’s Gospel, referred to as early as the third century, by Clement of Alexandria, as ‘the spiritual gospel’, and particularly beloved by Friends. I can write here only about one of them, so I’ve chosen the second on the north side: ‘A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another, as I have loved you.’ (John 13:34)
Elsewhere in the gospels, Jesus, when challenged, repeated the Great Commandment, to love God and love one’s neighbour (Mark 12:30-31). So the newness of this command, given as part of Jesus’ farewell discourses with his disciples at the Last Supper, lies not so much in the love but in the exhortation to follow the example he has set. To convey this idea, Ralph Beyer finds a wonderfully simple image, framing his text between Christ’s wounded hands. We are to offer our lives for one another, as Christ poured his out for us.
Ten years after Coventry, Ralph Beyer was asked to carve the Ten Commandments around the outside of a chapel in the utopian community of New Harmony, Indiana. He also carved words from the philosopher Paul Tillich in the park there which bears his name. One of the locals, watching his efforts, apparently observed: ‘[They’ve] imported this bloke all the way from England, and he can’t print straight.’
