Derby Cathedral: Exploring Cathedral's hidden heraldic gems

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Historian Maxwell Craven describes some of the artistic gems missed by most visitors to Derby Cathedral – ornate, diamond-shaped canvases known as funeral hatchments which were draped over the coffins of the rich as they processed through the town.

FRESCO: The gods gambolling on Parnassus in Henry Francey’s house

IF you take the time to go into Derby’s excellent Cathedral and look round, you will see much to interest you, some superb sculpture – much of it by unsung local artists – and more besides.

One group of objects which I suspect are missed by most visitors are the seven funeral hatchments; four on the inside walls of the tower and three more in the retro choir.

These are diamond-shaped, framed canvases with elaborate heraldic designs upon them. Derby’s are a particularly fine group. Three of them are by one artist and are among the few surviving examples of his work.

The artist was Francis Bassano, born 331 years ago today at Lichfield, the younger son of a vicar at Lichfield Cathedral.

His father, Richard (1654-1729), was a member of an extraordinary musical dynasty, originally from Bassano del Grappa in the Trentino foothills of Italy.

Some family members migrated to Venice as musicians and, from there, two sons of Jeronimo di Bassano, a sackbut player, were head-hunted to join Henry VIII’s court ensemble.

It had taken the upheavals of the Civil War to dislodge their descendants and Francis’s grandfather, also Richard, had sought refuge in Stone, Staffordshire, moving to Lichfield Cathedral at the Restoration.

A third son, Christopher, was a composer of anthems and a music teacher but married the heiress of Derby solicitor James Motterham. The couple settled in Derby and their eldest son continued his grandfather’s law practice.

Francis seems to have come to Derby with his brother and set up as a painter. Although usually described as a “herald painter”, his talents were not confined to heraldry but extended to other things, too.

It is said that the two highly accomplished frescoed ceilings of the gods gambolling on Parnassus, in Alderman Henry Franceys’ house in the Market Place, are his work. We know he painted conventionally, too.

His heraldic work is best authenticated, because he undertook a survey of the heraldry in the county’s churches in 1710 which is preserved in the College of Arms in London.

Also, his account book survives in Derby Local Studies Library and some of the payments match up to the funeral hatchments in the Cathedral.

A funeral hatchment was carried in the funeral procession of a person entitled to bear arms, but was customarily painted in advance of death.

When someone died, the hatchment was completed and hung over the entrance of the house. At the funeral, it was carried in procession, hung over the coffin in the church and, after burial, moved to a permanent place there.

Although many were in more recent times thrown out and burnt by go-ahead clergymen, these fine objects are today recognised as objects of art in their own right.

Derby is exceedingly rare in having an identifiable artist who can be matched with surviving hatchments, as we can with Bassano.

The hatchment can tell us a great deal about the deceased, too. It will show the whole heraldic achievement – shield, helm, crest, motto, with coronet and supporters if the person was a peer.

The only change is to the motto, usually replaced by a pious one like “In Coelo quies” (In Heaven, peace). All family alliances are usually shown as quarterings, where the shield is divided up and the inherited arms of several families are assembled on one shield.

The arms of the wife would also be shown. Indeed, if the deceased had more than one wife, the arms of all were shown.

The background, behind the coat-of-arms, was divided, the left-hand side being the husband’s side and the right, the wife’s. Thus, if the husband had died but the wife was living, then the left-hand background would be painted black and, if the wife had died leaving her husband a widower, the right-hand side was blacked.

If the entire background is painted black, then the hatchment must have been painted for the funeral of the survivor.

The ones in the cathedral mark the decease of Hugh Bateman, of Hartington Hall (survivor of two wives, 1777); Richard Bateman, of Wheathills, Mackworth (wife surviving, 1821); Dorothy Rolleston, widow of Rev William Chambers (1801); and Thomas Chambers, of Exeter House (1726, widow surviving).

Their superb monument by Roubiliac and Robert Bakewell is near the organ in the north aisle.

There are also hatchments for Margaret Bagnold, widow of the same Thomas Chambers (1738); Daniel Parker Coke, MP of The College (1825); and Alderman Henry Franceys, apothecary, widower of Anne Harpur; of Twyford (1747).

Although Francis Bassano died in 1746, the account book shows that he had painted Franceys’ hatchment in advance.

He also did those of Mr and Mrs Chambers and three others which vanished in the 19th century.

The tragedy is that we cannot identify any of his ordinary paintings, portraits or landscapes. There must be some out there somewhere!