A Bassett and lady at Atherington Devon

Geoffrey Plantagenet Earl of Maine and Anjou, Died 1149. from an enamelled tablet formerly in the church of St. Julian at Mans.

Devon Libraries recently received a donation from Mr and Mrs Kempe of The monumental effigies of Great Britain by Charles Stothard. It consists of over 140 beautifully etched plates of medieval sculpted effigies in churches and cathedrals across England. Charles Stothard (1786-1821) was the son of the artist Thomas Stothard. He became a student at the Royal Academy and exhibited there from 1811. In that year he began his series of monumental effigies, which was dedicated to the Prince Regent in 1817. Nine parts, each with twelve engravings appeared up to 1820. In the meantime he was employed by Daniel Lysons for the Magna Britannia series. In 1815 he was appointed historical draughtsman to the Society of Antiquaries and the following year he went to Normandy to make drawings of the Bayeux Tapestry. Through his detailed knowledge on medieval costume he was able to confirm that it was indeed a near contemporary account of the conquest and not a century or more later as some had thought. On 28 May 1821 he was on a ladder in Bere Ferrers church in Devon, drawing a stained glass window, when he made the fatal mistake of stepping back to admire his work. He is buried in the churchyard there. His widow Anna Eliza Stothard devoted much time and money to seeing that his work reached publication which it finally did in 1832 with text by Alfred John Kempe, Anna's brother. Anna had in the meantime married Edward Atkyns Bray, vicar of Tavistock, and became a well-known antiquary and historical novelist, her medieval settings being probably inspired in part by the work of her first husband.

The donation is made up of about 110 plates, often vividly coloured, from the nine parts which appeared during Stothard's lifetime. These had never been stitched into the wrappers of the individual parts. It also contains parts ten to thirteen, stitched in the original brown paper wrappers, and eleven proofs, mainly of plates in part eleven. There are also several proofs before letters which have yet to be identified. One of the wrappers bears the name "Revd. P.A.Bray" and it is very likely that the collection was part of the property of the artist's family and came down through the descendants of his brother-in-law Alfred John Kempe.

The collection is also of relevance to students of medieval sculpture and costume and forms part of the stream of interest in medieval ornament, which was to find full flower in the work of Owen Jones and the Arts and Crafts movement of William Morris.