Alexander J. Heaney

Original ink drawing by Alexander J. Heaney.

Original ink drawing with alterations in white wash and with some slight sketches of church window designs in the margin of the sheet. This is the original pen and ink drawing which was used as the basis for Alexander Heaney’s large etching of College Green, Bristol – traces of pencil squaring lines used for transfer in creation of the etching are visible at the edges of the drawing.

Heaney’s depiction of College Green, Bristol shows the ancient Chapel of St. Mark’s with its distinctive tower towards the left of the image. Standing on the north-east side of College Green, it was built c. 1230. Better known to mediaeval and Tudor historians as the Gaunt's Chapel, it has also been known within Bristol since 1722 as the Lord Mayor's Chapel. In 1722 it became the official church of the Mayor and Corporation of Bristol. It is the only church in England privately owned and used for worship by a city corporation.

The elaborate stone cross seen towards the right of Heaney’s image was a replica of the original Bristol High Cross which once stood in College Green until 1768. The replica was made John Norton in 1851, and moved to the centre of the Green in 1888. In the late 1940’s it was removed and partially destroyed - the Bristol Civic Society purchased the remains in 1950 and re-erected what could be preserved of the Cross in Berkeley Square, Bristol, where it still stands today.

On off-white artist’s drawing board with full margins. Generally very good original condition.

Provenance: From the collection of Phyllis Heaney, the artist’s daughter – thence by descent to her granddaughter.