Folsom Pavement
The
Cathedr al Church of St. Luke, Portl and, Maine: Memorial of th e Month, Januar y 2014
WATCH YOUR STEP:
The
Folsom Pavement
b y Ch ar l es P . M . O u t w in , P h D , C a th ed r a l H i sto r i an
central tile array, Minton China Co; evangelist symbol tile @ Brit. Museum
trefoil leaf encaustic tile similar one is @ the V&A
Sr. Helen Margaret, Community of SJtB
cruciform encaustic tile, A. Pugin design, c1850
an elaborate quadricolor tile, with a colorless glaze
I
n any Episcopal church, one’s eyes are usually drawn upward, to great artworks or simply to the more or less vast interior space. These are designed to remind the viewer, in physical terms, of the preternatural dissociation of the mundane from the divine. By the same token, most people rarely look at that which they tread upon, even though we, as Episcopalians, are often conscious that in old English churches fairly elaborate tombstones can be set into pavements. We may even be vaguely aware, when visiting Britain, of oddly colored but ancient tiles that make up large portions of the floor in places such as Winchester Cathedral or Westminster Abbey, though we may also not think any further about these features after having noticed them. Yet such floors made of colored clay tiles have been durable enough to last hundreds of years without replacement. Further, they were, in the Middle Ages, considered an important ornament for sacred spaces, significant enough to have stimulated curiosity among mid-nineteenth century artisans intent on recapturing a sense of those times. Why? “Encaustic” or inlaid tile was manufactured and used extensively across Europe during the twelfth through the sixteenth centuries. In its production, colored, liquefied earthenware slip is poured into a mold set atop a damp clay backing, dried, and fired into a single solid sheet. The color resides in the clay body, and so does not wear away like surface glazing when walked upon over an extended period of time. It is, then, both beautiful and highly durable. The most common encaustic tiles, throughout the High Middle Ages, were of two colors only. England was an early center for the craft, but it went out of fashion in the early seventeenth century as Calvinist Puritan opprobrium of excessive ornamentation began to take hold. In the 1830’s, however, the ceramicist Herbert Minton (1793–1858) developed modern manufacturing techniques for encaustic tile using medieval models. His main collaborator for many years was the father of Gothic Revival design, Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-1852). Examples of their encaustic tiles are in the permanent collections of both the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Museum. All the tiles in the Folsom Pavement that decorates this cathedral’s chancel and high altar platform were manufactured in the 1860’s by Minton’s, Ltd, and were probably designed by Pugin before 1852. Our pavement is not in fact very remarkable as encaustic floors go, though its elements are certainly of high quality and are well put together. The monument is identified by an eye-catching brass plaque inscribed in painfully correct Anglo-classical Latin: “Ad gloriem DEI sique in memoriem GEORGII FOLSOM Obiit xxvii Mar. AD Mdccclxix Cum dederit dilectis suis somnum”.1 Dr. George Folsom, LLD (1802-1869) in whose memory the floor is given, was well-off, but not fabulously so. The memorial was thus paid for with money from his estate, at the direction of his daughter Helen Stuyvesant Folsom (1843-1887) and formed part of the original solicited memorial ornamentation of this edifice. George was born in Kennebunk, raised and educated in Portland, but spent most of his adult life in New York City, from 1837 forward. A lawyer and enthusiastic amateur historian, he was a member of the American, Massachusetts, New York, and Maine Historical Societies. He also published a History of Saco and Biddeford (1830) and a translation of the Dispatches of Hernando Cortes (1843) that are still in print. Folsom further served in the New York state legislature and as a US diplomat to the Netherlands. He moved to Italy for his health late in life, and died at Rome in the early spring of 1869. He is buried in the churchyard of St. Mark’s in the Bowery. George’s aforementioned second child, Helen, is better known to U.S. history as Sister Helen Margaret (pictured above) founder of the American branch of the Augustinian Anglican Community of St. John the Baptist. A year after the donation of this floor she was granted admission to the order, and was fully professed by 1874. The Community of St. John the Baptist, founded in England in 1851, was originally dedicated to the rehabilitation of “fallen women”, though it soon expanded operations to include service to a wide variety of the destitute, including widows and orphans, and the homeless. The community in New York operated a soup kitchen, a convalescent home, and a needlework shop out of the old Folsom family residence on Stuyvesant Square. Sr. Helen Margaret returned to Portland later and founded a young women’s guild at this cathedral, dedicated to the same principles of social relief as had motivated her in the past. In spite of her untimely death at age 34, the community continued to expand, and still exists, now at its home since 1900 in Mendham, Morris Township, NJ. 1
Translation: To the glory of GOD given (signed) in memory (of) George Folsom (who) died 27 March AD 1869 He (the Lord) gives rest to those (whom) He loves [from Psalm 127:2].
Copies of Memoria l-of -the-Month fea tures may be found a t http://cathedra lof stluke.ep iscopalma ine.org/
Cathedr al Church of St. Luke, Portl and, Maine: Memorial of th e Month, Januar y 2014
WATCH YOUR STEP:
The
Folsom Pavement
b y Ch ar l es P . M . O u t w in , P h D , C a th ed r a l H i sto r i an
central tile array, Minton China Co; evangelist symbol tile @ Brit. Museum
trefoil leaf encaustic tile similar one is @ the V&A
Sr. Helen Margaret, Community of SJtB
cruciform encaustic tile, A. Pugin design, c1850
an elaborate quadricolor tile, with a colorless glaze
I
n any Episcopal church, one’s eyes are usually drawn upward, to great artworks or simply to the more or less vast interior space. These are designed to remind the viewer, in physical terms, of the preternatural dissociation of the mundane from the divine. By the same token, most people rarely look at that which they tread upon, even though we, as Episcopalians, are often conscious that in old English churches fairly elaborate tombstones can be set into pavements. We may even be vaguely aware, when visiting Britain, of oddly colored but ancient tiles that make up large portions of the floor in places such as Winchester Cathedral or Westminster Abbey, though we may also not think any further about these features after having noticed them. Yet such floors made of colored clay tiles have been durable enough to last hundreds of years without replacement. Further, they were, in the Middle Ages, considered an important ornament for sacred spaces, significant enough to have stimulated curiosity among mid-nineteenth century artisans intent on recapturing a sense of those times. Why? “Encaustic” or inlaid tile was manufactured and used extensively across Europe during the twelfth through the sixteenth centuries. In its production, colored, liquefied earthenware slip is poured into a mold set atop a damp clay backing, dried, and fired into a single solid sheet. The color resides in the clay body, and so does not wear away like surface glazing when walked upon over an extended period of time. It is, then, both beautiful and highly durable. The most common encaustic tiles, throughout the High Middle Ages, were of two colors only. England was an early center for the craft, but it went out of fashion in the early seventeenth century as Calvinist Puritan opprobrium of excessive ornamentation began to take hold. In the 1830’s, however, the ceramicist Herbert Minton (1793–1858) developed modern manufacturing techniques for encaustic tile using medieval models. His main collaborator for many years was the father of Gothic Revival design, Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-1852). Examples of their encaustic tiles are in the permanent collections of both the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Museum. All the tiles in the Folsom Pavement that decorates this cathedral’s chancel and high altar platform were manufactured in the 1860’s by Minton’s, Ltd, and were probably designed by Pugin before 1852. Our pavement is not in fact very remarkable as encaustic floors go, though its elements are certainly of high quality and are well put together. The monument is identified by an eye-catching brass plaque inscribed in painfully correct Anglo-classical Latin: “Ad gloriem DEI sique in memoriem GEORGII FOLSOM Obiit xxvii Mar. AD Mdccclxix Cum dederit dilectis suis somnum”.1 Dr. George Folsom, LLD (1802-1869) in whose memory the floor is given, was well-off, but not fabulously so. The memorial was thus paid for with money from his estate, at the direction of his daughter Helen Stuyvesant Folsom (1843-1887) and formed part of the original solicited memorial ornamentation of this edifice. George was born in Kennebunk, raised and educated in Portland, but spent most of his adult life in New York City, from 1837 forward. A lawyer and enthusiastic amateur historian, he was a member of the American, Massachusetts, New York, and Maine Historical Societies. He also published a History of Saco and Biddeford (1830) and a translation of the Dispatches of Hernando Cortes (1843) that are still in print. Folsom further served in the New York state legislature and as a US diplomat to the Netherlands. He moved to Italy for his health late in life, and died at Rome in the early spring of 1869. He is buried in the churchyard of St. Mark’s in the Bowery. George’s aforementioned second child, Helen, is better known to U.S. history as Sister Helen Margaret (pictured above) founder of the American branch of the Augustinian Anglican Community of St. John the Baptist. A year after the donation of this floor she was granted admission to the order, and was fully professed by 1874. The Community of St. John the Baptist, founded in England in 1851, was originally dedicated to the rehabilitation of “fallen women”, though it soon expanded operations to include service to a wide variety of the destitute, including widows and orphans, and the homeless. The community in New York operated a soup kitchen, a convalescent home, and a needlework shop out of the old Folsom family residence on Stuyvesant Square. Sr. Helen Margaret returned to Portland later and founded a young women’s guild at this cathedral, dedicated to the same principles of social relief as had motivated her in the past. In spite of her untimely death at age 34, the community continued to expand, and still exists, now at its home since 1900 in Mendham, Morris Township, NJ. 1
Translation: To the glory of GOD given (signed) in memory (of) George Folsom (who) died 27 March AD 1869 He (the Lord) gives rest to those (whom) He loves [from Psalm 127:2].
Copies of Memoria l-of -the-Month fea tures may be found a t http://cathedra lof stluke.ep iscopalma ine.org/
