Abstract

In 1953, the English postimpressionist painter, Duncan Grant was commissioned to decorate Lincoln Cathedral’s Russell Chantry with a set of murals depicting St. Blaise, the patron saint of wool workers. The mural was unveiled in 1959 at a time when publicly funded art was being produced across Britain as part of the postwar reconstruction of the country. This essay examines Grant's work within the context of a number of civic commissions of art and sculpture for new schools, churches, civic buildings, new town squares and pedestrian subways, that were intended to help bring the public realm back to life as local authorities began to repair and rebuild blitzed towns and cities, and develop new towns and new council housing estates. It forms part of a set of essays made to accompany the 2016 commissioning of artist Lothar Götz to produce a new mural inside a 1:1 scale reproduction of the Russell Chantry at The Collection, Lincoln.