Page 47 - AECA.org.uk ¦ Koinonia 64

The Annunciation of Bedford Park

STEPHEN STAVROU

IN RECENT YEARS there have been a great many icons commissioned for Angli-
can churches. Few of them can be as ambitious or theologically interesting as
the pair of Annunciation icons commissioned from Aidan Hart for St Michael
& All Angels, Bedford Park, in west London, which were installed in Septem-
ber this year.

Saint Michael & All Angels has a long history of artistic patronage. It is
a church uniquely designed in the ‘Queen Anne Gothic’ of the Bedford Park
estate by Norman Shaw, and consecrated in 1879. It is an excellent example of
the architecture and design of the Arts and Crafts movement, and at that time
a great many of the local residents were semi-professional artists who came to
live out romantic ideas in the ?rst garden suburb. Even the Tabard Inn across
the road from the church has William de Morgan tiles. The interior of the
church has much of the original furniture, ?xtures and ?ttings designed by
Shaw himself, with later glass, statuary, wall-painting and ironwork all working
together to create a highly colourful and striking interior.

Until now however, the church has not had any icons. An opportunity
arose with a large-scale project involving the building of an entirely new organ,
to reconsider the decorative scheme relating to two prominent arches either
side of the Nave Altar.

From the beginning this was a commission held within a carefully con-
sidered theological, liturgical and devotional framework. The brief was to ?nd
something that would not detract from the central focus of the Altar, while at
the same time contribute to an understanding of what happens there. The idea
of a ‘separated’ Annunciation soon emerged, with the Archangel Gabriel to the
left of the Altar, and Our Lady on the right. Such a division is in some senses
unusual – particularly in western art where the Annunciation is almost always
shown in one image. Despite this, some Renaissance paintings visually split the
Annunciation with strong architectural features, separating the heavenly and
earthly realms, represented by Gabriel and Mary respectively. The concept of a
separated Annunciation is less striking in Orthodoxy where it almost always
forms the chief image of the central, or Royal Doors, on the iconostasis. With

45