Belchamp Walter Wheel of Fortune - The "Seven Deadly Sins"

This mural, to the left of the entrance to the church on the South wall, is the "mystery painting" or mural.

There are various interpretations on whether it is actually a depiction of a Wheel of Fourtune or Saint Sebastian.
The church guide (c.2014) says:

The description in the 1965 Church Guide did not speculate on the subject of the roundel and the Resurrection mural was also not described as such.

The Ilkenshall wall painting and Tristram

The photograph above was taken from the Stillleaf-Ipernity website. A photo taken by the webaster will be posted as soon as it can be taken. Please visit the Stillleaf website and see his other fine photographs.

The condition of this mural is not good. There is definitly a wheel and arrows. The photograph above shows what could be an image of a woman (Irene?), I am not so sure - it looks more like a repair in the plaster.

Palimpsest

I am not sure why I have this here. I think that this was in Stiffleafs description of the mural. Here he/she speculated that the mural was insome way re-worked from an earlier work. The depiction of St. Sabastian having his wounds tended are not necassarily anything to do with the "Wheel" myth/story.

The Ilketshall Mural

The Mural in Ilketshall St Andrew is quite different in its composition but the author of the paper describing the murals found in the Suffolk Church makes reference to the Belchamp Walter Mural and suggests that it is now identified as "the Seven Deadly Sins".

However, Pevsner refers to the Mural as a Wheel of Fortune in his guide to Essex.

The "Seven Dealy Sins" interpetation may well be more in keeping with the St. Sabastian story.

The Medieval Myth

The use of the "Wheel of Fortune" at first thought may not be seen as being very ecclesiastical in nature. However, in keeping with other Medieval motifs - including the Pelican, are popular methods employed by Medieval artists to illustrate a moral story.

In addition, the "Wheel" construct has been widely used throughout the artistic world to illustrate the concepts of Religious and political instruction. The Wikipedia page on Rota Fortunae explores this in greater detail. Even Shakespere uses the imagery in Hamlet and Henry V:
"slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" and, of fortune personified, to "break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel."
and
Henry 5 act 3, scene VI:
"........ And giddy Fortune's furious fickle wheel ......."

Hildegards Ideal Man

When I first saw the wall painting on the South wall of St Mary's Belchamp Walter I was reminded of Leonardo's Vitruvian man.

But Leonardo's picture was not the first image of idealized proportions in Western art. A striking comparison case can be found an image by Hildegard of Bingen (top left). Yes, Hildegard. Born in 1098, at a time in which woman were removed from intellectual and creative life, St. Hildegard was a composer, poet, philosopher, mystic, linguistic, botanist, and medical theorist. Last October, the Pope announced that she will be named the 35th "Doctor of the Church," an honor she shares with Augustine, Anselm, and Aquinas. In short, St Hildegard was a Renaissance man, though she was neither a man nor alive during the Renaissance. She died in 1179, nearly a hundred years before the birth of Giotto. Leonardo's Vitruvian man was drawn more than 300 years later (c. 1490).

Background to this page

Having seen some of my history pages being found by those making an Internet search I have decided to add a bit more context on how the pages came about.