John Maddison: Altar and reredos for Lady Chapel
Title: Altar and reredos for Lady Chapel
Artist: John Maddison (b. 1952, British)
Location: Lady Chapel, Ely Cathedral (C of E)
Date: 2011
This work was shortlisted for the ACE Award for Art in a Religious Context 2015.
‘John Maddison’s Reredos and Altar at Ely Cathedral are superb. The scale and beauty of this work has focussed the space so that the eye is drawn to the altar rather than is no longer distracted by what now seems an eccentric and out of place figure above it. The space is understood so perfectly that we reflected on what must have been a careful collaboration between the artist and his wife who is the cathedral’s architect.’ (Nicholas Holtam, chair of the judging panel for the ACE Award for Art in a Religious Context 2015.)
John Maddison (b. 1952, British) is a painter and designer whose sensitive interventions, often in medieval buildings, modulate and recalibrate the colour, texture and ambience or their surroundings. He studied art history at the University of Manchester and taught medieval art at the University of Leeds from 1975 until 1978. Maddison has also served as advisor to the Victorian Society as well as as historic buildings representative for the National Trust in East Anglia. His work is held in collections such as The National Trust, Lady Margaret Hall Oxford, Norwich School of Art and Design, and the Sainsbury Centre. He has worked as an artist and writer since 1992.
Further Information
Permanent display
See John Maddison’s Altar and Reredos on the Ecclesiart map here.
Other artworks in churches by John Maddison: Painted altar panels (2004) Bishop Alcock’s Chapel, Ely Cathedral; screen painting, Downham Market, Norfolk; painted decoration (2013) in St Albans Cathedral; font cover, Thornham Parva, Suffolk.