Westminster Cathedral

Gerontius II
marble panel
installed All Souls Chapel Westminster Cathedral
2003 

Cardinal Newman
study for tesserae panel 2005
installed 2008 

View of Newman mosaic and Gerontius Cross
installed 2008 

The following text by Tom Phillips first appeared under the title 'A Further Step In Cathedral Decoration' in the November 2003 issue of Oremus, the magazine of Westminster Cathedral.

It was a great thrill to be asked to make a contribution to the splendid fabric of Westminster Cathedral, which I have known since I first attended High Mass there as a schoolboy fifty years ago. My work has often centred around devotional subjects but there is extra excitement in making art for a living church.

The two new panels will have now taken their place and will eventually complement a proposed mosaic portrait of Cardinal Newman in the memorial context of the Chapel of Holy Souls. The realisation of the project coincided with the hundredth anniversary of the first London performance of Sir Edward Elgar’s magical setting of Newman’s poem The Dream of Gerontius. The work tells the story of an old man’s dying vision of the journey of his soul.

The work was initiated by the Cathedral and suggested by Rev Mgr Mark Langham. The marble intarsia was produced by Taylor Pearce Ltd under the artist’s direction. The work was installed in time for an anniversary performance of The Dream of Gerontius. The two panels were consecrated in a ceremony conducted by the Cardinal.