In fact the whole background, including the righthand soffit of the arch, is painted to give the appearance of a church. At the apex of the arch and visible in the photograph below right is an illusionistic (interior) church roof. The dark area at the ‘top’ represents the roof itself, with some ribbed vaulting. Below this are two ranges of windows and below them a group of pilgrims (originally three, now reduced effectively to two) being greeted by St. James. The first of the three has a plain staff and a satchel ornamented with a scallop-shell over his arm. The second, holding a staff in front of him, wears a pilgrim’s hat. The Church’s approval and encouragement of pilgrimage could hardly be more clearly expressed.

Below the feet of St. James and the pilgrim is a band of wavy ornament, and below that some illusionistic architecture making a background to the paintings below. Three triangular gables are visible, all with windows - on the left
quatrefoils, in the centre narrow lancets, and on the right, mainly obscured, round (photo, left). Below these, a very unusual Cross in grey is painted on a whitish ground.
Christ, wearing a knee-length red loincloth is fastened to the Cross at the left in the standard manner, but the transverse bar of his Cross extends to the right, and one of the Thieves hangs on it, arms pinioned behind his back (or possibly fastened in front of him - it is difficult to be sure). EW Tristram¹ assumed that this must be the Penitent Thief, who was assured of his place in Paradise [Luke 23:39-43], and the sharing of the Cross-bar seems to confirm this - the Thief’s placing at Christ’s left, rather than the more ‘honourable’ right was probably dictated by considerations of space. A youthful St. John stands beside the Thief, next to Stephaton with a sponge and a large red ewer (his face according to Tristram was originally ‘a hideous caricature’), and at the extreme left, Longinus gives Christ the death-blow with his lance, and raises his hand to his newly-sighted eye.

This Crucifixion also has another very unusual feature in that the crucified Christ is wearing a crown. This, I suspect, was intended to give an extra, and specific, moral dimension - the man crucified in Jerusalem may have been just another itinerant prophet - an ‘inglorious man’, as John Donne has it (see the Warning to Swearers/Sabbath Breakers, Introduction), but humankind’s daily persistence in sin repeatedly re-enacts the Crucifixion of the revealed King of Glory. There might once have been a subsidiary altar below this painting, but in any event it faces the assembled worshippers in the nave directly, and that is probably deliberate.

Other early and remarkable paintings in Sussex, such as those at Hardham, have received a good deal of attention from modern writers, thus overshadowing these at Wisborough Green. But this very idiosyncratic and quite possibly unique treatment of the Crucifixion ought to be better known.

¹ Tristram 11, p. 625

St. Andrew Martyred, Stoke Dry, Rutland	St. Anne teaching the Virgin to read-Corby Glen, Lincolnshire	St. Antony and the Pig, Barton, Cambridgeshire	St. Barbara : Hessett, Suffolk	St. Bartholomew : Selling, Kent	St.Catherine of Alexandria, life of : Castor, Cambs	St.Catherine of Alexandria : Hardley Street, Norfolk
St.Catherine of Alexandria : Old Weston, Northants	St.Catherine of Alexandria : Pickering, N. Yorks	St.Catherine of Alexandria, life of : Sporle, Norfolk	St. Clement : South Leigh, Oxon.	St. Dunstan holding the Devil by the nose : Barton, Cambs	St.Edmund : Boxford, Suffolk	St. Edmund : Lakenheath, Suffolk
St. Edmund, Martyrdom of : Bishopsbourne, Kent	St.Edmund, Martyrdom of : Fritton, Norfolk	St. Edmund (or St. Walstan) : Gisleham, Norfolk	St. Edmund, Martyrdom of : Pickering, N.Yorks	St. Edmund, Martyrdom of : Stoke Dry, Rutland	St. Edmund, Martyrdom of : Troston, Suffolk	St. Edmund, Martyrdom of : Weare Giffard, Devon
St.Eloi, Broughton, Bucks	St. Eloi and the possessed horse, Slapton, Northants	St. Eloi, as bishop & blacksmith, Wensley, N.Yorks	St.Erasmus, Martyrdom of : Chippenham, Cambs	St. Etheldreda : Willingham, Cambs	St.Francis Preaching to the Birds : Wissington, Suffolk	St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata, Slapton, Northants
St. George & Dragon : Banningham, Norfolk	St. George & Dragon : Broughton, Bucks	St. George & Dragon : Earl Stonham, Suffolk	St. George & Dragon : Fritton, Norfolk	St. George & Dragon : Hornton, Oxon	St. George dedicating himself to the Virgin : Astbury, Cheshire	St. George, with the princess : Little Kimble, Bucks
St.Helena, Broughton, Bucks	St. Hubert, Miracle of : Idsworth, Hants	St.James the Great : Hales, Norfolk	Life of St. James, Stoke Orchard, Gloucestershire	St. James the Great, meeting pilgrims : Wisborough Green, Sussex	St. John the Baptist, Martyrdom of : Chalfont St. Giles, Bucks	St. John the Baptist, Martyrdom of : Heydon, Norfolk
St. John the Baptist, Martyrdom of : Idsworth, Hampshire	St. John the Baptist, Martyrdom of : Old Weston, Northants	Life of St. John the Baptist : Cerne Abbas, Dorset NEW	St. John the Evangelist, Selling, Kent	St. John the Evangelist, Weston Longville, Norfolk	St. Margaret of Antioch : Old Weston, Northants	St. Margaret and the dragon : South Newington, Oxfordshire NEW
St. Margaret of Antioch Martyred, Stoke Dry, Rutland	St. Margaret of Antioch, Life of : Charlwood, Surrey	Life of St. Margaret, Wendens Ambo, Essex	St. Martin dividing his cloak, Chalgrave, Beds	St. Martin dividing his cloak, Wareham, Dorset	St.Nicholas of Myra, life of : Little Horwood, Bucks	St. Nicholas of Myra, two miracles of : Wissington, Suffolk
St.Paul : Black Bourton, Oxon	St. Paul : Beckley, Oxon	St. Peter : Beckley, Oxon	St.Peter : Black Bourton, Oxon	St. Peter, Martyrdom of : Chacombe, Northants	St. Roch : Pinvin, Worcs	St. Sexburga? : Willingham, Cambs
St. Stephen, Stoning of: Black Bourton, Oxon	St. Stephen, Stoning of: Catfield, Norfolk	St.Swithun (?) enthroned : Old Weston, Northants	Scenes from the life of St. Swithun : Corhampton, Hampshire NEW	St. Thomas Becket, blessing, Hauxton, Cambs.	St. Thomas Becket, Murder of, Marston Magna, Somerset	St.Thomas Becket, Murder of : South Burlingham, Norfolk
St. Thomas Becket, Murder of : South Newington, Oxfordshire	St. Walstan of Bawburgh? or St. Edmund : Gisleham, Norfolk	St. Zita : Horley, Oxon	St. Zita : Shorthampton, Oxon	Unidentified female saint : Heydon

12/11/2001