The De Wet Apostle paintings in the chapel at Glamis Castle

Abstract

The paintings in the chapel at Glamis Castle were commissioned from the Dutch artist Jacob de Wet in 1688 by Patrick, first earl of Strathmore.De Wet created a successful decorative scheme in the chapel as stipulated by the earl by the combination of two quite different pictorial sources: the celling panels contain scenes from the life of Christ after Boetius a Bolswert, first published in 1622, and the wall panels show Apostles originally after A I Callot published in 1631.A number of discrepancies exist between the panels and the source material, some of which can be explained by the popular plagiarism carried out by lesser engravers in the 17th century.It is generally accepted that the quality of art being produced in Britain at this time was far inferior to that of the rest of Europe.However, de Wet's work in the chapel at Glamis is an effective and skilful realization of a decorative scheme within the terms of a restrictive commission.*117C Chetwynd Road, London, NWS IDA sexteen large pannels, a doore peece and that above the table of the altar' (illus 1), ie 15 paintings on the ceiling and 18 on the walls, including the 'rowme within'.The 15 ceiling paintings survive, but there were apparently once 20 paintings on the walls, including the 17 still in the chapel (the Crucifixion over the altar, Our Saviour and the 12 Apostles, the Nativity, the Last Supper and Christ as the Gardener) and in the 'rowme within' King Charles the Martyr, St Paul and St Stephen, all of which have disappeared, as has the room itself.According to the contract all the paintings were to 'conforme to the cutts in the Bible here in the house or the Service Book' (Millar 1890).The Bible has not been traced, but the ceiling panels and other narrative schemes clearly derive directly or more probably indirectly from Boetius a Bolswert's plates which apl~eared in several editions of the Bible including one published in Edinburgh in 1633, while the Apostles and Salvator Mundi come from an engraved series by Jacques Callot, c 1631, or from copies after this series.The paintings conform quite closely to their source engravings, including the additional panels which were therefore presumably provided by agreement between the earl and de Wet.De Wet did, however, depart from the terms of the contract in one particular.Much to His Lordship's annoyance, he set William Rennie, a painter from Dundee, to the task of painting the names of the Apostles at the top of the panels and the scrolls at the foot 'containing the same words as are exprest in the cutts', a task which he should have carried out himself.

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