ARTWORKS

Cadaver Tomb of Prior William Weston (c.1470–1540)*

unknown artist

Museum of the Order of St John

Cadaver Tomb of Prior William Weston (c.1470–1540)*
Cadaver Tomb of Prior William Weston (c.1470–1540)*
Cadaver Tomb of Prior William Weston (c.1470–1540)*
Cadaver Tomb of Prior William Weston (c.1470–1540)*
Cadaver Tomb of Prior William Weston (c.1470–1540)*
Cadaver Tomb of Prior William Weston (c.1470–1540)*
Cadaver Tomb of Prior William Weston (c.1470–1540)*
Cadaver Tomb of Prior William Weston (c.1470–1540)*
Cadaver Tomb of Prior William Weston (c.1470–1540)*
Cadaver Tomb of Prior William Weston (c.1470–1540)*
Cadaver Tomb of Prior William Weston (c.1470–1540)*
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Image credit: Museum of the Order of St John

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Notes

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Prior William Weston was the last Prior of the Order of St John in England before the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Weston is depicted in a skeletal form lying on a rush mat, surrounded by a burial shroud with his head on a tassled pillow. This would have been part of a grand tomb in Saint James Church Clerkenwell, that would have included an effigy of Weston in life. The tomb was broken up and dispersed when St James Church was demolished in 1789, and the cadaver sculpture was all that remained at the Church. The current plinth was commissioned by Lieutenant-General Sir Aylmer Gould Hunter-Weston KCB DSO GCStJ in 1882. The sculpture was relocated to the crypt of the Priory Church of the Order of St John in 1931.

Museum of the Order of St John

London

Title

Cadaver Tomb of Prior William Weston (c.1470–1540)*

Date

1540–1550

Medium

stone

Measurements

H 185 x W 65 x D 27 cm;
Plinth: H 196.5 x W 72 x D 71 cm

Accession number

LDOSJ 5492

Acquisition method

gift (believed) from St James's Church Clerkenwell, 1931

Work type

Tomb or mausoleum

Inscription description

on plinth: SIR WILLIAM WESTON KNT. / LORD PRIOR OF THE SIXTH OR ENGLISH LANGUE OF THE ORDER OF ST JOHN OF JERUSALEM / DIED 7TH OF MAY 1540 AND WAS BURIED ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE CHANCEL OF THE CHURCH OF ST JAMES CLERKENWELL / THIS EMACIATED EFFIGY SOLE RELIC OF HIS SPLENDID TOMB DESTROYED ON THE DEMOLITION OF THE OLD CHURCH A.D. 1789 / WAS IN THE YEAR 1882 PLACED NEAR ITS ORIGINAL SITE BY LIEUT. COLONEL GOULD HUNTER-WESTON OF HUNTER STON Co. AYR.

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Museum of the Order of St John

St John’s Gate, St John’s Lane, Clerkenwell, London, Greater London EC1M 4DA England

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Artist or maker

unknown artist

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