A Painted Mirror

Patricia Wright's brilliantly illustrated talk carried on an exceptionally high standard of this season's KEDFAS programme. Her examples of Medieval art vividly and humorously brought to life some of the more surprising aspects of Medieval life- a life which was often short and hard with death being very real and constantly present, and where much was dominated by the Church which was over-rich, over-mighty and over-indulged; when the frontier between heaven and earth was considered almost porous, so patron saints were fully expected to deliver defence in return for prayer and gifts. It was a time when marriage was almost a circulating currency yet the concept of romantic love was newly invented. Everything was expressed in art with an ingenious symbolism which, when so clearly and amusingly explained to us, peeled back the centuries and let us see our ancestors' lives in fascinating detail. Among many beautiful slides we saw a marriage contract being negotiated, passionate yearnings being expressed through a code of colours and jewels, a group of men and women enjoying themselves in a pub, and a communal bath scene- which might be X-rated today- being spied upon by a King in full regalia. In short, and as promised, Pat showed us a Painted Mirror reflecting life in an earlier age. What we had not expected was the fun and laughter!