“I’m now preparing to paint St Ethelflaeda for my forthcoming show at Romsey Abbey. My painting ‘Annunciation’ will also be exhibited for the first time. As a warm-up exercise, I’ve made an image, from memory, of the Cardinals’ hats that hang from the ceiling in Toledo Cathedral.” Chris Gollon, August 2016
When only a young man, Chris Gollon visited Toledo Cathedral, with its unusual jet-black interior flecked with gold, where when Cardinals die they hang their hats from the ceiling on chains and let the ornate fabrics just rot away. He never forgot that strangeness combined with the display of El Greco’s heads of the Saints and his ’Disrobing of Christ’. This mysterious painting is partially inspired by that memory.
‘Cardinals’ Hats’ 48″ x 36″ (122 x 91cm), now in a private collection.