Supposing this to be correct, we suspect that some of the work which Mr Chalmers attributes to John Morow, and of the date of about 1490 to 1510, is in the earlier category. At Melrose, as we have seen, the decorated work is before 1460, and the later work is quite inferior. Hence the necessity for the introduction of the earlier John Morvo, to whom we have no objections, if his existence could be proved. At all events, it must be conceded that the earlier or decorated work was not executed by the “Scots Mediæval Architect,” John Morow.
The same remark will, we think, be found to apply to the rood screen at Lincluden,[138] and to that at Glasgow,[139] the work at both of which is very superior to the sixteenth century work at Melrose, and therefore, in all probability, considerably earlier than John Morow’s time.
We observe that Mr. Chalmers considers the choir and presbytery of Melrose, in which a strong similarity to perpendicular work is perceptible, to be of the time of James IV., and sarcastically remarks on what he considers the unworthy exaltation of the king and his queen to the place of honour on the apex of the east gable of a building dedicated to God. But this is an entire assumption. There is no proof that these figures represent James IV. and Queen Margaret Tudor. The figures in the east gable appear to us to represent the coronation of the Blessed Virgin, a frequent subject in similar positions.
Fig. 797.—Boss from York Minster.[140]
We have already remarked on the similarity of much of the work at Melrose to that of York Minster, and there occurs in one of the bosses of the latter a representation of the coronation of the Blessed Virgin ([Fig. 797]), in which the figures are almost identical in every respect with those in the east gable of Melrose choir. The attitude is precisely the same in both. At York, the Saviour is represented as having a beard and long flowing hair. He is crowned, and holds up the right hand in benediction, while in the left hand he supports the globe. The Virgin holds her hands palm to palm, in the attitude of adoration, while an angel places the crown on her head, and on the other side an angel throws the censer. Another similar example from Dore Abbey is shown in [Fig. 798].[141]
The figures at Melrose are somewhat wasted by exposure, but a comparison of the above sketches with that of the east gable ([Fig. 774]) will show that, while there is no ground for the assumption that the latter represents James IV. and Queen Margaret, there is every reason to believe that it personifies the more appropriate subject of the coronation of the Blessed Virgin. In the series of niches on each side there still remain kneeling figures of adoring angels, which, while most appropriate to the latter subject, would be quite out of place in the former.
