page_title: St Peter ad Vincula, South Newington
section_title: Wall paintings
hierarchical_section_title: St Peter ad Vincula, South Newington / Wall paintings
caption_attribution_description: English: Fresco of Madonna and infant Jesus, north aisle of St Peter ad Vincula parish church, South Newington, Oxfordshire
context_page_description: The Parish Church of Saint Peter ad Vincula, South Newington is the Church of England parish church of South Newington, a village about 5 miles southwest of Banbury in Oxfordshire. The church is one of only 15 in England dedicated to St Peter ad Vincula, after the basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome.
context_section_description: Around 1330–40 a set of wall paintings were painted in the north aisle. The medium is oil on plaster, which Sherwood and Pevsner state is unusual for mediaeval wall paintings. Prof. Ernest Tristram described the paintings as "of a nature seldom found in a parish church" and Sherwood and Pevsner considered them to be "the finest group of medieval wall paintings in [Oxfordshire]". Another author commented:
  "The north aisle paintings at South Newington are indeed outstanding for their draughtsmanship, wide range and skilful blending of colours, and also for the medium, which is oil; nothing in this part of the country can compare with them for excellence. The unknown artist must have been in the front rank of his profession.
  The paintings in the north aisle include a damaged but very fine depiction of the murder of St. Thomas Becket. Next to it is a painting of a rare subject, the execution of Thomas Plantagenet, Earl of Lancaster. The east end of the north aisle forms a Lady Chapel whose wall paintings include an Annunciation and an exquisite Virgin and Child. Next to the Virgin and Child is a painting of St. James receiving a gift, and beside the east window of the Lady Chapel is one of St. Margaret the Virgin slaying a dragon. The inclusion of a Margaret and two Thomases in the paintings, and the Giffard coat of arms in the Annunciation and St. James paintings suggests that they were commissioned by Thomas Giffard, lord of one of the manors of South Newington, and his wife Margaret Mortayne. Over the chancel arch there are fragments of a Doom painting from the same period, but very little of it has survived.
  Late in the 15th or early in the 16th century, after the clerestory was built, a Passion Cycle was painted in the nave above the arches to the north aisle. Its artistry is not of the same standard as the paintings in the north aisle, but it is of interest and some of its pictures show scenes not seen in passion cycles elsewhere. All the paintings in St. Peter ad Vincula had been hidden under whitewash for several centuries. Those in the north aisle and over the chancel arch were uncovered in 1893, and the Passion cycle in the nave was uncovered in 1931.
caption: Wall painting of the Virgin Mary & infant Jesus, 1330's
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