The Ambush of the Bishop of Durham

An early idea for The Legend of Balliol murals, showing the Bishop of Durham being dragged away through the stream, his vestments 'caught up and swirling around him'. Spencer thought it 'full of possibilities and exciting patterns, but it would not have filled the space sufficiently, and so I finally abandoned it.' It was acquired by John Fulton, the first Praefectus of Holywell Manor, whose name appears among the labelled students’ luggage on the west wall of the mural.

Date: c. 1932-3
Tags: Mural, Oil
Medium: Oil on paper
Height (mm): 550
Width (mm): 750
Location: Balliol College, Oxford
Provenance: John Fulton; by descent; gifted to Balliol College 2006
Literature: Spencer 1974 p. 108; Oswyn Murray (ed.), Holywell Manor: An Anecdotal History (Oxford, 2007), p. 166