Martin Travers Alert

Repeat readers will remember my fascination with Anglo-Catholic Baroque church furnisher Martin Travers, the producer of some remarkable and rather strange reredos, altars and liturgical illustrations in the 1920s. While essentially an agnostic, he worked for some of the most gung-ho pro-Rome unionists of his age, though sometimes it seemed to come down more to liturgical form than practical reunion. One of his greatest monuments is a singular Latin American-style Churrigueresque retablo in the William Butterfield neo-Gothic church of St. Augustine, Queen's Gate, in London; photographs of this extravagant and wonderfully odd bit of liturgical furnishings have eluded me to this point--but no longer.



First, there is the webpage of the parish itself, and second, more intriguing, are some shots of a high-church Anglican liturgy conducted at the church about a year ago. While it is to be regretted that the high altar is no longer used, I'm quite glad to get an up-close look at it. Say what you will about Travers' work, but it's never dull.