Costume Gallery

St Pirans Oratory during construction of the concrete shell, Perranzabuloe, Cornwall. 1910

A good crowd viewing the site during the building of the concrete protective shell in 1910. The site hut can be seen left of centre. St Piran's Oratory survives as an early Christian chapel with all four walls standing. It represents the supposed site where St Piran, an Irish saint came ashore and established a Christian centre of worship in the sixth or seventh centuries AD. The site has a documented entry in the Domesday book. There is a small nave, chancel and stone bench around much of the interior plus a cemetery. Situated on Penhale Sands, east of Perranporth, the Oratory has been subject to blown sands over the years. Excavations were carried out in 1835 and 1843 and then railings were erected around the site in the 1890s. In 1910 it was re-excavated and a concrete preserving structure constructed over it. A large number of burials were uncovered during the works. The concrete shell was largely demolished in 1980 and the chapel reburied. The site was re-excavated in 2014-2015. Photographer: Unknown

© From the collection of the RIC

A Concert Party, Artist Unknown

Oil on board, Dutch / Flemish School, 17th century. The painting was previously known as Queen Elizabeth and the Earl of Leicester at Kenilworth and attributed to Dirk Hals (1591-1656). Hals was the brother of the more famous 17th century painter Frans Hals. He studied in Haarlem under Abraham Bloemart, and his works often depict scenes of dancing and music-making. Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, was one of Queen Elizabeth's favourites. She bestowed on him his title and gifted him Kenilworth Castle in Warwickshire as a mark of her affection. The event, which the painting was originally believed to depict, occurred in 1575, when the Earl of Leicester, entertained the Queen at Kenilworth. There were three weeks of revelry and banquets and the visit was much talked about at the time. Following research undertaken in 2004, doubt was cast on the painting's original attribution due to uncertainty why a Dutch painter should choose this event for a subject at least 40 years after it occurred

© RIC

John Vivian of Pencalenick, John Opie (1761-1807)

Oil on canvas, English School, around 1780. A portrait of a young John Vivian of Pencalenick (1772-1817). Vivian later became a Barrister and was High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1812. John Opie was born in Harmony Cottage, Trevellas, between St Agnes and Perranporth in Cornwall. He was the youngest of the five children of Edward Opie, a master carpenter, and his wife Mary (nee Tonkin). He showed a precocious talent for drawing and mathematics, and by the age of twelve he had mastered the teachings of Greek mathematician Euclid and opened an evening school for poor children where he taught reading, writing and arithmetic. His father, however, did not encourage his abilities, and apprenticed him to his own trade of carpentry. Opie's artistic abilities eventually came to the attention of local physician and satirist, Dr John Wolcot (who used the pen name Peter Pindar), who visited him at the sawmill where he was working in 1775. Recognising a great talent, Wolcot became Opie's mentor, buying him out of his apprenticeship and insisting that he come to live at his home in Truro. Wolcot provided invaluable encouragement, advice, tuition and practical help in the advancement of his early career, including obtaining many commissions for work. In 1781, having gained considerable experience as a portraitist travelling around Cornwall, Opie moved to London with Wolcot. There they lived together, having entered into a formal profit-sharing agreement. Although Opie had received a considerable artistic education from Wolcot, the doctor chose to present him as a self-taught prodigy; a portrait of a boy shown at the Society of Artists the previous year, had been described in the catalogue as "an instance of Genius, not having ever seen a picture." Wolcot introduced the "Cornish wonder" to leading artists, including Sir Joshua Reynolds, who was to compare him to Caravaggio and Velazquez

© RIC