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St Andrew’s Mappa Mundi

This commission is finally finished after several months (over 500 hours) of constant work and was officially handed over the client at St Andrew’s Cathedral after yesterday’s Evensong.

The piece was commissioned by Professor Andrew Morrisson (Organist and Master of the Choristers at St Andrew’s Cathedral, Aberdeen), to commemorate his time at the Cathedral.

The dimensions of the finished piece are 50cm x 40cm (gouache and pen on Saunders Waterford paper).

Every year, the Cathedral choir go on trips and sing services at Cathedrals around Britain and sometimes, further afield.

The brief was to illustrate this by depicting a map of the British Isles with images of all the Cathedrals and churches Andrew had taken the choir to during his time as organist (1979-2018). During Andrew’s tenure, the cathedral most visited by the choir was Hereford Cathedral, which is home to the famous medieval Mappa Mundi.

The finished painting is based loosely on the Hereford Mappa Mundi, and also incorporates elements influenced by Medieval illuminated manuscripts. It depicts the 61 Cathedrals and churches that the Cathedral Choir have visited (and sung in) during Prof Morrisson’s tenure. In keeping with the spirit and humour found in the original Hereford map, there are also images and caricatures incorporated throughout detailing various (often humorous) incidents that have occurred over the years during these trips. As well as the buildings, the major rail routes throughout the UK are shown due to the client’s love of trains.

A3 prints will be available to buy from the Cathedral with all proceeds going to the Cathedral Development Fund.

Detail of finished piece
Detail with pencil for an idea of scale!