Object Description
This extremely rare bronze bell, which dates from the late 13th/early 14th centuries, is thought to have been made in southwest France. Tuned to C sharp, it is inscribed with ‘AVE MARIA GRACIA PLENA DNS’ or “Hail Mary Full of Grave the Lord is with Thee’’
One of the earliest and most enduring forms of communication; bells hold an immense power over the human psyche. In the Medieval world, the ringing of a bell called the faithful to prayer, announced births, baptisms, marriages and deaths. Bells warded off evil and warned of impending danger. They were the heartbeat of mediaeval life and their enormous emotional grip created a community cohesion that engendered both affection and loyalty.
In America, bells like the iconic Liberty Bell in Philadelphia are a symbol of independence. It’s silhouette and message is so ingrained in this country’s rich history that even today Jeff Koons pays homage to it’s the creation; not just in his monumental painting but Koons also impeccably copied of the Liberty Bell itself in a sculpture that was a centrepiece of the artist’s recent retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Decades before him, the chime of that bell inaugurated the transcontinental telephone service in 1915 and in 1961 the second manned US spacecraft was named “Liberty Bell 7”.
Like the Liberty Bell, the Angelus Bell is a remarkable survivor. It was cast well before the Hundred Years War (1337-1453); a war that saw an enormous destruction of bells. In European warfare, artillery officers had first claim on captured bells using the bronze to cast cannons. In 1549 a proposed increase in the tax on salt, caused a revolt in the South West of France. The villagers rang their church bells to warn of the arrival of tax collectors. When the Constable of France, suppressed the rebellion, he issued a decree that the rebel bells be melted down. Bells that had survived the French Wars of Religion (1562–98) fell victim to the spirit of modernisation that came in the eighteenth century with the ‘age of enlightenment’. Old bells were recast to create new carillons.
But it was the French Revolution that brought a systematic destruction of bells on a monumental scale. In 1789 all church property was put at the disposal of the state and over the next 3 years about 100,000 bells were turned into coins. It is therefore hardly surprising that in 1903, the French historian Joseph Berthelé was only able to identify the existence of nine church bells in France that date from the 13the century. As recently as 2010 the expert Thierry Gonon lists just ten that have survived from the 12th and 13th centuries.