Beauty of churches revealed in more than 150 ‘lost’ Petit artwork

Petit’s Tours of Old Staffordshire, written by Philip Modiano, features distinctive, delicate artwork by the Reverend John Petit (1801-to-1868).

These rare, ‘lost’ paintings, some a little worn around the edges, depict scenes around the Black Country, Shropshire and Staffordshire in the form of eight ‘tours’.

They include images of St Peter’s Church in Wolverhampton before its 19th century restoration.

The Rev John Petit was famous in his day both for his art and for his opposition to the Gothic Revival. He wished to record and preserve the character of old buildings as they were, especially churches, without romanticising them or using artistic licence.

Important

Author Mr Modiano said: “His art was lost for 150 years because it was never sold and only reappeared in the 1990s. His architectural writing also became overlooked in favour of Ruskin and later William Morris, although evidence now suggests Petit was more important for preservation than either.”

Petit, a Staffordshire man and Wolverhampton land owner, used his art to oppose restorations which were altering the character of churches across the country.

“St Peter’s was a very important church for Petit, and in the pictures he captures wonderfully its power and beauty at the centre of Wolverhampton in the 19th century,” Mr Modiano said. “For Petit, the medieval church, like St Peter’s, represents the spiritual centre of the community, and this comes through in his pictures.

“Anyone can feel this whether they attend church or not, and seeing the old pictures next to the actual building shows even more clearly how important St Peters is.”

Other tours cover the county around Lichfield with beautiful pictures of the cathedral, Stafford and Dovedale to the north, with landscapes, mills, and other churches which Petit used in his writing and speaking.

One tour also shows pictures of mines and furnaces just south of Wolverhampton city centre from the 1830s.

“Views of the industrial landscape of the Black Country are very rare in the first half of the 19th century and a really interesting find,” said Brendan Flynn, former curator of the Wolverhampton Art Gallery.

“Most artists shunned such subjects until much later in the century, so these may be among the earliest known so far.”

One The Bilston factory painting depicted here almost certainly shows the ironworks at Springvale and was painted in 1852 or 1853. It’s a stark, industrial scene, murky and gloomy, yet strangely beautiful. Mr Modiano said: “The picture was damaged in storage for 150 years and is lucky to have mainly survived. About half of Petit’s work was lost to damage – a tragedy.”

The paintings were kept by a family descendant who died in 1953, and over the years the works deteriorated. Their house in Surrey was sold and new owners found the pictures but did nothing for 15 years. Finally, the paintings began to appear in lots at auction houses. The cover of the book is part of a watercolour of Lichfield Cathedral from 1857, captured from the churchyard of St Michael’s in the city, where Petit worked as assistant curate from 1825-to-28.

He also lived in Shifnal for a while, and the book includes paintings from there as well as nearby Tong, another of his favourite churches.

Petit’s Tours of Old Staffordshire is on sale at St Peter’s Church gift shop in Wolverhampton, priced at £14, and can also be ordered at www.ypdbooks.com

Gift shop manager Joyce Perry said: “This should be welcome for our parishioners, and anyone interested in old Wolverhampton. It is wonderful to have uncovered these extraordinary pictures of the church and the Black Country.”