John Piper, C.H. (1903-1992)

Dorchester Abbey was, in 1970, the venue for a performance of The Jesse Tree - a Masque by the poet Anne Ridler, featuring a stage construction designed by John Piper. In 1973 John Piper delivered a large, mixed media drawing of this Oxfordshire church as part of a fund-raising initiative which included a reproduction print (see P.J. Evans and J. Cartwright, John Piper and the Church, Dorchester, 2012, p 4, where it is illustrated). The present lot is a smaller, perhaps preliminary, version of the better known work. 

We are very grateful to Rev. Dr Stephen Laird FSA for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.