An Ancient Alms Box, Walsingham Church, Norfolk 1805 - 1815

Curator: At first glance, this drawing emanates a curious solemnity. The verticality is very striking. Editor: Indeed. What we're seeing is John Sell Cotman's "An Ancient Alms Box, Walsingham Church, Norfolk," rendered between 1805 and 1815, a stark pencil drawing of precisely what the title suggests. Cotman’s interest here lies in capturing what endures over time, what resonates with the community's shared memory. Curator: The alms box is presented almost monumentally, like a weathered column amidst the desolate landscape; it reminds me of the silent witnesses that underpin a society. What did giving to the church mean to them? What stories, hopes and dreams have been fed to this structure? Editor: Precisely! Its very presence speaks to the established order of the Church and its continuing importance. Note how Cotman uses precise, unwavering lines to portray it in minute detail against a hazy backdrop. It's an enduring symbol contrasted against a landscape he doesn’t explore much, further centering that Church as unshakable and a firm fixture in peoples' minds. The marks upon its aged form hints at social shifts, perhaps its function lessening as other systems of assistance come to the fore. Curator: But I think its power exists regardless; charity, and care for one's community, persists as a fundamental human value and drive. Albeit that the symbolic figure of a specific church maybe fading... This simple alms box also triggers memories and moral lessons for visitors over time. Every visitor drops alms there to keep their religion alive through material and practice! The coins themselves become little symbols of active faith. Editor: That's the brilliance of symbols isn’t it? The capacity for an object, a location, an institution, to distill complex beliefs. Thank you for that interpretation. It shifts the ground. Curator: Thank you! Thinking about this now, it seems all but screaming with symbolism! Editor: Symbols are always there if we only look with open eyes.