Oil painting on canvas, King Egfrid and Bishop Trumwine persuade Cuthbert to be made Bishop, by William Bell Scott (Edinburgh 1811 – Penkill Castle 1890), signed and dated, at top of right hand stone pier: W B Scott June to Dec 1856. Cuthbert had retired from the cloister to a cell on a small desolate island off the north east coast where he lived for many years as a hermit. When he was asked to become Bishop of Hexham he was reluctant to leave his life of prayer and could only be persuaded to leave his hermitage by a visit from King Egfrid and Bishop Trumwine. The King is shown exchanging Cuthberts spade for the Crozier of a Bishop. After four years on the mainland Cuthbert, later St Cuthbert, returned and died in his hermitage (A.D. 684). The figure in the centre is a likeness of Mr Gow, for forty years Agent to the Trevelyan family, and the kneeling man is Mr Wright, a porter of the Museum in Newcastle. One of a series of eight oil paintings illustrating the history of the English Border painted between 1856 and 1861.
Marks and inscriptions: W B Scott Jan to June 1857 (signed and dated)
Provenance: Commissioned in 1855 by Sir Walter Trevelyan to decorate the courtyard at Wallington; began in 1857 and the series was exhibited at regular intervals at the Literary Society in Newcastle and completed in 1861 – the scheme of decoration was finished in 1863/64 when the spandrels high up near the vault were decorated with a progression of eighteen scenes from the Ballad of Chevy Chase, and the lower pilasters painted with local flora by other artists including Ruskin, Arthur Hughes, Pauline, Lady Trevelyan (1816-1866), as well as the portrait medallions, in the lower spandrels and portrait heads; given with the property to The National Trust in 1941 by Sir Charles Philips Trevelyan, 3rd Bt (1870 – 1958)
Object description
Type: Easel painting
Location: Wallington Hall, Northumberland
Material: Oil on canvas
Artist: William Bell Scott (1811-1890)
Date: 1857
Image Details
Date: 11 September 2026
Camera body: iPhone Xs
Lens: Wide Camera 26mm ƒ/1.8
Focal Length: 26mm
Aperture: ƒ/1.8
Shutter Speed: 1/40s
ISO: 400
Licensing: Image of a National Trust asset. This image cannot be licensed.