Interior of St Clement's Church, Ashampstead showing wall-paintings. The paintings are thought to date from C.1230-40. Photo: Quintin Lake

Annunciation. Detail from the Holy Infancy fresco on the North wall. St Clement's Church, Ashampstead. Photo: Quintin Lake

The Visitation. Detail from the Holy Infancy fresco on the North wall. St Clement's Church, Ashampstead. Photo: Quintin Lake

The Nativity. Detail from the Holy Infancy fresco on the North wall. St Clement's Church, Ashampstead. Photo: Quintin Lake

The Appearance of the Angel to the Shepherds. Detail from the Holy Infancy fresco on the North wall. St Clement's Church, Ashampstead. Photo: Quintin Lake

These photographs were made during an assignment to produce compositions suitable for use as greetings cards which will be sold to fund building work on the church. The wall-paintings were lit with two strobes bounced off reflecting umbrellas to give an even an even neutral light on the subject. Various enhancements were made in post production to reveal the maximum amount of detail including increasing contrast and saturation of the originals.

The Courtauld institute has written “These 13th Century paintings are undoubtedly amongst the most important of their date in England, not only because of the amount of painting that survives but because of their high quality”. The paintings were discovered in 1895 having been plastered over during the reformation. Restoration work was undertaken in 1960.

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