From:Williamson Art Gallery and Museum

Name/TitleThe Pastoral Epistles

About this objectRaymond Hawthorn (1917-1997) was a British wood engraver and printmaker. Born in Dorset in 1917, he studied art at the Coventry School of Art from 1935-9 and Hornsey School of Art from 1939-40. He was local to the Wirral, being a member of the Wirral Society of Arts and a teacher at the Laird School of Art. Throughout his career, he created collections of engravings to be used as illustrations in books, for example, Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, trans. Richard Aldington, 1962), The Life of Alexander the Great (trans. Aubrey de Sélincourt, 1970) and, The Rise and Fall of Athens (Ian Scott-Kilvert, 1967). His artistic process involved engraving woodblocks for prints as well as watercolour paintings. His work is complex, detailed and uses a monochrome palette. This design comes from a collection made for a Pelican Edition of Commentaries on the New Testament published in the late 20th century.

This watercolour depicts events from the Pastoral Epistles, letters by the Apostle Paul, which offer practical advice on Christian worship, conduct of Church leaders and the advice to remain steadfast in the face of false teachings. The gallery also has a woodblock and a print of this design in its collection.

MakerHawthorn, Raymond (1917-1997)

Maker Roleengraver

Period20th century

Medium and Materialswatercolour on paper

Style and Iconographyreligious

Inscription and Marks"The Pastoral Epistles On Right of Design: The influence of St. Paul "But there is another reason why these writings are still worth studying, even if we take them not by him, then they were certainly by somebody who thought it worth writing in his name." Page 17 Pelican edition. Below: A reference to 3(1-17), "Heresy and Sin". Page 123. Top: In view of J.L Houlden's statement on page 17 of the Introduction ("They take us on from the earliest Christian times into the next period-that of the Church's acclimatization to the world. In one sense tha period is still with us." I thought the very concrete symbols of the future Church justified. His phrase "setting light to human institutions" on the same page also helped."

Techniquewatercolour

Measurementswatercolour height: 9cm
watercolour width: 11cm
mount height: 26cm
mount width: 16.5cm

Subject and Association KeywordsChristianity

Subject and Association KeywordsPaul the Apostle

Subject and Association KeywordsCross

Credit LinePresented by Mark R. Hammer, 2026

Object Typewatercolour

Object numberBIKGM.9382

Copyright LicenceAll rights reserved