Headboard Reredos | Arts & Crafts
Clipped from: https://www.aestheticritualism.com/articles/headboard-reredos-arts-amp-crafts
By Fr Brandon LeTourneau
Feb 15
Written By Brandon LeTourneau
St. Mark’s Side Altar
This Side Altar features a reredos made out of a repurposed antique headboard. The headboard was painted with traditional Medieval symbols of the Lord’s Passion by the Rev. Brandon LeTourneau and his three-year-old son, Augustine. It is housed at St. Mark’s, Loomis.
“[A]nd that all the painting be grave, and reverend, not with light colours, or foolish anticks.”
— Herbert's "Country Parson."
My parish – St. Mark’s, Loomis – has a small side altar which was the altar originally built for the parish. A former rector did not like that it was an eastward-facing (ad orientem) altar, and so he had it cut down the middle so as to make it slim enough to stand behind. Needless to say, its new size made celebrating the Holy Communion quite precarious – even when restored to the eastward position. When I became Rector of the parish, one of the first things done was have a new (larger) altar constructed to replace it. However, we didn’t want to destroy this meaningful piece of parish history, and so it was moved in order to function as a side altar. This did create one small issue: we only had enough accoutrement for a single altar. We would have to acquire all the “stuff,” as it were. We managed candlesticks, some paraments, and a dossal curtain, but I wanted something more. It was around then that I acquired a uniquely shaped headboard which sparked my imagination: it would make the perfect reredos.
A “reredos” is a decorative screen or board (often quite large) depicting sacred imagery which is placed behind the Holy Table. You can think of it as a decorated liturgical backsplash. Not a lot of work would be needed for the transformation of this already lovely headboard to fit this purpose, and so my three-year-old son and I got to work. Unfortunately, I was not able to salvage the floral design in the center of the board (much to my chagrin). It was too badly damaged by time we acquired it, and after transportation and storage, there was no hope of keeping it as a permanent feature. We first sanded the finished wood for the best possible adhesion of the paint. The goal of this project was to use whatever was on hand – liturgical adornment really isn’t so difficult – and so the red paint (along with the rest) used is just what happened to be in the parish shed. As you can see, it turned out remarkably well. The next thing to do was to form shields of the desired size with painter’s tape. Ecclesiastical heraldry has a long and venerable history within Anglican art. But what would these shields depict? For this, I turned to Ernest Geldart’s famous A Manual of Church Decoration and Symbolism. From this classic treatise of practical Anglican aesthetics, my son and I selected the following three symbols of the Lord’s Passion:
We settled upon the crown and thorns, the five sacred wounds and cross, and the three fish and five loaves. Not only are these three traditional symbols rich with meaning, they are also quite easy for a toddler’s hand to trace and would not utilize more than three colors (the selection of paints available in the shed). After drying, all that was left to do was firmly affix the board to the wall behind the altar. This was accomplished with the help of two planks cut to the desired size which serve as stilts and some drywall screws. Although simple and almost archaic, the effect produced by the crude shields and bright red background is remarkably pleasing! Needless to say that I’m biased in the sense that a father always loves the handiwork of his children, yet when standing in front of the whole ensemble, I cannot help but feel transported back to the medieval shrines I visited in England. This simple (and free!) reredos now serves – and I pray it will remain to do so for generations – as another piece of practical and personal piety decorating and beautifying our humble parish church. To me, it is yet more evidence that few skills, some forethought, and a lot of love are all that are required to make a space tasteful, beautiful, and fit for the Lord’s service.
