'Beauty for Deformity': an 18th century Anglican defence of imagery
Having addressed the violent iconoclasm of the 1640s, The Ornaments of Churches Considered, With a Particular View to the Late Decoration of the Parish Church of St. Margaret Westminster (1761) brings to a close its survey of the place of imagery the Church of England since the Reformation with a short reference to the post-1660 era: The Restoration of our Monarchy and Constitution not only averted all Dangers of this Kind, but introduced into our Churches, Beauty for Deformity. The Nobility, Gentry, and People concurred with the Clergy in decorating, repairing, or rebuilding such as had been desolated and ruined, or levelled with the Ground. The dreadful Conflagration which happened soon after in our Capital, gave Births to a new Set of sacred Edifices, the Number of which was augmented in Queen Anne's Reign, when great Sums of Money were, by public Authority, provided and applied for the buildings supporting and adorning of Churches. Post-1660, in other words, witnessed the rest
