As a preamble to an article that will do justice to the amazing content of our Library and Museum of Freemasonry, I spoke with Mark Dennis, Curator since October 1999. I asked him to direct me to the various paintings and statues in the Grand Lodge building outside the L-shaped perimeter of the Museum and Library itself. The result is a wonderful array of important paintings and several sculptures, which many of us will have walked passed in corridors or sat beneath in the rooms of Great Queen Street in London.
    While Mark tends to keep an eye on all objects of antiquity or interest, much of it outside the library and museum remains the responsibility of the building management or the property of private Lodges. This includes items such as decorative light fittings, bronze grills and brass adornments as well as some splendid furnishings, for instance, tracing boards, pedestals and columns and, not least, the several splendid stained glass windows throughout the building. Nonetheless, restoration and conservation issues very often fall back on the Museum curator.
    In Grand Lodge itself, there is only a relatively small grouping of statues and paintings dispersed through the five floors and various lodge and committee rooms in the building. The most striking of these, situated in the committee rooms corridor leading to the boardroom, is the impressive and imposing eight foot marble statue of HRH Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, KG, first Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England from 1813 to 1843. The carved figure by Edward Hodges Baily RA (1788-1867) who, incidentally, also sculpted the statue of Admiral Nelson in Trafalgar Square, was commissioned by Grand Lodge to commemorate the death of the Grand Master on 21 April 1843.
    On the side of the small column on which the Grand Master’s hand rests is the only masonic emblem visible, the Grand Master’s square and compasses with the all-seeing eye within a triangle. The Duke is in the robes of the Order of the Bath, wearing the chain of office and in his hand is the baton of authority.

MOSAIC

A little further down the corridor, in front of the double door entrance to the boardroom, embedded in the floor within a silver frame, is colour Mosaic, 1m. by 60 cm., depicting the Ark of the Covenant. It was laid here in 1932, transferred from the previous Grand Temple, where it comprised part of the popular and widespread use of mosaic. It is the only surviving section of the original artwork, destroyed when the building was demolished following the irreparable structural damage caused by fire in 1883. A plaque bellow the frame is a reminder of the original source. It states: This Mosaic was collected at Jerusalem by W Bro Henry Mawdslay and presented to Grand Lodge AL 5877.

MARBLE BUSTS

A number of marble busts, either purchased or presented to Grand Lodge in the years indicated, are now situated in the Drawing Room on the first floor, including that of His Majesty King George IV Grand Master from 1790 to 1813 by Sir Francis Chantrey (1781-1842) dated 1828. Another by Edward Hodges Baily sculpted in 1827 is of HRH Frederick, Duke of York, Past Grand Master, and there are two by John Francis (1780-1861) of His Majesty King William IV, Past Grand Master and HRH Edward, Duke of Kent, Grand Master of the Antients in 1813, respectively. A rather attractive fifth statuary marble bust of Sir Edward Letchworth, Grand Secretary between 1892 and 1917, is appropriately placed in lodge room No. 23. The statue, by Tom R Essex, was completed in 1910 and presented ‘as a mark of high esteem and regard by the members of 288 Lodges and Chapters consecrated by him’. In this same lodge room are the painted and photographic portraits of varying sizes and shapes of no less than ten Grand Secretaries starting with William White, the Modern’s Grand Secretary from 1781 to the time of the Union in 1813, and ending with Jim Daniel (1996-2002).

THE DRAWING ROOM

As you step into the recently refurbished Drawing Room, you will be struck by the comfortable furniture and decorative surroundings. The half dozen 1880s Grand Officer’s chairs were taken from the old Grand Temple, refurbished and now in use. On the walls are several paintings, the most recognisable – as it appears to have been so often reproduced – is that of George Washington (1732-1799), First President of the United States of America as Master of his Lodge. He was initiated 4 November 1752 at Fredericksburg, Virginia.
    The artist is Robert Gordon Hardie and the portrait was commissioned by Henry S Wellcome, who presented it to Grand Lodge in 1900. The other portraits in the room follow the popular depiction of the rulers of Craft. Arthur Oliver Villiers, 2nd Lord Ampthill, Pro Grand Master from 1908 to 1935, is wearing the robes of the Order of the Star of India, and has been painted by Sir Arthur Cope RA in 1925, and the Right Hon. Sir Frederick Halsey, 1st Baronet, Deputy Grand Master from 1903 to 1926 in his Privy Councillor’s undress uniform, painted in 1920 by Harold Speed. All of these paintings were specially commissioned by the United Grand Lodge of England.

LODGE ROOMS

Several lodge rooms have some surprisingly interesting paintings. Lodge room No. 17, almost hidden away in the corridors of the top floor, has some striking paintings hanging on the walls. This is the room in which the famous Lodge of Antiquity, No. 2 meets regularly and the paintings on the walls are all the property of the Lodge. Behind the Master’s chair in the east is the well-known portrait of Anthony Sayer, first Grand Master of the Premier Grand Lodge of England in 1717, whose details of birth and early years remain a mystery. He was, famously, poverty stricken in later life and ended his masonic career as a Tyler. A rather controversial painting hangs on the north wall. It is supposed to be Sir Christopher Wren senior (1632-1723) but is so unlike any other known likeness of the wellknown architect that most historians have expressed their doubt as to whom it represents. Notwithstanding repeated reports of Wren’s initiation at St Paul’s Church in May 1651, arguments continue as to his full membership of the Craft as we understand it today. There is no argument as to his son’s membership, whose name is also Christopher, which may be the cause of the confusion that is still encountered today.

THE TAPESTRIES

To end, one surprising discovery was the two pieces of wall tapestry in the anteroom to Lodge Room No. 23. On opposite walls are two exceedingly old wall tapestries, one depicting a Belgian Temple Building of the 17th Century, and on the opposite wall a Franco Flemish wall carpet dated c1500 titled ‘Geometry First of the seven Liberal Arts’. The items are not on display to the general public. Mark pointed out that the Library and Museum has loaned items to other registered Museums. The most recent example is the North of England Open Air Museum in Beamish, County Durham, a living and working experience of life as it was in the north in the early 1800s and 1900s. It is set in over 300 acres of beautiful countryside and now includes a Masonic Hall, fully furnished by the Museum in London and the inside display is intended to give a unique insight into the world of the Freemasons in 1913.
    Mark Dennis, who is not a Freemason, is exceedingly enthusiastic and knowledgeable and has a keen sense of humour, which manifests itself in conversation and in his captions to the exhibits of which one is on display outside the Museum. It is the quarterly exhibit situated in the vestibule to the Grand Temple.
    Both the wide and entertaining choice of themes as well as the descriptive captions reflect Mark’s fun approach to his serious work. The present display at the Vestibule includes a coverage of the Druids, a series of cartoons, filming in Grand Lodge and, maybe not surprisingly, the Mark Degree.
    I had to ask him whether not being a mason was an advantage or not – was he held back by not having knowledge of the ‘secrets’ of Freemasonry?
    His response was: ‘I have never encountered a shut door’, and as to whether he is going to become a Freemason, his reply was typical: ‘I have a 13 to 14 hour working day, which precludes me from joining a lodge whilst employed by the Freemasons.’