Despenser Retable

If you visit the chapels of the Norman cathedral in Norwich, you can be really suprised by the remarkable paintings your can see there from the 14th and 15th century. One of the most famous ones is this one, titled the Despenser Retable. It survived to the destrution of the Reformists disguised as a table. In the 19th century, someone happened to look under the table, so the painting was discovered.

The most impressive characteristic of this retable, which is named after Despenser, a bishop born in th 13th century, is its vivid red colour. Later on, in the 18th century, that colour made city dyers famous all over the world due to their use of that red in the production of shawls.