PEARCE, Edward

Edward Pearce (Pierce) was a prolific and able wood and stone carver, who worked on decorative sculpture for country houses and churches, for Wren's City churches (he made the wooden model of the copper dragon for the vane of St Mary-le-Bow), the Guildhall, St Paul's CathedralGLOSSARYThe principal church of a province or diocese, where the throne of the bishop is placed. For reasons lost to time and tradition, a cathedral always faces west - toward the setting sun. The altar is placed at the east end. The main body, or nave, of the cathedral is usually divided into one main and two side aisles. These lead up to the north and south transepts, or arms of the cross, the shape in which a cathedral is usually formed., Hampton Court, several City Companies, and Clare College, Cambridge. His bust of Wren (1673, Oxford, Ashmolean) shows him with a gift for the restrained BaroqueGLOSSARYThe period in art history from about 1600 to about 1750. In this sense the term covers a wide range of styles and artists. In painting and sculpture there were three main forms of Baroque: (1) sumptuous display, a style associated with the Catholic Counter Reformation and the absolutist courts of Europe (Bernini, Rubens); (2) dramatic realism (Caravaggio); and (3) everyday realism, a development seen in particular in Holland (Rembrandt, Vermeer). In architecture, there was an emphasis on expressiveness and grandeur, achieved through scale, the dramatic use of light and shadow, and increasingly elaborate decoration. In a more limited sense the term Baroque often refers to the first of these categories. The development of the Baroque reflects the period's religious tensions (Catholic versus Protestant); a new and more expansive world view based on science and exploration; and the growth of absolutist monarchies. current in England, and a ready eye for liveliness of character. There are works in the Royal Collection, Windor, London and Yale.