A screen of classical columns was erected in the college chapel in 1664 (Wood 1786, 288; VCH, Oxfordshire, 3.184). A preliminary design (3, 384) and two preparatory sketches (4, 5) survive among Wren's drawings. The executed design was altered in 1716 by Thornhill, who recorded the structure as he found it in a drawing today at Worcester College, Oxford (Colvin 1964, pl. 82; Downes 1966, 118 and pl. 527). Wren's involvement is not otherwise documented.
3 - AS II.67. Preliminary design, c. 1664. Presentation drawing by Wren. W Elevation, with alternative treatments of the columns and parapet to L and R. Brown ink over pencil. 426 x 512 mm. Parchment. The scale is given on a small pasted overlay (1 ft to just under three-quarters of an inch). This must be incorrect, since it gives a chancel width of approximately 18½ ft, which is 10 ft narrower than the fabric. The design is in fact drawn to a scale of 2 ft to an inch.
Note to 3: This highly finished design bears the arms of Henry Chichele, founder of the college. The screen stands flush with the chancel arch on one side only, owing to the irregular plan of the antechapel; hence the dotted line through the far R column. Aspects of the project imply a knowledge of French design. There is a related plan study on 384.
[Wood 1786, 288; WS 5.9 and pl. 7; Colvin and Simmons 1989, 58; Colvin 1995, 1089]
4 - AS IV.117. Preliminary design for the chapel screen, c. 1664. Sketch elevation by Wren. Pencil. 147 x 310 mm. Watermark: horn in shield.
Note to 4: Like 3, the design is raised on three steps and the chancel arch indicated with vertical lines. Although lacking attributes, the figural sculpture probably represents the Four Doctors of the Church, to whom the chapel was dedicated in the seventeenth century (Wood 1786, 288). (Identification due to Howard Colvin.)
5a - AS IV.157 (click to view in Digital Bodleian)
5b - AS IV.157 (verso) (click to view in Digital Bodleian)
5 (a and b) - AS IV.157. Pencil studies for the chapel screen and candlesticks, c. 1664. Drawn on both sides of the sheet by Wren. Pencil and brown ink. 195 x 223 mm. Watermark: fleur-de-lis in a straight-sided shield surmounted by a coronet (Heawood 1717).
Note to 5: The design on the back of the sheet comes closest to the executed design. It should be compared with the S façade of the Sheldonian Theatre, designed at the same time and likewise indebted to Palladio's reconstruction of the Temple of Peace (Basilica of Maxentius). The caryatid at the edge of the design was probably derived from Palladio's Palazzo Valmarana. There is no record of candlesticks having been purchased for the chapel at this time.