King Egfrid and Bishop Trumwine persuade Cuthbert to be made Bishop (One of a series...

William Bell Scott (Edinburgh 1811 - Penkill Castle 1890). Oil painting on canvas, King Egfrid and Bishop Trumwine persuade Cuthbert to be made Bishop, by William Bell Scott (Edinburgh 1811 - Penkill Castle 1890), signed and dated, at top of right hand stone pier: W B Scott June to Dec 1856. Cuthbert had retired from the cloister to a cell on a small desolate island off the north east coast where he lived for many years as a hermit. When he was asked to become Bishop of Hexham he was reluctant to leave his life of prayer and could only be persuaded to leave his hermitage by a visit from King Egfrid and Bishop Trumwine. The King is shown exchanging Cuthberts spade for the Crozier of a Bishop. After four years on the mainland Cuthbert, later St Cuthbert, returned and died in his hermitage (A.D. 684). The figure in the centre is a likeness of Mr Gow, for forty years Agent to the Trevelyan family, and the kneeling man is Mr Wright, a porter of the Museum in Newcastle. One of a series of eight oil paintings illustrating the history of the English Border painted between 1856 and 1861. Wallington, Northumberland (Accredited Museum)