Saints and Salvation

Saints and Salvation tells the story of a remarkable collector, Charles Wilshere (1814-1906), and his passion for the English Catholic church.

From newly studied archival sources we learn how Wilshere achieved his personal mission of introducing museum visitors to the then brand-new subject of early Christian art and archaeology. Wilshere's core collection included late Roman gold-glass, sarcophagi, and funerary inscriptions - Jewish, Christian and pagan. Research across several disciplines has improved our understanding of how these objects were made and for whom they were commissioned. The results have been used to create a full catalogue of the Wilshere Collection, with a full concordance of objects and their current locations. Previously unpublished material from the Vatican Library, covering Jewish, pagan and Christian history

Never before published details about Roman gold-glass, covering artefacts relating to Jewish and Christian history in Rome

Susan Walker is an Honorary Curator of the Ashmolean Museum, where she served as Keeper of Antiquities from 2004-2014. She was responsible for managing the purchase of the Wilshere Collection for the Ashmolean Museum from Pusey House, Oxford in 2007. She is an Emerita Fellow of Wolfson College, University of Oxford.