Sculpture of St Peter Trampling the Devil

The sculpture originally formed the corner post of the ground floor of a house. It supported the jettied upper stories. While the sculpture is now in the Making History gallery, it used to live at the corner of the High Street and North Street. You can see it, in miniature, in the Hedgeland model of Exeter.

The Exeter sculpture is a rare example of religious street iconography. There is no known local tradition of large wooden sculpture and it is possible that it was the work of an immigrant craftsperson, perhaps from Germany or France.

This object was selected by a member of the LGBTQ+ community as part of the Out and About: Queering the Museum at RAMM project. Listen to the attached audio (transcript available) to find out why.  

Visual description: The sculpture is made of wood. It depicts the bearded figure of St Peter, dressed in a red tunic and blue and yellow gown. He is trampling a red-haired figure beneath his feet and looking down, as if reading the book held in his left hand. In his right hand, he holds a church and his crossed keys. The trampled figure is much smaller in scale than St Peter and missing its legs. The figure’s face is twisted, as if angry and in pain.