The Devastation of British Art

Diarmaid MacCulloch marks the start of the Tate Britain exhibition on Iconoclasm with a programme on the destruction of religious art during the English Reformation. His focus is East Anglia, a site of protestant fervour and violent destruction from the 16^th century to the end of the civil war. Looking at the white-washed churches of Wetherden and Bures in Suffolk, Diarmaid assesses the complex set of motivations which drove the iconoclasts to tear down statues, set light to rood screens and smash stained glass.

Produced by Isabel Sutton

Broadcast on 20th October 2013,