- The Stained Glass Museum Open from 18 May 2021
- Stained Glass Exhibition at York Minster
- Upcoming Events
- Opportunity to download Leicestershire stained glass gazetteer
- New Additions to York Minster Stained Glass Navigator
- Job Vacancy: Rochdale Town Hall - Stained Glass Trainee
The Stained Glass Museum Open from 18 May 2021
The Stained Glass Museum has reopened to the public from Tuesday 18th May following the extended lockdown.
New opening hours are Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-3.30pm. Advance booking is encouraged.
Joint tickets (to visit both Ely Cathedral and Stained Glass Museum) can be booked by clicking here.
Individual tickets to The Stained Glass Museum only can be booked by clicking here.
With over 130 examples of stained glass from the medieval to the modern era on display, explore this beautiful art form up-close in the majestic surrounds of Ely Cathedral.
The museum is hoping to recommence its practical glass workshops from June 2021. For more information please visit www.stainedglassmuseum.com
New Kehinde Wiley acquisition
Kehinde Wiley, Saint Adelaide (2014), on display at the Stained Glass Museum (ELYGM 2021:1) © The Stained Glass Museum
The Stained Glass Museum is thrilled to reopen with a new major acquisition by American artist Kehinde Wiley on display. Wiley (b.1977) is an established and celebrated visual artist, best known for his portraits which place black men and women in traditional settings of original historical, religious, or mythological portraits. Saint Adelaide (2014) is the first stained glass artwork by Wiley to enter a public art collection in the world.
Saint Adelaide is a larger-than-life stained glass portrait of a young black man, within a gothic frame, measuring over 2.5m high and 1m wide. The title and subject were inspired by a 19th-century stained glass window designed by the French painter Ingres for the Royal Chapel of Saint Ferdinand (or Notre-Dame de la Compassion) in Paris, and made in Sevres around 1843. In place of the Holy Roman Empress Adelaide (931-999) is Brooklyn model Mark Shavers, holding Adelaide’s attributes, a sceptre and crown, against a diapered blue background, underneath an ornamental gothic frame and decorative border.
The artwork has been purchased for the museum’s permanent collection with the help of Art Fund and Arts Council England / V&A Purchase Grant Fund and Arts Council England/ SHARE Museums East Acquisitions Fund.
The Stained Glass Museum – New Online Shop
The Stained Glass Museum has launched a new online shop, including featured gifts and books, and selected exclusive products including new stained glass face masks, magnets, mugs and greetings cards. Browse the online shop by clicking here.
Temporary Exhibitions
Until 25 August 2021
‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor’ is an exhibition of stained glass panels made during lockdown by the artist Rachel Mulligan and inspired by the pandemic.
18 May 2021 – 25 June 2021
Journeys: to Wharfe from Thames and Tawe an exhibition of panels on the theme of Journeys will be on show to the public at The Stained Glass Museum between 18 May 2021 – 25 June 2021. This exhibition features works by the following established artists:
Jonathan Cooke
Catrin Davies
Nicola Kantorowicz FMGP
Elizabeth Lamont
Rachel Phillips
Christian Ryan AMGP
Caroline Swash FMGP
Stained Glass Exhibition at York Minster
In June, a new exhibition at York Minster will offer the opportunity to explore the fifteenth-century St Cuthbert Window, which is among the finest extant examples of the art and techniques of medieval glaziers and stonemasons.
For centuries, Cuthbert was the most important saint in northern England. During his lifetime he guided kings, abbesses and ordinary people alike, and was renowned as a preacher, healer and hermit. The St Cuthbert Window shows the story of Cuthbert’s life on a monumental scale. Made around 1440, it is a rare surviving example of a narrative window, making it an important source for understanding medieval devotion, politics and storytelling, as well as past approaches to restoration.
The essential repair of the stone of the south-east transept has created a once in a lifetime opportunity to conserve the St Cuthbert window, last restored following the Second World War. In recent weeks, York Glaziers Trust have begun conservation work. A programme of cleaning, repair and stabilisation will be complemented by the introduction of a state-of-the-art environmental protective glazing system, creating a dry and stable environment that will ensure the window’s preservation for many generations to come.
St Cuthbert miraculously receives a fish from an eagle, St Cuthbert Window, panel 13b, c.1440 (Photograph York Glaziers Trust, © Chapter of York)
The exhibition, Light, Glass & Stone: Conserving the St Cuthbert Window, offers the chance to learn about the creation and history of the St Cuthbert Window, including new discoveries from recent research, as well as the cathedral’s current project to conserve this magnificent window, which is one of the largest extant narrative windows in Europe.
Visitors will have the rare opportunity to see at close range panels which have been removed from the window as part of the conservation and restoration project, alongside a soundscape and projection depicting one of St Cuthbert’s miracles.
The exhibition is part of a series of activities at York Minster this summer to mark the start of the major conservation and restoration project. Two talks by experts will offer the opportunity to explore the history and conservation of the window in more depth.
In the first talk, Dr Katharine Harrison will introduce St Cuthbert and explore the history and significance of the window at York Minster. By tracing Cuthbert’s remarkable life and exploring the creation and design of the St Cuthbert Window, as well as the impact of nearly 600 years, she will offer insights into the importance of this captivating window and the ingenuity of its creators.
In the second talk, Professor Sarah Brown, director of the York Glaziers Trust, will explain the programme of conservation and protection now underway, ensuring the preservation of the window for many generations to come. This illustrated talk will take you into the studio to learn about the meticulous conservation processes. It will also show how approaches to the conservation of stained glass have been transformed since the post-war era, a development in which the conservators and scholars of the city of York have played a crucial part.
The exhibition is due to open on 25th June, and will run until January 2024. Entry to the exhibition is free with general admission to the Minster, which must currently be booked for a specific time due to pandemic restrictions.
Free tickets for the talks will be released in advance, with the option to watch via livestream from your home.
For more information, and to book tickets for general admission and the talks, please visit York Minster’s website (click here).
Upcoming Events
We bring further news of exhibitions, lectures and webinars.
Exhibition | Painting in Coloured Light: The Modern Stained Glass of John Piper
Fig. 1. Stained glass window at All Saints Church, Farnborough, West Berkshire, featuring symbols of The Resurrection: fishes; tree of life; butterflies. Designed by John Piper and made by Joseph Nuttgens. (Photo: Andrew Loutit. © The Piper Estate / DACS 2021)
Henley River and Rowing Museum reopened on the 20th May 2021, boasting a new display in its nationally significant John Piper Gallery, centering on a recently conserved cartoon for the window created by Piper for All Saints Church, Farnborough, West Berkshire, in memory of his friend John Betjeman.
The Museum will be open 10am- 4pm, Thursdays to Mondays. Pre-booking is essential (click here for more information and to book).
Webinars | British Society of Master Glass Painters Lecture Series
Celebrating their centennial year, the BSMGP have released details of their summer and autumn lectures, once again taking place virtually over Zoom. Tickets are £5, or £4.25 for members, and can be booked online (click here).
Summer Lecture:
Friday 11th June (7pm BST) Stained Glass in America with Julie Sloan
Autumn Lecture:
Friday 10th September (7pm BST) Australia’s Stained Glass: Short History… Long Story with Bronwyn Hughes
Webinars | Churches Conservation Trust Thursday Lunchtime Lectures
The CCT continue to offer free broadcast lectures on a wide variety of topics via their Facebook page. A full list of upcoming events can be viewed here, as well as an archive of previous lectures at this link. If you are unsure of how to use Facebook, the CCT have helpfully provided a video explanation (click here to view).
The next event is:
- Thursday 3rd June (1pm BST) — Full Circle – Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral: History and Conservation
Readers may also be interested in two recent webinars:
- Thursday 20th May (1pm BST) — The Element of Surprise: Church Design In The Twentieth Century
- Thursday 27th May (1pm BST) — Cloisters: Remarkable Cathedral Survivors
Webinars | Worshipful Company of Glaziers Events
Whilst the UK remains in a transition period regarding lockdown restrictions, many of the in-person events provisionally planned by the Worshipful Company of Glaziers are unconfirmed, but the April 2021 programme of events is available to download via their website.
Tickets are free to members, and £5.98 (including booking fee) to non-members. Webinars previously delivered can be viewed on their website (click here to view).
Readers may be interested in a recent event on Tuesday 18th May (6pm BST) — From The Cellar To The Light with Rolf Achilles and Paul Greenhalgh.
Opportunity to download Leicestershire stained glass gazetteer
Roger Willson, Chairman of the Leicester Stained Glass Appreciation Group, is offering Vidimus readers the opportunity to download Paul Sharpling’s gazetteer to the stained glass windows of Leicestershire.
Henry Payne Ascension window, St Andrew’s Church, Aylestone, Leicester, 1930 (Photo © Roger Willson)
Window from the glazing scheme at Withcote Chapel of c1530 – c1540 (Photo © Roger Willson)
Roger Willson writes:
In Vidimus issue 133, October 2020, I wrote an appreciation of Paul Sharpling who was, without doubt, the expert on stained glass in the East Midlands. As I said then, Paul had set himself the project thirty years ago of recording all the stained glass windows of Rutland, Northamptonshire and Leicestershire, counties which had formed the Diocese of Peterborough from 1840 to 1926. His work on Rutland was published in 1997 and on Northamptonshire in 2016. His wish was to complete the trilogy, but regrettably he died last July without finishing the task: it appears that he was still working on the project right up to the day of his death.
The unfinished material was passed by Paul’s sons to members of the Leicester Stained Glass Appreciation Group, as he had asked us to take over responsibility in the event of his death. Our dearest wish would have been to bring the work to completion in the form of publication as a tribute to him. Regrettably, we discovered that he had left things further from completion than we had expected except for the actual gazetteer of all the windows in the county. We decided, reluctantly, that publication was out of the question for us both financially and in practical terms of the work necessary. We also did not feel that we had the expertise or time ourselves to create a website.
What we do have is the complete gazetteer to all the stained glass in Leicestershire, which we are gradually adding to the Leicestershire & Rutland Church Journal website as it is updated: www.leicestershirechurches.co.uk. Some errors and omissions have already been found, so the work at the moment is as Paul left it last July. We intend to revise entries when it becomes possible to visit churches again.
Paul would have wanted any enthusiasts to have access to this material, so if any readers of Vidimus would like a copy of the gazetteer free of charge, this can be downloaded by clicking here.
New Additions to York Minster Stained Glass Navigator
Screenshot of the Navigator homepage. (Image by YGT and © of The Chapter of York. Reproduced by kind permission of YGT and The Chapter of York)
After its launch happily coincided with the first UK lockdown last spring, the York Minster Navigator continues to be updated. Since the last issue of Vidimus there have been two new additions in windows n2 and s2, the neighbours either side of the infamous Great East Window. The entire east façade can now be viewed in never-before-seen levels of detail, with all panels identified and labelled by renowned scholars.
To view the continually expanding collection of windows, please visit https://stainedglass-navigator.yorkglazierstrust.org/.
Job Vacancy: Rochdale Town Hall - Stained Glass Trainee
An exciting opportunity for a Stained Glass Trainee has become available, working with the York Glaziers Trust on the Rochdale Town Hall project. The restoration of this renowned masterpiece of Gothic Revival provides a once in a generation opportunity for an individual to be trained in the specialist area of stained glass restoration work under the control of qualified and ICON accredited conservators. Some training may have to be delivered initially off-site, at the premises of the YGT, but will be honed on-site to ensure that these basic competencies can be practised.
The position is for two years, commencing September 2021. Interviews will take place 6th—7th July at the YGT. Closing date Tuesday 15th June 23.59pm.
Enquiries about the position can be sent to Emma Robinson: e.robinson@investinrochdale.co.uk
