- Ford Madox Brown exhibition in Manchester
- Damage at Howden Minster
- Stained glass at Reims Cathedral
- York Glaziers Trust website
- Painton Cowan Lecture
- Conservation Research Fellowship
- Angels and Demons
- Name that Roundel!
Ford Madox Brown exhibition in Manchester
Fig. 2. The Brazen Serpent, 1872. (1878). Cartoon for stained glass, black chalk and wash. Private collection, on loan to Manchester City Galleries. ©Manchester City Galleries
Fig. 1. Pruning (The Woodcutter), 1863. Made by Morris, Marshall Faulkner & Co., after a design by Brown. Courtesy William Morris Gallery, London Borough of Waltham Forest
An important exhibition of the work of the Victorian Pre-Raphaelite artist and stained glass designer, Ford Madox Brown (1821 -1893), has opened at the Manchester Art Gallery in northern England. Madox Brown joined William Morris’s design company (Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.), in 1861.
Over the next thirteen years he produced about 115 designs for windows before leaving the firm in 1874. The exhibition includes 140 works by the artist, including some of his black and white cartoons for stained glass.
Examples of his designs can be seen in a number of churches including those in Bonchurch (Isle of Wight); Cambridge, Jesus College; Cheddleton (Staffs); Dedworth (Berks); Doddington (Cambs); Durham, St Oswald; Haltwhistle (Northumberland); Knaresborough (Yorks); Langton Green (Kent); Enfield, (London); Madeley (Staffs); Middleton Cheney (Northants); Rodbourne (Wilts); Scarborough (Yorks); Sculthorpe (Norfolk); Selsley (Glos); Tamworth (Staffs); Troutbeck (Cumbria); and Waterford (Herts).
The exhibition is accompanied by an excellent catalogue written by the curator, Julian Treuherz, with contributions from Angela Thirlwell and Kenneth Bendiner.
Ford Madox Brown: Pre-Raphaelite Pioneer is on show at Manchester Art Gallery until Sunday, 29 January 2012. Entry costs £8 (£6 concessions) with free entry for under 18s and Manchester Art Gallery Friends. Copies of the catalogue are available from the Art Gallery shop and on online.
For more information visit the website.
Damage at Howden Minster
Fig. 3. Arms of Antony Bec, Howden Minster. © Barley Studios
Two windows at Howden Minster (Yorks) containing fragments of fourteenth-century glass have been damaged by vandals. The police are investigating. The fragments include the arms of Antony Bec (c. 1245 – 1311), Bishop of Durham 1283-1311.
Stained glass at Reims Cathedral
Fig. 4. Reims Cathedral 800th anniversary stamp
A major international conference will be held at Reims on October 21 and 22 to celebrate the 800th anniversary of this famous French Cathedral.
Topics will include the art and architecture of the Cathedral with Professor Madeline Caviness, and Dr Sylvie Balcon-Berry (University of Paris) speaking about the stained glass.
For more information visit the cathedral website.
A major English language study of the stained glass at Reims is due out soon. More details about The Gothic Stained Glass of Reims Cathedral by Professor Meredith Parsons Lillich will appear in our next issue.
York Glaziers Trust website
The York Glaziers Trust has unveiled a new website here at www.yorkglazierstrust.org.
The site will enable readers to follow the development of the restoration of the Great East Window of York Minster over the next five years.
It also includes information about other recent and ongoing projects involving the Trust such as conservation of the West Window of Beverley Minster, and the Chapel glass at New College, Oxford.
Painton Cowan Lecture
Painton Cowan will be speaking on ‘Lesser known medieval masterpieces in England and France’ at the National Glass Centre in Sunderland, on 1 November at 6.30 pm.
The lecture is sponsored by the Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters of Glass.
For more information contact The National Glass Centre at info@nationalglasscentre.com.
For more information about Painton, visit his excellent website.
Conservation Research Fellowship
The Clothworkers’ Foundation is offering a grant of up to £80,000 to a UK public institution to enable an experienced conservator (employed by that institution) to pursue a research project for two years. During the sabbatical the post will be covered by an externally recruited junior conservator.
The grant will meet the salary and on-costs of the junior conservator, and the project costs of the work undertaken by the senior fellow. Stained glass conservators can apply.
The closing date for applications is Friday 2nd March 2012. Further details and an application form are available from the Clothworkers’ Foundation Website.
Angels and Demons
Fig. 5. ‘Dark angel’, painting on glass, by Helen Whittaker.
An exhibition of drawings and stained glass by two of England’s leading contemporary artists and conservators, Jonathan Cooke and Helen Whittaker, has opened at Lotherton Hall, Aberford, Leeds. It will run until 31st December.
The exhibition is open 10am-5pm, Tuesdays – Saturdays. For information about visiting Lotherton Hall see the website.
Name that Roundel!
Fig. 6. Name that Roundel! © Kees Berserik
This month’s puzzle comes from the parish church of St Lawrence at West Wycombe (Buckinghamshire). It shows several figures in acts of prayer inside a richly decorated temple with a statue in a niche to the right. In the middle ground a man is kneeling and looking straight ahead. At the right of the panel a second man is making a low obeisance. Through an opening a third man can be seen kneeling before a standing figure.
The panel consists of clear glass with black vitreous paint and yellow stain. It measures 27 by 20 cm, and has been dated to 1565-70.
What subject does the scene depict?
Roundels and other single panels of this period typically depict a range of subjects, including stories from the Old and New Testaments, the Lives of saints, and tales from ancient history and classical literature, such as Homer’s Odyssey. Moral themes can also appear.
The solution can be found at the foot of this month’s Books section.
