DOI Artikel:
Crampin, Martin: The Gothic Revival character of ecclesiastical stained glass in Britain
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51154#0026
Folia Historiae Artium
Seria Nowa, t. 17: 2019/PL ISSN 0071-6723
MARTIN CRAMPIN
University of Wales
THE GOTHIC REVIVAL CHARACTER
OF ECCLESIASTICAL STAINED GLASS
IN BRITAIN
At the outset of the nineteenth century, commissions for
new pictorial windows for cathedrals, churches and sec-
ular settings in Britain were few and were usually char-
acterised by the practice of painting on glass in enamels.
Skilful use of the technique made it possible to achieve an
effect that was similar to oil painting, and had dispensed
with the need for leading coloured glass together in the
medieval manner. In the eighteenth century, exponents
of the technique included William Price, William Peckitt,
Thomas Jervais and Francis Eginton, and although the ex-
quisite painterly qualities of the best of their windows are
sometimes exceptional, their reputation was tarnished for
many years following the rejection of the style in Britain
during the mid-nineteenth century.1
The similarity to contemporary oil painting was
strengthened by the practice of copying paintings of re-
ligious subjects, and painters such as Benjamin West
and Joshua Reynolds supplied original designs for Fran-
cis Eginton of Birmingham, who made windows for ca-
thedrals at Salisbury, Lichfield and St Asaph, although in
many cases his work has been moved or lost.2 His window
of Christ contemplating the Crucifixion of 1795 survives
at the Church of St Alkmund, Shrewsbury and is a theme
with similarities to his window of 1800 for St Asaph Ca-
thedral, now at the Church of St Tegla, Llandegla. Both
depict the youthful Christ, although the figure in the
window at Shrewsbury appears to be a copy of the figure
of Mary in the Assumption of the Virgin by Guido Reni
1 For an overview of this period see S. Brown, Stained Glass: An Il-
lustrated History, London, 1992, pp. 120-125.
2 For the work of Francis Eginton see ‘Glass Painters of Birming-
ham, Francis Eginton, 1737-1805’, Journal of the British Society of
Master-Glass Painters, 2,1927, no. 2, pp. 63-71.
(1637), which has caused some confusion over the subject
of the window [Fig. 1].3
The scene at Shrewsbury is painted on rectangular
sheets of glass, although the large window is arched and
its framework is subdivided into lancets. The shape of the
window demonstrates the influence of the Gothic Revival
for the design of the new Church of St Alkmund, which
was a Georgian building of 1793-1795 built to replace the
medieval church that had been pulled down. The Gothic
Revival was well underway in Britain by the second half
of the eighteenth century, particularly among aristocratic
patrons who built and re-fashioned their country homes
with Gothic features, complete with furniture and stained
glass inspired by the Middle Ages.
Windows painted with layers of enamel paint suffered
from a reduction in transparency, and to introduce more
light and stronger colour, glass painters looked back to
the medieval styles and methods of making stained glass,
reintroducing coloured glass into their designs, and aug-
menting the painterly techniques of artists such as Thomas
Among others, Nikolaus Pevsner perceived the figure as female,
and some have interpreted it as a figure of Faith or Hope. N. Pev-
sner, The Buildings of England: Shropshire, London, 1958, p. 256.
The figure stands over the cross with the cup of suffering also
shown below, and shares similarities with the standing figure
of the young Christ made by Eginton for St Asaph, amid cher-
ubs toying with the instruments of the Passion. It is unlikely that
a large east window at an Anglican church would have depicted
the Virgin Mary as a principal subject at this date when Roman
Catholicism was still officially suppressed by the British state.
Pevsners comment on the windows being not at all unattractive,
however much one must object to the lack of any principles of de-
sign, is suggestive of the lingering distaste for the technique even
in the mid-twentieth century.
Publikacja jest udostępniona na licencji Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL).
Seria Nowa, t. 17: 2019/PL ISSN 0071-6723
MARTIN CRAMPIN
University of Wales
THE GOTHIC REVIVAL CHARACTER
OF ECCLESIASTICAL STAINED GLASS
IN BRITAIN
At the outset of the nineteenth century, commissions for
new pictorial windows for cathedrals, churches and sec-
ular settings in Britain were few and were usually char-
acterised by the practice of painting on glass in enamels.
Skilful use of the technique made it possible to achieve an
effect that was similar to oil painting, and had dispensed
with the need for leading coloured glass together in the
medieval manner. In the eighteenth century, exponents
of the technique included William Price, William Peckitt,
Thomas Jervais and Francis Eginton, and although the ex-
quisite painterly qualities of the best of their windows are
sometimes exceptional, their reputation was tarnished for
many years following the rejection of the style in Britain
during the mid-nineteenth century.1
The similarity to contemporary oil painting was
strengthened by the practice of copying paintings of re-
ligious subjects, and painters such as Benjamin West
and Joshua Reynolds supplied original designs for Fran-
cis Eginton of Birmingham, who made windows for ca-
thedrals at Salisbury, Lichfield and St Asaph, although in
many cases his work has been moved or lost.2 His window
of Christ contemplating the Crucifixion of 1795 survives
at the Church of St Alkmund, Shrewsbury and is a theme
with similarities to his window of 1800 for St Asaph Ca-
thedral, now at the Church of St Tegla, Llandegla. Both
depict the youthful Christ, although the figure in the
window at Shrewsbury appears to be a copy of the figure
of Mary in the Assumption of the Virgin by Guido Reni
1 For an overview of this period see S. Brown, Stained Glass: An Il-
lustrated History, London, 1992, pp. 120-125.
2 For the work of Francis Eginton see ‘Glass Painters of Birming-
ham, Francis Eginton, 1737-1805’, Journal of the British Society of
Master-Glass Painters, 2,1927, no. 2, pp. 63-71.
(1637), which has caused some confusion over the subject
of the window [Fig. 1].3
The scene at Shrewsbury is painted on rectangular
sheets of glass, although the large window is arched and
its framework is subdivided into lancets. The shape of the
window demonstrates the influence of the Gothic Revival
for the design of the new Church of St Alkmund, which
was a Georgian building of 1793-1795 built to replace the
medieval church that had been pulled down. The Gothic
Revival was well underway in Britain by the second half
of the eighteenth century, particularly among aristocratic
patrons who built and re-fashioned their country homes
with Gothic features, complete with furniture and stained
glass inspired by the Middle Ages.
Windows painted with layers of enamel paint suffered
from a reduction in transparency, and to introduce more
light and stronger colour, glass painters looked back to
the medieval styles and methods of making stained glass,
reintroducing coloured glass into their designs, and aug-
menting the painterly techniques of artists such as Thomas
Among others, Nikolaus Pevsner perceived the figure as female,
and some have interpreted it as a figure of Faith or Hope. N. Pev-
sner, The Buildings of England: Shropshire, London, 1958, p. 256.
The figure stands over the cross with the cup of suffering also
shown below, and shares similarities with the standing figure
of the young Christ made by Eginton for St Asaph, amid cher-
ubs toying with the instruments of the Passion. It is unlikely that
a large east window at an Anglican church would have depicted
the Virgin Mary as a principal subject at this date when Roman
Catholicism was still officially suppressed by the British state.
Pevsners comment on the windows being not at all unattractive,
however much one must object to the lack of any principles of de-
sign, is suggestive of the lingering distaste for the technique even
in the mid-twentieth century.
Publikacja jest udostępniona na licencji Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 PL).