DOI issue:
No. 393 (December 1925)
DOI article:Sparrow, Walter Shaw: Christopher Whall and his influence
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21403#0372
CHRISTOPHER WHALL AND HIS INFLUENCE
in art, first in England, at the Royal
Academy, and then in travel abroad.
Ruskin and the pre-Raphaelite movement
were the contemporary influences at home
throughout his apprenticeship, and in
1884 he united his lot to a handful of able
men who devoted their lives to a revival
of genuine stained glass, as opposed to
the industrial vogue of painted windows.
Some of his friends and colleagues gave
their great gifts to designing, as Anning
Bell does to-day, while Christopher Whall
not only designed for stained glass, but
carried out the whole production right
through from preliminary sketches to
finished windows, at first alone, then aided
by brilliant pupils, among whom were
Douglas Strachan and Miss Veronica
Whall, his daughter, who continues to
carry on the traditions of her father's
own school. 0 0 a 0
366
Though Whall founded himself upon
the finest traditions of mediaeval glass, he
was by no means an antiquarian revivalist,
but essentially and eminently of his own
day in sympathy, effort, and achievement;
and though he opposed publicity through-
out his career, his designs and windows
had an influence that permeated the
movement of art and craft, and that was
really the main thing that enabled a few
men in our country to make the very best
coloured windows in Europe. This fact
was recognised on the Continent. Happily,
too, Whall was persuaded to write a
technical book—a very admirable work—
on his first-hand knowledge, so that
critics of the future will be able to review
his life-work as a whole, passing, for
example, from his radiant windows in the
Lady Chapel of Gloucester Cathedral, com-
pleted by 1905, to the mastery of detailed
in art, first in England, at the Royal
Academy, and then in travel abroad.
Ruskin and the pre-Raphaelite movement
were the contemporary influences at home
throughout his apprenticeship, and in
1884 he united his lot to a handful of able
men who devoted their lives to a revival
of genuine stained glass, as opposed to
the industrial vogue of painted windows.
Some of his friends and colleagues gave
their great gifts to designing, as Anning
Bell does to-day, while Christopher Whall
not only designed for stained glass, but
carried out the whole production right
through from preliminary sketches to
finished windows, at first alone, then aided
by brilliant pupils, among whom were
Douglas Strachan and Miss Veronica
Whall, his daughter, who continues to
carry on the traditions of her father's
own school. 0 0 a 0
366
Though Whall founded himself upon
the finest traditions of mediaeval glass, he
was by no means an antiquarian revivalist,
but essentially and eminently of his own
day in sympathy, effort, and achievement;
and though he opposed publicity through-
out his career, his designs and windows
had an influence that permeated the
movement of art and craft, and that was
really the main thing that enabled a few
men in our country to make the very best
coloured windows in Europe. This fact
was recognised on the Continent. Happily,
too, Whall was persuaded to write a
technical book—a very admirable work—
on his first-hand knowledge, so that
critics of the future will be able to review
his life-work as a whole, passing, for
example, from his radiant windows in the
Lady Chapel of Gloucester Cathedral, com-
pleted by 1905, to the mastery of detailed