Tag Archives: Pre-Raphaelites

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Henry Holiday

The stained glass windows I have most closely studied lie within the Chapel of St. Nicholas, which houses a magnificent series by pre-Raphaelite Henry Holiday.  At first, only the Chancel (the part of the Chapel where the Choir resides) had coloured windows, the rest of the Chapel simply having clear glass, but through time all thirteen windows were filled with his work.

Henry Holiday editedHenry Holiday (1839-1927) was an artist of great skill and many talents.  He was trained by William Cave Thomas in 1852, and two years later he entered the Royal Academy School.  He made progress with his drawing and painting and was greatly influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites.  Millais and Ruiskin both encouraged him, praising his painting, and he was on friendly terms with Rossetti, Burne-Jones and Holman Hunt.

Following commissioning, Henry Holiday produced a vidimus (below, left) for approval.  Once the design was approved, a full-sized cartoon was drawn for every ‘light’ or opening of the window.

This vidimus and window shows the story of the three holy children, from the Book of Daniel: Shadrak, Meshak & Abednego, who had be flung into a burning fiery furnace because they would not worship Nebuchadnezzar.

Text:
O all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord.
Praise Him and magnify Him for ever.
Benedicite

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Harris Manchester College Chapel – Revisited

An important part of my work is to ensure that the printed images are true representations of the actual windows and with this in mind I revisited Harris Manchester College this morning.

In the summer months, Oxford heaves with tourists (too many years living outside the Westcountry prevents me from referring to them as grockles or emmets) who reduce movement to a crawl.  However, it was reassuring to see a small number in the chapel who I called upon to critique my proof prints.  Their observations I concurred with completely with regard to the saturation of colours within the light BJ 397 (Courage) and have consequently re-edited the image.

HMC - Re-editedIt should be noted that the photographs were originally taken on a bright, overcast day in late March, when the daylight colour temperature was less warm than today, as was the intensity of the light  (with today being partially cloudy).  However, since I had undersaturated some areas and oversaturated others, it was clear that the changes were not just as a result of weather or seasonal conditions.  The changes see an increase in the saturation of the helmet, together with a recolouring towards orange/gold; The wooden staff and hands have been desaturated; and finally, the red background drape has had a increase in saturation as well as a recolouring towards ‘pure red’ – I am not convinced that I have yet made sufficient changes to the colour of the drape.

The animated GIF to the left demonstrates these subtle changes (albeit with minimal wow factor in a 2-second cycle):

There is a lot of quality loss in a GIF, so below is a JPEG of the final re-edited image:

 

 

HMC - Courage - Re-edited (low res)Courage – BJ 397 (Edward-Burne Jones, 1896) The Chapel of Harris Manchester College

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The Chapel of St. Edmund

Possibly the smallest chapel in Oxford, St. Edmund Hall’s chapel was consecrated for use in 1682 and dedicated to St Edmund.  The stained glass windows were installed a couple of centuries later by Messrs Clayton and Bell.  Sadly, where photography is concerned, choice over stained glass windows was limited: much of the glass suffered from close proximity to other buildings or dense foliage, making it incredibly dark, or resulting in a mottled appearance.

DCP_8561 (low res)The east window was work of the famous artists and designers, Sir Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris, and was inserted in 1865. It is the earliest example in Oxford of their stained glass work. The arrangement of the window was designed by Philip Webb, who also designed the pattern work. Fortunately, the main light within the East Window (by Burne-Jones) was lit uniformly and lent itself to convenient shooting, as there was the full length of the nave to use.

The east window demonstrated very high contrast, with significant area proving difficult to resolve in anything more than black.  It is also a window that has not been cleaned recently, showing much build-up of dark grime.

St. Edmund Hall - Ecce Agnus Dei (cut out) UPDATED PNG (low res)

Crucifixion (Edward Burne-Jones, 1865) The Chapel of St. Edmund

Ecce Agnus Dei qui tollit peccata mundi
Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!
John 1:29

Shot at 220mm, using the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens, at the now standard aperture of f/8.0, there was only a small amount of perspective distortion to correct in the final image.

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Harris Manchester College Chapel – revisited

My initial visit to The Chapel of Harris Manchester College saw the East Window shrouded in protective covers while cleaning work was taking place outside.  The chapel is not typically oriented, so the east window, in this instance, is located at the rear of the chapel.

Harris Manchester is undoubtedly the most welcoming college – I am always greeted like a long-lost friend by the Porter’s Lodge, and have been accommodated without any problem, allowed to get on with my work in the most beautiful surroundings.

While I endeavour to restrict myself to just a single stained-glass window (or light) from each chapel, I keep finding myself drawn back to this chapel, which is filled with stunning work by William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones.

The east window was undoubtedly worth my revisit… it is impressively large, and stunning!  Sadly, and in keeping with many chapels and churches, the five main lights are all backed by protective mesh, which although subtle and almost unnoticeable to the casual observer, creates an obvious and detracting element to any photograph, even when reduced to a thumbnail…

DCP_8660 (quick edit) (low res)

The quick edit of the entire east window, above, provides just a hint of the stunning colours and design.  However, for the development of this project, I focussed most of my efforts on the top third of the window, lavishly illustrated with angels and devoid of protective mesh.

East Rose - PNG (low res).png

Teaching the Ignorant (BJ237 Edward Burne-Jones, 1896) The Chapel of Harris Manchester College

It is always a pleasure, when working on roses, not to have to remove support bars!  As a result, the editing time was quick by comparison. The image was shot at 349mm, using the Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM lens, at an aperture of f/8.0 and exposure times ranging from 1/30 s to 1/2 s.  However, I am unsure whether this image is best presented square or circular.  I committed to a square print of the west window, but rather like the appearance of this one cropped as a circle…

East Rose - cut out PNG (low res)

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Harris Manchester College Chapel – Angels

I have commented extensively on the stained glass of The Chapel of Harris Manchester College and in particular its East Window.  Having previously edited the rose ‘Teaching the Ignorant’ I was drawn to the selection of angels that that flank the rose.

I have yet to find a detailed guide to tracery in order to identify and name, appropriately, the various parts of a church window.  Notwithstanding, below are edits of these beautiful, yet subtle components of the window.  I have cropped each as a square to optimise their use on Instagram, but also because they might lend themselves to greetings card design.

HMC - Angel Left (low res)HMC - Angel Right (low res)HMC - DCP_8711 sq (low res)HMC - DCP_8691 sq (low res)HMC - DCP_8734 c qs (low res)

East Window tracery lights (BJ237 Edward Burne-Jones, 1896) The Chapel of Harris Manchester College

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Worcester College Chapel – Planning Visit

Perhaps stretching the truth a little: today I was singing evensong at Worcester College with the school choir, which cancelled out much of my half day, precluding my ability to work creatively on my project.  However, having sung here several times before, and already knowing the Chaplain, it did afford me the chance for some planning and a verbal request to photograph the windows.

Sadly, being an evensong in the winter months, it was dark by the time of my arrival in chapel, so my iPhone battled to drag any suggestion of light from the windows.  However, all is not lost…

Worcester_College_Chapel,_Oxford,_UK_-_Diliff (low res)

David Iliff (2015) Worcester College Chapel

The lavish appearance of the current chapel is thanks extensive renovation and redecoration work by William Burge, that started in 1863.  Its stained glass windows were to have been designed by John Everett Millais, but Burges rejected his designs and entrusted the work to Henry Holiday.

Surely that has to be a story in itself!  The fact that Burges rejected the designs himself would suggest, sadly, that they did not even get as far as the College, who would likely have archived them.  My penchant for Holiday’s work is no secret, but I am fascinated to know what might have been had Millais’ work been used.

Millais was no fool where Pre-Raphaelite art is concerned, perhaps best known for his oil-painting on canvas Ophelia, he became friendly with William Holman Hunt, whose famous work The Light of the World (painted at the same time as Ophelia), hangs in the Side Chapel of Keble College, Oxford.

N01506_10 (Ophelia) (low res)

John Everett Millais (1851-2) Ophelia ©Tate, London 2014

A moderate level of research reveals surprisingly sparse reference to Millais’ stained glass work, besides another oil painting Mariana, which features the stained glass of Merton College Chapel, Oxford.

T07553_10 Mariana (low res)

John Everett Millais (1851) Mariana ©Tate, London 1999

Stories within stories.  Definitely worth of further investigation, but not right now at the expense of my current research.

The chapel is unusually wide, which might afford some good photography of the windows that adorn the north and south walls – despite their height.  As is increasingly the case, the east window will prove most straightforward to photograph, with an uninterrupted view along the nave.

Worcester_College_Chapel,_Oxford,_UK_-_Diliff 02 (low res)

David Iliff (2015) Worcester College Chapel (tight crop)

With the support bars being an integral part of every window, it may prove sensible to preclude any removal from this location… the idea of editing out eight horizontal and two vertical bars is horrific!

After the service, the Chaplain kindly granted me open access to photograph the chapel windows whenever suits me, so I suspect that this will be one of my first visits in the New Year.

Looking at the exquisite image by David Iliff makes me realise that I should be recording a quality locational shot on each visit.  While this is something that I have been doing, for the most part, it has been a little half-hearted thus far.