The Queen’s College Chapel
An unexpected afternoon telephone call advised me that although I still do not have permission to publish images of The Queen’s College chapel and stained glass, they would grant me permission to photograph them as it is about to undergo 18 months of restoration work and scaffolding will soon entomb the building.
Despite knowing that the conditions would not be perfect, as the sky was clear and it was a bright sunny day, it still made sense to bag some photographs today as there was no guarantee that the conditions would improve in the tiny windows of opportunity.
Once on site, although less than perfect, the lighting was not too bad for attempting some photography of the stained glass on the south side of the apse. This was going to prove quite a demanding shoot as all the window are backed by protective wire mesh that is visible under direct sunlight on the south side, but fortunately the south side of the apse appeared to be at just the right angle to the sun for this not to be a problem.
Sadly, on returning home, close-up inspection of the images revealed shadows cast by the tie bars, so I will need to hope for more appropriate weather in the coming days. Pleasingly the overview photograph benefitted from the bright lighting:
Dominic Price (2019) The College Chapel, The Queen’s College
The Queen’s College was founded in 1341 as Hall of the Queen’s scholars of Oxford by Robert de d’Eglesfield, chaplain to Queen Philippa of Hainault (the wife of King Edward III of England), after whom the Hall was named. The college was subsequently called the Queen’s Hall, Queenhall and Queen’s College. An Act of 1585 sought to end this confusion by providing that it should be called by the one name The Queen’s College.
The old chapel was finished in 1382 and extended substantially by the addition of a sumptuous ante-chapel (1516-19). It was decorated extensively with Abraham van Linge’s stained glass. Building of the new chapel began in 1713 and Joshua Price was employed to do a complete glazing scheme re-using as much as possible of the glass from the old chapel. His work is found in the East Window as well as the windows on either side of the entrance.
