Historic Churches 2022

BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 29TH ANNUAL EDITION 21 KARL PARSONS and the rise of Arts & Crafts stained glass Jonathan Taylor K ARL PARSONS (or ‘Charles’ as he was named at birth, in 1884) was one of a new wave of stained glass artists who rose to prominence in the early 20th century. Like those of his mentor, Christopher Whall (1849–1924), Parsons’ images explode onto the glass with brilliant colours and textures, and although the compositions still respect the predominantly Gothic church architecture around them, they are radically different from those of their predecessors. In the late 19th century, almost all new stained glass in churches was of the Gothic Revival. Designs were heavily stylised to suit the surrounding church architecture, typified by saints surrounded by painted gothic canopies, the firm for this purpose. Coloured glass was chosen by them to suit the design. Arguably, this approach suited the church architecture of the period and the scale of production required to meet demand, but there was also a degree of complacency. This division of labour stifled innovation. Edward Burne-Jones’s work for Morris & Co is one of several designers whose work stands apart from the more formalised windows of the Gothic Revival, but like the larger firms, Morris & Co employed specialist craftspeople to transfer the design from cartoon to glass, to select the glass, cut, paint and fire it, and finally to lead the whole light. Burne-Jones was not the client. Karl Parsons’ four-light memorial window in the church of St Mary the Virgin, Tenby, Pembrokeshire to a soldier killed at Irles, Somme in 1917. In the main part of the window a kneeling warrior is blessed by Christ the King and crowned by an angel, and in the lights on either side stand Fortitude below a vision of the crucifixion and Hope below a vision of Mary. (Photo: Jonathan Taylor) and areas of flat surface pattern with repeated medieval motifs. Production was dominated by large companies like CE Kempe, Clayton & Bell, and Heaton Butler & Bayne who would employ several designers and often replicated previous designs in their new commissions. Design and construction were carried out by different people, so although individual designers were responsible for the initial design, this was then skilfully transferred to the glass by artists, apprentices and technicians. Thus the brush strokes and details we see on these Gothic Revival windows were not the work of the original designers, but of the artists and craftspeople employed by