Stained Glass of Percy Bacon & Brothers

South Nave 5: Three Maries at the Empty Tomb. 1904.

South Aisle 5: Three Maries at the Empty Tomb. 1904.

South Aisle 5: Three Maries at the Empty Tomb. 1904.

South Aisle 5: Three Maries at the Empty Tomb. 1904.

South Aisle 5: Detail: Mary mother of James and Mary Salome (Mark 16). Note the three approaching figures in the background.

South Aisle 5: Detail: Three approaching figures in the background from John 20, conflating the foreground figures from the story told in Mark 16. These figures likely represent St Peter, the disciple "whom Jesus loved" (in front), and Mary Magdalene (rear).

South Aisle 5: Detail: Tracery lights: Angels play horns.

South Nave 5: Three Maries at the Empty Tomb: 1904..

Posted 24 January 2023.

Of the entire known output of stained glass by the Bacon Studios there are only four representations of the story of the three Maries meeting the angel (or angels) at the empty tomb. Whether Percy Bacon was reticent to portray this story due to its varied telling across the four gospels is moot.¹ Moreover, only two of these (at Wisbech St Mary, Cambridgeshire and Littleham, Devon) are painted in the 15th century style consistent with Percy Bacon's manifesto.² In these windows the figurative work is set within elaborate canopies, each element constrained by the window mullions, thereby fulfilling Bacon's primary "condition" (Stained Glass in Relation to Architecture - i.e. the painted glass should, "...assist the lines of the stonework, and without laying undue stress on any part, decorate the whole"). The other two, at Denton, Lincolnshire, and this one at Westbury-on-Trym are painted very freely over three or four lights, where the narrative scene extends across the window as if the mullions did not exist, thereby breaking this first condition.

The elaboration and detail in this window at Westbury is extraordinary, painted in a style not unlike the windows in Leigh, Dorset, and Denton, Lincolnshire. It was almost certainly painted by someone other than Percy himself. This depiction of the story is specifically from Mark 16:1-7, whereas that at Denton depicts the story in Luke 24. On the left an angel with exquisitely painted and almost radiant golden wings dressed in a shining white robe sits on the right side of a stone coffin, its lid removed and clearly empty. With his right hand he points skyward: "He is risen". At his foot on the ground the jar of ointment lately carried to the tomb by Mary Magdalene who, in the centre light, kneels before the angel in a typical pose. To the right stand Mary, mother of James, and Mary Salome, both bearing expressions of wonderment. All these figures, the flowers and rocks in the foreground are brightly coloured as if illuminated by light emanating from the angel himself. Behind the figures, the landscape recedes into the far distance, painted in darkened shades of blue, and is peppered with white flowers, and trees clinging precariously to the rocky landscape. Behind the two main characters on the right, and barely discernable in the gloom of the receding landscape are three figures with glowing haloes, who, having passed through a lych gate approach the tomb, the one at the rear, a woman. Taken as a whole, the window is certainly canonical, but a conflation of two of the gospels, and possibly an attempt by Bacon to reconcile the differences in the telling of the resurrection story. The approaching figures may represent the disciples Peter and the "disciple Jesus loved", and bringing up the rear, Mary Magdalene as described in John 20:1-10. In the far distance can be seen the walls of Jerusalem, and in the tracery lights demi-angels play horns.

The words at the base of the window from Mark 16:6 read:

The window is unsigned, and there is no dedication.

South Aisle 4: St Patrick, St Michael and St Columba with host of angels. Circa 1904.

South Aisle 4: St Patrick with a quote from the Athanasian Creed. Circa 1904.

South Aisle 4: Three Maries at the Empty Tomb. Circa 1904.

South Aisle 4: St Michael. Circa 1904.

South Aisle 4: Detail: Host of angels.

South Aisle 4: Detail: Host of angels.

South Aisle 4: Detail: Tracery lights: Angels play horns.

South Nave 4: St Michael flanked by St Patrick and St Columba, c1904

Posted 24 January 2023.

As yet no confirmation that this is a Bacon Studios window has come to light, but a short article in The Building News which describes the window to its right (and described above) suggested the latter was the second window by Percy Bacon in the church.³ By elimination of other work in Holy Trinity, this window must have been the first. Similarities in style and with the inscriptions at the base of both windows suggests they were installed at a similar time, and/or as a pair. From a stylistic viewpoint, it i likely both windows were painted by the same hand (both lack the trademark Bacon canopy work), presenting a more Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood style, especially in the angelic host. Almost certainly these were not the direct work of Percy Bacon himself.

This three light window with simple tracery depicts the standing figures of St Patrick, St Michael, and St Columba, each occupying one of the outer lights. At the top of the lights forming a unified theme across all three a host of angels playing instruments. In the tracery four angels playing horns. Michael, blue wings soaring upwards, seemingly constrained by the mullions on either side, stands on the vanquished dragon. He holds a sword in his right hand and a shield emblazoned with a golden sunburst in his left. On the shield reads, "Faithful and True". St Patrick stands on the snakes he banished from Ireland and holds a scroll on which can be seen an inscription from the Athanesian Creed (28), perhaps reflecting Percy Bacon's firm Anglo-Catholic beliefs; "He therefore that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity". St Columba is accompanied by doves, one of his emblems. Columba (or Comcille as he is sometimes referred to in Ireland) is one of the three patron saints of Ireland along with St Patrick and St Brigid of Kildare.

The window is unsigned, and there is no dedication.

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South Aisle 2: The miraculous draught of fishes: John Ch24 v4-19. 1907.

South Aisle 2: The miraculous draught of fishes: John Ch24 v4-19. 1907.

South Aisle 2: The miraculous draught of fishes: John Ch24 v4-19. 1907.

South Aisle 2: The miraculous draught of fishes: John Ch24 v4-19. 1907.

South Aisle 2: The miraculous draught of fishes: John Ch24 v4-19. 1907.

South Aisle 2: The miraculous draught of fishes: John Ch24 v4-19. 1907. Tracery lights.

South Nave 2: Scene illustrating The miraculous draught of fishes
as told by John Ch21 v4-19.

Posted 24 January 2023.

This window is without canopy work and maintains the style adopted for the Three Maries window (SA5). in a unified narrative scene across all three lights the window depicts the miraculous draught of fishes as related by John XXI v4-14. Jesus stands on the shore of the Sea of Galilee beside a fire already lit, surrounded by the disciples, while Peter holds the net full of fish. In the background in blue tones a boat sails across the sea, and in the far distance, behind the hills on the far side of the water the sun is beginning to rise, casting an orange light on the horizon, as if about to banish the darkness of the night.

The inscription reads: "When the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore. St John XXI-4".

In the tracery angels hold scrolls: "Holy Holy Holy | Lord God Almighty", and at the very top a white dove representing the Holy Spirit descends.

A mosaic opus sectile inlaid into the wall below the window (possibly made by the Bacon Studios) contains the dedication:

The window is signed.

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1. By contrast to the very few depictions by Percy Bacon of the Three Maries at the empty tomb, there are at least ten portrayals of the appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalene as recorded in John 20:11-17. This may be because it was easier to represent this resurrection story within a single light, rather than any preference on the part of Percy Bacon for John's telling.
2. Talk given by Herbert Bacon to the Northern Architectural Association 17th January 1984. See transcript here.
3. Building News Vol 86, 4th Mar 1904, p361.