The Corpus of Percy Bacon & Brothers

South Chapel S1: Scenes in the early life of Christ from sketches by Edmund Sedding: 1910. Use the mouse wheel to zoom. Click/drag to explore the window.

South Chapel, S1: Scenes in the early life of Christ from sketches by Edmund Sedding: 1910 .

Scenes in the Early Life of Christ. Lower lights.

Scenes in the Early Life of Christ. Upper lights.

Scenes in the Early Life of Christ. Tracery (l-r) - Jesus in the carpenter's workshop | Jesus is found in the temple by Joseph and Mary | Jesus being taught by his mother.

Scenes in the Early Life of Christ. Flight into Egypt.

Scenes in the Early Life of Christ. Joseph guards the infant Jesus in his cradle.

Scenes in the Early Life of Christ. Jesus is taking his first steps.

Scenes in the Early Life of Christ. The Holy Child at prayer in the Temple.

Scenes in the Early Life of Christ. The Holy Child at play with Joseph and Mary..

Scenes in the Early Life of Christ. Jesus fetching water from the well.

Scenes in the Early Life of Christ. Jesus receives tutition.

Scenes in the Early Life of Christ. Jesus with the doctors in the temple.

Tracery lights: Left: Jesus in the carpenter's workshop.

Tracery lights: Centre: Jesus is brought home from the temple by Mary and Joseph.

Tracery lights: Right: Jesus being taught by his mother.

Posted 07 December 2022.

The only Bacon Studio window in St Mary Magdalene was reported to have been designed from sketches by the local architect Edmund H Sedding (1863-1921)¹ who had taken on the management of the 1894 restoration from his father & scheme's designer, John D. Sedding who had died before its completion. In a letter to the Church Council in 1909 Edmund Sedding had made suggestions for improvements to the church.² It is not clear whether his letter was solicited, but it's timing may have been material to his provision of the sketches. In February 1909 Miss Jessie Blanche Oliver died and left a bequest (amongst others) of £300, "to be expended in placing a window in St Mary Magdalene's Church".³

The window of four lights depicts scenes in the early life of Christ:

Top: 1. Flight into Egypt: 2: St Joseph guarding the infant Christ in his cradle. 3: Mary teaching Jesus to walk. 4: The Holy Child at prayer in the Temple.

Bottom: 1. The Holy Child at play with Joseph and Mary. 2: Fetching water from the well. 3: Receiving tuition. 4: Before the doctors in the temple.

Tracery Lights (l-r):
1. In the carpenter's shop with Joseph. 2: Being brought home from the temple by Mary and Joseph, 3: Being taught by his mother.

The dedication reads:

The stylistic treatment of the figures in this window differs from much of the Bacon Studios work, suggesting a different hand than Percy's is at work. The figurative scenes in the window have many stylistic similarities to the four in the north aisle at Lady St Mary, Wareham, Dorset. Particularly notable (as at Wareham) are the lack of haloes on any of the figures other than Jesus himself.

Scenes of the early life of Christ are rare in the Bacon corpus. This window is particularly notable for its use of non-canonical scenes drawn from apocrypha, specifically the Infancy Gospel of Thomas,⁴ a biographical gospel about the childhood of Jesus believed to be a Gnostic or Ebionite work written in the 2nd century. In the main scenes in this window, only those depicting the flight into Egypt, and with the doctors in the temple appear in the canonical gospels. All the others are likely to have been derived from the Infancy Gospel, or are fanciful interpretations of Percy Bacon. Three other notable examples where Bacon used the carpenter's workshop to illustrate the early life of Jesus can be found in North Creake, New Bradwell (Milton Keynes) and Castle Hedingham. Bacon also included a scene from the apocryphal Acts of St Thomas in a window at Menheniot (north aisle 4).

The window is signed, bottom right.

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1. Cornish & Devon Post, 23 July 1910, p5. Report on the installation and dedication of the new window.
2. Cornish & Devon Post, 11 September 1909, p2.
3. Western Morning News, 08 March 1909, p8. Western Times, 12 March 1909, p11.
4. See Gnostic Society website: The Infancy Gospel of Thomas.
5. See the Launceston Then! website for more history of the church.