Stained Glass of Percy Bacon

Archangels Gabriel, Michael & Raphael, & St Michael:
All Angels, Marwood, Devon, 1910.

Percy Charles Haydon Bacon's work was clearly influenced by other successful firms of the age such as Charles Eamer Kempe, Burlison and Grylls, and Lavers, Baraud and Westlake who had popularised a style which was rooted in the art of the 15th century. His main inspiration, however, seems to have come from his time on the continent of Europe (presumably in his late teens, though no exact dates have been confirmed) where he would have been able to view those great medieval masterpieces in almost every church and cathedral, which were sorely missing from British Churches, having been mostly removed or obscured by acts of the Reformation and Puritans. Bacon actively sought to incorporate that style into his early work which is characterised by beautiful, correctly proportioned figurative work, with the flesh tones in faces and hands being rendered in white glass using delicate shading and stippling techniques. Colours are muted, not unlike a great deal of Kempe work of the time, but robes and angels' wings can sometimes be intensely coloured and often flashed or etched to obtain textural or patterning effects. Further echoing the Kempe studio style, hair is often copious, curled and golden, coloured with yellow stain. What also stands out is the remarkable detail which is included in both the pictorial and figurative scenes, as well as in the architectonic devices such as the canopies and pedestals, described by Bacon himself as in a "fifteenth century style", which would continue in designs throughout the productive life of the company with only minor variations.

Much of Bacon's approach seems to have been set down before he even set up his company in 1892. Just two years later, on 17th January 1894, his brother, Herbert delivered a paper to the Northern Architectural Association in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.¹ This was a detailed manifesto, which described at length the style which had been adopted, and the reasons for its adoption.
A transcript of the paper can be read here.

One of the most striking examples of the intricate canopy work adopted in the early years, and which became a hallmark style can be found in St Lawrence's Church, Tinsley, Sheffield (1894) - Flickr photo - or the north choir north window in Newcastle-upon-Tyne Cathedral designed in the same year. The architectonic work in these windows is staggering in its complexity. At Tinsley, in a "Russian Doll" fashion, the larger niches have sub-niches which house, in the lower parts, tiny figures of a bishop and a female saint carrying a lily and at the top of the central light two seated saints. These subsidiary figures are meant to illustrate the communion of saints. Standing atop the outer lights angels with golden wings play a harp and cymbals. Niches have multiple crocketted spirelets each embellished with numerous pearl-like balls, some in clusters almost like bunches of grapes. The side columns (or "shaftings" as Bacon liked to call them) seem to be excessively wide, but this was a deliberate device to allow as much light into the building as the requirements of the figurative work would allow. It also permitted the inclusion of the miniature figures of saints within the niches incorporated into the columns mentioned above. At Newcastle the window illustrates individual scenes, each light framed by the columns, while in Tinsley, and although of three lights, the whole is designed to look like a single wide light, without the intermediate niche columns which would separate the whole. This allows for the main pictorial element of the window (Jesus raising Lazarus) to sit within a much wider frame and to run seemingly unencumbered across the whole window as a unified theme. The effect is as if one is looking out of the church at a scene unfolding outside. Curiously, in the paper written By Percy, but delivered by his brother Herbert, to the Northern Architectural Association on 17th January 1894, he criticised this very style;¹

It would seem the window in St Lawrence's, Tinsley, Sheffield breaks this rule entirely. The paper goes on, using as contrast one of his firm's early (and possibly first) works of 1892 in St Cuthbert's, Blyth as an exemplar of the style he propounded;

Herbert goes on to stress, indicating deference despite an objection to the breaking of his rule number one, that where the client insists upon a canopied subject running through the whole, "nothing can make it right but by breaking the picture into groups, each group being complete in it's own light, none of the figures being cut by the mullions". He cites the example of the east window at Mary Tavy to illustrate his point. The window in Tinsley Church would appear to break his rule number two as there is a mullion running through one of the bystander's arms. In a clear act of unapologetic salesmanship, most (or perhaps all) examples Herbert cites in the talk are Percy Bacon & Brother's windows. See below for a newspaper correspondent's response to Herbert's talk.

Another fine example can be found in the east window of St James the Greater, Hanslope, Buckinghamshire. Here the tall lights allow the canopies to soar upwards, atop which stand angels with golden wings. The stylistic treatment at Hanslope is similar to that at Tinsley, but here the window conforms to Percy's rule number two. In this instance being different episodes in the life of Christ, the main pictorial scenes are constrained by the mullions, framed by separate niches, one per light, which themselves appear to be an "upper storey" supported by more niches below, only partially revealed, giving an impression of great, but unseen height, not unlike the multi-storey niches housing statues of saints on the outsides of cathedrals. Writing in 1925 in a piece for the Journal of Stained Glass printed by the British Society of Master Glass Painters (of which he was a founder member), Bacon describes the 15th century Jesse Window at St Margaret's, Margaretting, Essex, in glowing terms, and it is clear that windows of this style informed his own art from an early date:²

The words "harmony" and "harmonious" crop up often in Bacon's descriptions, at least as an aspiration, and others describe Bacon's work in the same way.

Canopies as framing devices even find their way into Bacon's church wall paintings, such as the oil paintings on paper pasted onto the wall of the Lady Chapel in Christ Church, Southgate, London, where scenes from the Bible are depicted under elaborate canopies with side columns. This remarkable work does not, however, always find favour with everyone. Like Kempe, the output of the Percy Bacon and Brothers can be repetitive and commodified. Birkin Haward, in his entry on North Creake, Norfolk, describes the east window by Bacon as "expensive commercial orthodoxy".³

The Bacon style was well established by the mid 1890s and likely to have been driven by Percy's desire to see harmonious interiors with great attention to detail. The Builder of 15th June 1895 reporting on the Royal Academy Exhibition of that year describes the Bacon style thus:

Cartoon of Centre Light of the Izaak Walton Memorial Window, St Dunstons-in-the-West, Fleet Street London, 1895

Though a secular subject matter, another fine example of the early style of design adopted by the firm, the Izaak Walton Memorial Window installed in St Dunstan-in-the-West, Fleet Street, London, was completed by 5th April 1895. It is suggested by Marston, that Percy Bacon & Brothers generously supplied all materials and work at cost price.⁴

Bacon's windows present the viewer with three dimensional pictorial images which some found distasteful or unnecessarily elaborate. They are often filled with a crowd of figures and faces in receding perspective which could render the whole confusing and slightly overwhelm the simple message which they would normally be attempting to put across to the viewer. A fine example of this is the " War & Peace "War and Peace" Window, Holy Trinity Church, Leamington Spa from the original cartoon made by Percy Bacon. Image courtesy of Clare Halse. " window in Holy Trinity Church, Leamington Spa. The author of The Builder article quoted above, referring to Bacon's work for Newcastle Cathedral, goes on to lament the perspective introduced in a "pictorial manner" resulting in something which "cannot be regarded as satisfactory".

Episodes in the early life of Christ, St Mary's Church,
North Creake, Norfolk.

Bacon had established this style as early as 1888 when he exhibited a design entitled, "The Flagellation of Christ" at the Royal Academy. The reviewer in The Builder article of 16 June 1888 seemed confused by the design, unsure as to whether it was for a window, suggesting it was "too pictorial" for such a setting. They wrote:

Possibly stung by this criticism, Bacon seems never to have created a stained glass window depicting this episode in the Passion of Christ. However, as a satisfactory reproval of the critic of Bacon’s work exhibited in 1888, there are plenty of examples of crowded scenes in his windows. A fine example of this is the panel in the predella of the east window of 1899 in St Peter’s, Wallsend, which depicts Christ before Pilate. This shows an indoor scene with a large number of people in the background, showing that “an interior and a crowd of figures receding in perspective” is quite possible for a stained glass window.

One of the most striking examples of Bacon's propensity for crowded scenes can be found in the Te Deum east window in All Saints, Bournemouth, Dorset, which, including the angels, boasts over sixty figures, all jostling for position in a window with seven narrow lights (See Flickr). A similar five light window by Percy Bacon Bros can be found in St Barnabas, Emmer Green (1929), and St Peter's Caversham (1924), both in Berkshire.⁶ Unlike the large windows with copious numbers of figures that are arranged in small groups in discrete scenes under their own canopies, as in the east window of St Chad's Bensham , Gateshead, these windows depict gatherings occupying a whole light in a single scene.

St Cuthbert holding the severed head of King Oswald of Northumbria, St Mary Magdalene, Newark, Nottinghamshire, 1929

Stylistically and in terms of subject matter there is little originality in Percy Bacon Bros. windows, and even if he had wanted them to be, he was likely to have been coaxed by his clients, patrons and architect-designers such as the Prynnes along the well-worn path of orthodoxy rather than originality. Coming a little late to the Gothic Revival Party, Percy Bacon Bros. work is more copyist than unique, and it is clear the style follows closely in the footsteps of Kempe, Burlison & Grylls, Ward & Hughes et al. Some efforts could be seen as downright plagiarism. The Host of Saints windows of 1921 mentioned above show a remarkable similarity with a Ward and Hughes window of 1894 in St Matthews, Portman Rd. Ipswich (the Bacon's home town). Other windows, which on the face of it look like supreme examples of innovation and artistic originality, actually turn out to be copied from 15th century artists, such as Martin Schongauer and Albrecht Dürer, or even near contemporaries of the 19th century. At St Mary Magdalene, Ecton, Northamptonshire, for instance, the east window depicting "David's Mighty Warriors" is a direct copy of a drawing by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794 - 1871), and Bacon again copies von Carolsfeld for his window in St Mary's, Congerstone, Leicestershire. At St Andrew's, Halstead, Essex, the painting on the central panel of the reredos is a copy of one of Schongauer's many drawings of the Crucifixion.

Notwithstanding such minor matters of style, the quality of the workmanship and materials is clear to see. Given their age, the windows in North Creake and Emmer Green for instance (the former illustrated above and in the gallery link below) are testament to the talent of the Bacon Studios artists, painters and glass-makers.

Examples of the firm's work can be seen around the UK and Ireland, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. As well as stained glass, the firm carried out a range of church decoration, such as four 6ft square paintings illustrating the life of St Aloysius on the carved reredos at Stoneyhurst College, Blackburn, St Andrew's, Halstead (1893) and the paintings of apostles, evangelists, Latin doctors and later saints in the chancel of St Mary's Church, Crumpsall (now lost). The stylistic treatment of the paintings in Crumpsall were described in The Builder as, "..in spirit fresco style of the late fifteenth century and are based on examples of Dürer, Memling and Van der Weyden". This style is evident in their stained glass windows, and seems to have been maintained throughout the four decades the firm was in production. An excellent late example from 1929 is the English Saints windows in St Mary Magdalene, Newark-upon-Trent, Nottinghamshire (see right). In 1903 when asked what was his opinion of art in general in Australia Percy Bacon's submitted his personal view;

It is probable this opinion was similar for English churches and was formed well before 1892 when the firm first started producing stained glass of its own. Percy's brother, Herbert seems to have been entrusted with the "travelling salesman" role. Two reports, one in The Builder (27 January 1894 - the lecture given to the Northern Architectural Association in Newcastle-upon-Tyne entitled "Stained Glass in Relation to Architecture")¹ and another in Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser (8th November 1894)⁸ shed a little light on the firm's approach to reviving what they considered to be an art form damaged (and possible endangered) by commercialism. The Manchester Courier article reporting on Herbert Bacon's lecture given to the Manchester Society of Architects (which was likely the same lecture he gave to the Northern Association earlier in the year) reveals a profound distaste for what one can only presume to be the work of the large commercial firms producing stained glass on an industrial scale, and although not naming them was probably referring to firms such as Clayton and Bell, William Wailes, John Hardman, and William Warrington;

The style described in Bacon's "manifesto" of 1894 would, for the most part be maintained for the first ten years of the firm's existence, but by the early 1900s it was clear that variations from the "rules" were being developed and permitted. Notwithstanding the designs from the likes of architects George Fellowes Prynne and Ernest Geldart which the firm was commissioned to execute, these variations could have resulted for a number of reasons, still not fully studied. The most notable changes were in the reduced use of elaborate canopies which are absent in many post 1900 windows. Perhaps this was a cost/time-reduction exercise, as these whimsical architectonic embellishments added little or nothing to the story being conveyed, the "story" being something Bacon had expressed as being paramount, while the columns and canopies in white glass simply allowed light into the church. Also, the number of windows being produced annually in the first five years of the 20th century was the same as for the whole of the previous decade, and even with reuse of designs would have been a stretch for a single artist (or even the small number employed by Bacon's workshop) to produce without a major expansion of the facilities. In the event the move from 11 Newman St to Endsleigh Gardens didn't occur until 1923. The move was cited as being the need for larger premesis on account of a greatly increasing amount of work, despite the production of new windows appearing to wain after that year.⁹ For that reason it is likely that by 1900 Bacon had started to sub-contract some of the design and painting (and possibly manufacturing) works. For example, there are great similarities in the works of Robert J Newbery and those attributed to Percy Bacon Brothers. Newbery was a direct contemporary of Bacon, born the same year, who had a studio at 27 Fitzroy Square, ¹⁰ less than a mile from Bacon's. It is inconceivable to think that some form of collaboration did not occur. Secondly, the emergence of the Arts and Crafts movement of the final decade of the 19th century with the likes of pioneers such as Christopher Whall and Mary Lowndes was generating an appetite for the new. Fifteenth century Gothic, which by the early nineteen twenties was effectively dead, had, by the turn of the century already started on it's long downward decline. Bacon would have noticed the change in tastes and responded accordingly to maintain a competitive edge. That is not to say that elaborate canopy work was abandoned altogether; far from it. There are still plenty of examples from the 1920s of windows being manufactured to the original style laid down in Bacon's paper of 1894, but these are by no means the only style.

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1. Paper delivered by Herbert Bacon to the Northern Architectural Association in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 17th January 1894, on the subject, "Stained Glass in Relation to Architecture" reported verbatim in the Newcastle Daily Chronicle 18 Jan 1894 (Source: British Library News Archive).
2. Journal of Stained Glass Vol 1; No.3; 1925: 15th Century Jesse Window at St Margaret's, Margaretting: Bacon, Percy C. H.
3. Haward, B. Nineteenth Century Norfolk Stained Glass, 1984. Gazetteer (available to borrow at Internet Archive).
4. Marston, E; Thomas Ken and Izaak Walton, a sketch of their lives and family connection, 1908, p200. Available at Internet Archive.
5. The Builder,  16 June 1888, p428: Article/review entitled “ARCHITECTURE AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY.—VII.”
6. Report on the death of Percy Bacon in Reading Standard - Friday 11 January 1935; Source: British Library News Archive.
   Percy Bacon was a church warden at St Barnabas, Emmer Green, Berkshire, and was heavily involved in the fund-raising efforts to build the new church in 1924. He was also a leading benefactor, donating the east window to the church (to his own design, of course).
7. The Advertiser, Adelaide (Australia) 14 January 1903. p6. "Ecclesiastical Art: A Chat With an Expert"
8. Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser; 08 November 1894 (Source: British Library News Archive)
9. Notice in The Builder's Journal and Architectural Engineer, 19 January 1923, p133. The notice stated that the move was, "to much larger premises on account of a greatly increasing amount of work".
10. Kelly's Post Office London Directory 1891; p1217