Historic Churches 2022

BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 29TH ANNUAL EDITION 25 the grapes in the top lobe of each light. However, the two lights are connected by the strong diagonal line of the blessing, by the repetition of bunches of grapes at head level, and by the use of a border running down the outside edge of each window and over the top, but not down the central mullion. Partial borders like these are common features of many Arts & Crafts windows, with many variations, such as the stronger top and bottom frames in The Good Samaritan. Faces in most of Parsons’ stained glass are drawn in monochrome and the influence of photography is particularly obvious here in the shading of the skin tones. Writing in The Sign in 2014, Parsons describes how on the lighter parts such as faces and hands, lines are traced from the artist’s cartoon onto the cut pieces of glass using pigment bound with gum arabic to make it adhere. Then the pieces are temporarily mounted on a large sheet of plate glass in a frame, and ‘waxed up’ with a little molten wax between each piece to secure them. This easel is then hung so that the artists can work using natural light transmitted through the glass from a window. The faces and other parts which are to be shaded are then lightly covered with a ‘matt’, varying in density according to the effect required. This is then softened carefully, without damaging the traced lines, by gently brushing with a badger-hair brush until the film is quite even and flat. This, Parson explained, creates a half-tone through which the lines still show. When it is quite dry, the ‘work is modelled as desired by removing the matt with firm hog hair and fitch brushes’. Where highlights are required, the half tone could be brushed off completely, working the edges to soften the transition. Where sharp details were required, the half tone could be removed with a sharp stick. By comparison with the faces and skin tones, the treatment of robes and backgrounds is much more abstract. Much of this is created by the rich variations in colour density of the glass used, but often this is supplemented by applying a thick matt layer which is mostly removed to leave a more textured surface, or cut into sharply to Karl Parsons’ war memorial window in St Laurence’s church, East Harptree, Somerset of 1919, with mournful figures of St Laurence, St George and St Agnes, which is now being repaired by Holy Well Glass. Conservation work was necessary due to the weakness of the lead matrix which had bowed, letting in the rain. This had in turn caused the supporting tie bars to corrode, damaging the surrounding masonry through rust expansion. For the Madonna and Child detail, Parsons used blue flash glass (clear glass with a very thin surface layer of blue glass). This was acid etched to remove most of the blue, before being painted and silver stained. Detail of St Agnes from Parsons’ East Harptree memorial window (All photos on this page: Holy Well Glass)