28 BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 32nd ANNUAL EDITION A detail from Peace achieved, one of four heavily allegorical windows designed by Strachan for the Peace Palace in the Hague (1911–13). The first panel includes a phoenix rising from the flames at the top, and a lion can be seen lying with the lamb at the bottom below an anvil (the forge). In the second, according to the artist, the four quarters of the earth come together: ‘North and South holding the balance; East and West abiding by the verdict’ (Photo: Carnegie Foundation / Peace Palace) DOUGLAS STRACHAN Genius of the Scottish Arts and Crafts Rona Moody TWENTY YEARS ago, historian Peter Cormack gave a lecture in Edinburgh in which he expressed the view that Douglas Strachan was Scotland’s greatest 20th-century artist. While there are many who would disagree (although none did on that occasion), I think it would be impossible to argue that he was not Scotland’s, and perhaps Britain’s, greatest 20th-century stained glass artist. His windows are recognisable for their bold use of colour, strong sculptural design and masterly use of lead, and are found throughout Scotland and England, as well as overseas. Certainly, the fact that he was chosen to represent Britain in designing the stained glass for the Peace Palace at The Hague (1911–13) points to the widespread recognition of his abilities. Yet the 150th anniversary of his birth this year has caused hardly a ripple of a mention in the stained glass world, let alone the wider art community. Robert Douglas Strachan (1875–1950) was born in Aberdeen, the son of a cashier in a local loan firm. He started his career in art as a painter and graphic artist. Apprenticed to the Aberdeen Free Press as a lithographer, he attended evening classes at Gray’s School of Art, taking some of them with fellow Aberdonian Henry Young (1874–1923). Young, coincidentally, went on to emigrate and become one of the top stained glass artists in America in the first half of the 20th century. He honed his skills as a newspaper illustrator. In his early years, Strachan also spent an annual season in London as a portrait painter which paid well. He moved to England and worked for the Manchester Evening Chronicle and other local papers. J W Knowles states that this is when Strachan was introduced to stained glass, in the Chester firm of Williams, Gamon & Co. At that time, there was a strong and growing interest in the arts-and-crafts movement in the north west of England. Martin Harrison defines arts-and-crafts glass as ‘that which was painted, and probably leaded too, by its artist-designer.’
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