Dunblane Cathedral, Stirling
Address
The Cathedral Church of St Blaan and St Laurence, The Cross, Dunblane, Stirling FK15 0AQOverview
Dunblane Cathedral dates back to the 12th century, with most of what stands being constructed during the bishopric of Clement in the 13th century.
Its stained glass holds considerable riches. The highlight is Louis Davis’ choir windows noted below, but his nave windows are also very arresting, with their light pallet and predominant blues. Other highlights include Gordon Webster’s luminous portrait of Bishop Clement (1964), hidden in the Clement Chapel (it is said to be one of his favourite compositions and was a gift to the cathedral) and his large scale north aisle window on the theme of the Compassion of Christ (1968); Clayton and Bell’s Great West Window (1906) with its Tree of Jesse and elaborate angels; and Douglas Strachan’s Baptism of Christ (1926) a lean and disciplined composition, and one of three windows in the cathedral by this master artist.
Highlight
Six windows in the south wall of the choirArtist, maker and date
Designed by Louis Davis and made by James Powell & Sons, 1912-15Reason for highlighting
The highlight of the cathedral’s stained glass is undoubtedly the six magnificent choir windows by Louis Davis. Commenced in 1912 they took three and a half years to complete and represent his final major work. The theme is the Benedicite, which Davis had also taken for his windows at St Colmon’s church, Colmonell, South Ayrshire.
As can be seen in the image of the ‘Chaos’ window shown opposite, the lowest part of the window is normally hidden from view. However, a rare image of the lower section of the ‘Chaos’ window can be seen on the Artist Page for Louis Davis.
Artist/maker notes
Louis Davis (1860-1941) was an English watercolourist, book illustrator and stained-glass artist. As Cormack notes, “Amongst English artists of the Arts and Crafts progressive school of stained glass, only Louis Davis approached Christopher Whall’s pre-eminent position. His most important commissions date from the decade or so before 1914, and almost all were for buildings in Scotland, although Davis always worked and lived in England.”
Sources:
Arts & Crafts Stained Glass by Peter Cormack (Yale University Press for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2015)
Louis Davis on Wikipedia
James Powell & Sons was formed when James Powell purchased Whitefriars Glass, an old established glass works, in 1834. His sons developed the business to be one of the major firms of the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Especially notable is their work with Charles Winston in the 1840s and 1850s to improve the quality of glass available, and the many fine designers with whom they worked. The company’s innovations extended beyond stained glass, with the company developing a formidable reputation in a number of fields, including tableware glass, where Whitefriars Glass remains highly collectable. The stained glass department finally closed in 1973, and the company in 1980.
Source: James Powell & Sons, Whitefriars by Jacqueline Banerjee, PhD, Associate Editor, The Victorian Web
Comments by
Iain Galbraith and Peter Hildebrand