Dunfermline Abbey, Fife
Address
The Abbey Church of Dunfermline, St Margaret St, Dunfermline KY12 7PEOverview
The new church which was dedicated in 1821, was built on the site of the ancient chancel and transepts of a large medieval Benedictine abbey, the story of which is entwined with Scotland’s history.
The windows in the new church include a number from Ballantine of Edinburgh, including the Sacramental east window, 1904, as well as a notable King Robert the Bruce Memorial Window in the North transept by Gordon Webster, 1974, which includes a representation of the famous spider!
However, much attention inevitably falls on the windows linked to Andrew Carnegie, the Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist, who was born in the town, and for which he retained a special affection. The first window he commissioned, unveiled in 1884, was an historical window designed by Sir Joseph Noel Paton, and made by James Ballantine & Son, based around figures of William Wallace, Malcolm II, Queen Margaret and Robert the Bruce. The second window to be dedicated to his family was to be more controversial. Carnegie chose the famous American Tiffany Studio, but prior to installation a surveyor from the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments objected on the grounds that it was out of keeping with the existing windows. The window went into storage and an alternative window ‘The Drawn of a New Age’ was made by Douglas Strachan and unveiled in 1916.
Highlight
The Tiffany windowArtist, maker and date
Tiffany Studios, 1913 – installed in 2019Reason for highlighting
Installation having been prevented in 1912, Carnegie’s Tiffany window went into storage until 1937, when it went on display, but not in the Abbey. However, the dream of it taking its rightful place in the Abbey was not lost and it was finally installed in 2019. A rare example in Britain of the work of this iconic American studio, this glorious landscape scene, made with Tiffany’s famous Favrile glass*, it is not to be missed.
*Tiffany used the name Favrile for its opalescent glass.
Artist/maker notes
Tiffany Studios (1885-1930), founded by Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) the American artist and designer, produced a range of mosaics, lamps, pottery, jewellery, and stained glass windows. Tiffany, along with his rival John La Farge, is particularly noted for his work with opalescent glass, a type of iridescent glass where different colours are worked together during production, to produce subtle effects of shading and colour.
Comments by
Iain Galbraith and Peter Hildebrand