Clayton & Bell

Clayton & Bell, The Resurrection and Assumption, north wall, north transept (1862), Peterborough Cathedral.
Photo: Peter Hildebrand

Clayton & Bell is one of the best known and most prolific studios of the Victorian Age. The  original partners, John Richard Clayton (1827-1913) and Alfred Bell (1832-95), were encouraged into business by Sir George Gilbert Scott, who would go on to use the firm for numerous commissions, as did G E Street and J L Pearson.

While the output of the firm would become prodigious, it also affected the development of stained glass through the significant number of artists, who spent time with the firm, including Charles Eamer Kempe, John Burlison and Thomas Grylls, and Robert Turnill Bayne.

Source: Angels & Icons: Pre-Raphaelite Stained Glass 1850-1870 by William Waters (Seraphim Press Ltd 2012)