Birmingham Cathedral
Address
Cathedral church of St Philip, Colmore Row, Birmingham B3Theme
Overview
The cathedral has four magnificent windows designed by Edward Burne-Jones and made by Morris & Co that were installed between 1885 and 1897. They are a lasting tribute to the artistic skill of this Birmingham born genius.
Highlight
West windowArtist, maker and date
Designed by Edward Burne-Jones and made by Morris & Co, 1897Reason for highlighting
The great west window of 1897, representing the Last Judgement, was the last window to be installed and is regarded by some to be Burne-Jones’s finest.
Artist/maker notes
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833-1898) was born in Birmingham and studied at Exeter College, Oxford where he met William Morris, with whom he developed a lifelong friendship. Together they created hundreds of stained glass windows that collectively stand as one of the finest artistic achievements of their time. The stature of this formidable artist and designer was recognised after his death when he became the first artist to be given a Memorial Service at Westminster Abbey.
Morris & Co. (1875-1940) was the successor to original business of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. William Morris had always been the driving force behind ‘the Firm’ and he finally determined to remove his earlier partners and to take the business into his own hands, with Burne-Jones as principal designer. The business flourished, producing stained glass windows the length and breadth of the country. It continued long after the deaths of Morris (1896) and Burne-Jones (1898), although without any great developments of style, and often continuing to use Burne-Jones’s designs. The role of chief designer passed to J H Dearle and, on his death in 1932 to W H Knight. It finally closed in 1940.
Sources:
For a brief overview of the two companies see Morris & Co on Wikipedia
Burne-Jones Special Issue, The Journal of Stained Glass, Vol. XXXV, 2011
Damozels & Deities Pre-Raphaelite Stained Glass 1870-1898 by William Waters and Alastair Carew-Cox (Seraphim Press Ltd, 2017)
The Last Pre-Raphaelite: Edward Burne-Jones and the Victorian Imagination by Fiona McCarthy, Faber & Faber, 2011.
The Stained Glass of William Morris and his circle by A Charles Sewter (Yale University Press, 1974)
William Morris: A Life for Our Time by Fiona MacCarthy (Faber & Faber, 1994)
Comments by
Peter Hildebrand