Church of St Edward King and Martyr, Castle Donington, Leicestershire
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Church of St Edward King and Martyr, Church Lane, Castle Donington, Derby DE74 2LARecommended by
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St John the Baptist window, south aisleArtist, maker and date
Patrick Pollen, c.1960Reason for highlighting
The window is in a different league to the many Victorian windows in the same church and a fine example of the work of Patrick Pollen, with its prominent lead work and subtle use of colour. It was gifted by the Dalby family in memory of John Dalby, a doctor who died tragically young in 1957. The window shows four scenes from the life of John the Baptist, appropriately taken from the Gospel of St Luke, who was himself also a doctor. In the lower left light, John’s father Zechariah, having been struck dumb, is writing ‘John’ on a tablet with Mary and Elizabeth holding the baby John; above, a young John is preaching in the desert. The right hand light shows the Baptism of Jesus, and John in prison and being executed. The Holy Spirit in the tracery light.
Artist/maker notes
Patrick La Primaudaye Pollen (1928-2010) was a distinctive artist who worked in several media, including drawing and mosaic, but principally in stained glass.
Pollen was born in London into an artistic family. His father was a sculptor and his great-grand-father, John Hungerford Pollen, was a renowned architect, artist and author. His mother was a distinguished artist, whose family had a home in north County Dublin.
After military service Pollen studied art at the Slade School in London and the Académie Julian in Paris, where he first saw the stained glass in Notre Dame that so impressed him and set him on his path as an artist. Fascinated by Evie Hone’s great east window in Eton College Chapel, Pollen moved to Ireland to study with her before renting premises at the old An Tur Gloine co-operative studio in Dublin.
Pollen’s work has many influences including his family, his Catholic faith and especially, Evie Hone, and through her Georges Rouault.
Pollen leaves are large body of work, especially in Ireland, where his largest commission was for 26 windows for Galway Cathedral. Although, the first work to bring Pollen public attention was a memorial window to the fifth Earl of Rosslyn, in the Rosslyn Chapel, near Edinburgh, in 1954.
Sources:
Patrick Pollen’s obituary by Louis Jebb, The Independent
Patrick Pollen by William Earley in The Gazetteer of Irish Stained Glass, revised new edition, edited by Nicola Gordon Bowe, David Caron & Michael Wynne (Irish Academic Press, 2021)