Old Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church , Edinburgh

Parsons honours the Virgin with three scenes from her life; the Annunciation, the Nativity and the Presentation at the Temple. Mary, clad in stunning sapphire and purple robes, with varying halo tone, is the picture of the perfect mother. In all three scenes, Parsons uses the rich colour of the blues, reds and purples to provide continuity across the window in wings, feet, robes, haloes and clouds, balancing colours and designs. The repeated use of his chequerboard tiny quarries also links the scenes. This makes all the more obvious the contrast with the clever use of white glazing demonstrating the divine power of the Holy Spirit. Gabriel’s glimmering gown links him with this power and his flaming feet reinforce this angelic nature. A composed Joseph takes his traditional secondary position and he bears a cage with the usual doves. The floral elements are exquisite and can be identified as Fritillaria melagris and dog roses in the first light and the Star of Bethlehem in the second.

The most unusual feature for glass in this period is to see the Virgin nursing. The iconography of the Madonna Lactans was common in Medieval and early Renaissance times but it is very unusual in the  religiously conservative medium of Edwardian glass. This was a bold move by Parsons. He repeated the scene in the church of St. John the Baptist, now decommissioned and used as a residential home in Rudmore, Portsmouth in 1916. In both scenes, we see Mary in profile with Christ, on her lap, who is about to suckle. Although the composition is almost identical, with the stable scene and Star of Bethlehem, the cartoon was not repeated exactly in Portsmouth. Supported by the thatch are a pair of child angels with the star shining onto the Virgin’s head. Mary’s left hand reaches to her gown to reveal her right breast. Although the iconography has a clear theological and devotional history, this had fallen away over a century before Parsons. The lactating Virgin is not referenced in Anna Jameson’s Legends of the Madonna nor is it mentioned in the index of Sewter’s catalogue of Morris & Co’s stained glass which were standard iconographical sources of the time. Both windows were made before Parsons took his Chartres trip in July 1924 which could have been another inspirational possibility.

It could have been simply that the birth of his two daughters, in 1908 and 1911, crystalised this idea in his head and he observed the theological insights that could be evoked. Perhaps this mother Mary, whom Parsons chose to depict, stems from his own lived experience, awareness of maternity or influential reading? As yet, we can only ponder this image and wonder.