Information

Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Company, founded in April 1861, made a spectacular beginning with three major schemes for stained glass in new churches by the architect George Frederick Bodley, including St. Michael's, Brighton and St. Martin's, Scarborough. At All Saints, Selsley, near Stroud in Gloucestershire, Morris provided fifteen windows in one of the most complete sets the firm ever made, and many of the individual subjects are to his own design.'The Ascension' is the first of the five windows in the chancel apse at Selsley, each of a single light with a simple circular tracery window above. Strongly leaded, these clear and dramatic designs remain medieval in spirit (appropriately, for a major Gothic Revival building), and yet share the equally important Pre-Raphaelite characteristics of bold draughtmanship and uncluttered detail. Early Morris windows such as these contrast with most commercial stained glass of the period, just as the first Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood canvasses do with contemporary painting, and as such they mark a watershed in the development of nineteenth-century ecclesiastical art.

  • © Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery

Makers

Association Artist Organisation
Designer William Morris -

Inscriptions

Type Position(s) Method Date(s) Notes
b: Selsley ; tr: SP/ 148/ Ascension/ verso: S.S.Marling EsqR./ Stanley Park/ Nr Stroud/ Gloucester (this address crossed out)/ Messrs/ Morris & Co/ 8 Red Lion Square/ London/ Book Post (and three circular Post Office franking stamps)
Title - Written - Pencil.
 
Selsley
Notes bottom centre Written -
 
S.S. Marling Esqr. / Stanley Park / Nr Stroud / Gloucestershire
Notes reverse Written - In ink and crossed out.
 
Messrs. / Morris & Co / 8 Red Lion Square / London / Book Post
Notes reverse Written - In ink.
 
-
Stamp reverse Stamped - Post Office franking stamps.
 

Exhibitions

Catalogue No. Venue Date(s)
William Morris and the Middle Ages
91 , Plate VI Whitworth Art Gallery 1984-09-28 - 1984-12-08
 
175th Anniversary of St. Martin-on-the-Hill, Scarborough
99 Scarborough Art Gallery 1988-08-20 - 1988-10-01
 
Visions of Love and Life
56 Seattle Art Museum 1995-03-09 - 1995-05-07
56 Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio 1995-05-27 - 1995-07-16
56 Delaware Art Museum 1995-08-11 - 1995-10-15
56 Museum of Fine Arts, Houston 1995-11-04 - 1996-01-02
56 High Museum of Art, Atlanta 1996-01-23 - 1996-04-10
56 Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery 1996-05-25 - 1996-09-29
 

Literature

Author(s) Date(s) Publisher Pages
Catalogue of Drawings
1939 Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery p. 287

Associated people

Name Type
Sir Edward Burne-Jones Associated with

Associated places

Name Type
All Saints -

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