[59959] Liverpool Cathedral : South Choir Aisle - Rose Window

Liverpool Cathedral.

South Choir Aisle - Rose Window, c1911.

Designed by John William Brown (1842-1928).

Made by James Powell & Sons, Whitefriars.

Detail.

 

The images in the rose window show instances of God's power being demonstrated through water, namely Noah holding a model of the ark, Jesus calming the disciples in a storm, Jesus walking on water, and St Paul after his shipwreck in Malta.

 

John William Brown was born in Newcastle upon Tyne and trained as an artist under William Bell Scott, a friend of William Morris. He was employed by Morris & Co and later by James Powell & Sons before he became a freelance designer. He continued to undertake commissions for Powell's up to 1923, but in the later part of his career most of his work was carried out for Henry Holiday.

 

James Powell & Sons, situated on the site of the former Whitefriars monastery, between the Thames and Fleet Street, was producing mainly flint glass when it was bought in 1834 by James Powell, a London wine merchant. On his death the firm passed to his three sons Arthur, Nathaniel and James Cotton Powell, who in 1844 established a stained glass department. The latter benefitted from the scientific researches of Charles Winston, a lawyer by profession, who had dedicated himself to the study of medieval stained glass. It had made him aware of the shortcomings of the glass available to contemporary artists, this being often thin and garish in colour. In 1847 he encouraged experiments aimed at rediscovering the chemical components of medieval glass and persuaded the firm of James Powell & Sons to produce 'antique' glass to his recipes. It was mainly due to this collaboration that the firm was to become one of the most important studios and glass manufacturers of the Victorian period.

 

Liverpool Cathedral is orientated north-south, and the cardinal directions given here refer to the liturgical orientation.

Done