a reference to the hospital of Mary Magdalene at Winchester ), St Christopher , and St George , patron saint of England . The link to the founder was rammed home by the repetition of the same Latin inscription in every side window which , translated , reads : ‘ Pray for William of Wykeham , bishop of Winchester , founder of this college ’. A similar nod to Wykeham ’ s personal connections was made at the foot of the Jesse window , where the project team ’ s portraits were flanked by two representations of Wykeham himself with the kings he had served , all kneeling in prayer . The founder used the glazing programme to personalise a version of biblical history , centring it on his network and on his foundation . Afterlife . Unfortunately the scheme in the chapel , which must have been magnificent , has been the subject of much interference .
Thomas Glazier ’ s glass at Winchester and elsewhere seems to have been particularly vulnerable to corrosion , and this would have started as soon as the glass was installed . 5 Numerous repairs are also recorded from the fifteenth century onwards , due both to storm damage and accidents related to its setting in a school .
In 1821 , the east window was removed by the firm of Betton and Evans , to be restored ‘ to its original brilliancy ’, followed by the side windows between 1825 and 1828 . 6 Once in their workshop , a decision was made to replace the glass entirely , presumably because of its degraded condition . The stained glass now remaining in all nine windows of the main body of the chapel is therefore almost completely nineteenth-century , and of a dramatically different colour palette to the original , with strong purples and acid greens ( see figs 8 and 9 ). The original glass was disposed of by
the workshop , with some ending up in parish churches and private collections , and some lost .
It is easy to criticise this , but attitudes to medieval art in the early nineteenth century , particularly in places of worship , were complex . Appreciation of medieval art was only just beginning , and one finds repeated references to ‘ superstition ’ and ‘ popery ’ in contemporary records of discoveries . The priority was to maintain the beauty and appropriate arrangement of a place of worship , rather than to conserve damaged and possibly illegible medieval glass . It is not known if the college were involved in the decision to replace the glass , but their response to the replacements was certainly enthusiastic . The Hampshire Chronicle reflected this enthusiasm , as well as complex contemporary attitudes to the restoration of medieval glass , by reporting that the east window had ‘ been retouched and restored
Figures 8 – 10 : Absolon
Left ( fig . 8 ): From Thurbern ’ s Chantry , west window , originally from the chapel east window ( 1392 – 93 )
Centre ( fig . 9 ): From chapel , east window by Betton and Evans ( 1821 )
Right ( fig . 10 ): Originally from west window of New College Chapel , Oxford ( c . 1385 ), restored and relocated with other fragments to York Minster ( nave south wall , sVIII ), by William Peckitt , 1780s
Figure 8 Figure 9 Figure 10
Medieval Glass at Winchester College 7