ARCHANGEL MICHAEL

Brief description: A single light window made of three panels. The central panel depicts the Archangel St Michael dressed as a Roman soldier with a shield and a sword stabbing a dragon at his feet. The apex and base panels have a wide border of foliage and daisies around a tree bearing fruit possibly oranges.

St Michael is one of the four archangels named in the Bible. Frequently depicted fighting the forces of evil, his wings distinguish him from St George. In the 1860s Wooldridge worked as studio assistant to Edward Burne-Jones and later worked with Henry Holiday. Wooldridge was a designer for Powell & Sons for around twenty years. His contemporary reputation was considerable - he later succeeded John Ruskin as Slade Professor of Art at Oxford and was also a significant figure in the study of medieval and renaissance music. Wooldridge's neoclassical figure style is combined here with delicate modelling and subtle colours. It is possible that the painted glass was underfired, or the use of borax, a water-soluble flux much used in the 1870s, has caused some of the paint to detach from the glass.

Object type: stained glass window

Number of objects: 3

Production date: 1876

Production period: 19th century, late

Designer: Harry Ellis Wooldridge (1845 - 1917)

Manufacturer: Powell and Sons, James

Dimensions: Height: 2160 mm, Width: 510 mm

Original location: St Michael and All Angels Weybridge Surrey England East window of the South aisle St Michael and All Angels

Acquisition: gift 1973

Acquisition source: Diocesan Advisory Committee

Bibliographical references: The Art of Painting in Light: Stained Glass, 1850-1925 : Catalogue of An Exhibition Organized By Bradford Art Galleries and Museums (1979). website : yes

This item is only partly on display

Accession number: ELYGM:1973.2