CARTOON FOR PETER FLEMING MEMORIAL WINDOW

Brief description: A painted cartoon for a window by John Piper, 1976. The cartoon shows a tree in the centre with a variety of birds on the branches, including an owl. Above the tree is a crescent moon, stars and planets.

John Piper (1903-92) was an established painter, printmaker and stage designer before taking up stained glass at the age of 48. Piper greatly admired the work of Henri Matisse, who used colourful paper cut-outs to make maquettes for stained-glass windows. This cartoon for a window for St JohnÂ’s Church, Nettlebed, Oxfordshire, was made by Piper using paper cut-outs, watercolour, pen and gouache. Piper has designed a Tree of Life, one of his favourite motifs, by using the sculpted masonry of the central mullion of the window to represent a tree and branches. Lively birds, cut from marbled paper, inhabit the luxuriant foliage and overhead the earth and heavens appear in the tracery light. The final window was made by Patrick Reyntiens (1925-2021), a talented stained glass artist who produced a number of Piper's windows.

Object type: preparatory artworks cartoon

Number of objects: 1

Production date: 1976

Production period: 20th century, late

Designer: John Piper (1903 - 1992)

Manufacturer: Piper, John (1903=1992)

Dimensions: Height: 2224 mm, Width: 1358 mm

Dedication: dedicated to Fleming, Peter

Acquisition: gift 1980

Acquisition source: Piper, John

Accession number: ELYGM:1980.18