ST CATHERINE & ST LAWRENCE
Brief description: Two Light Window. Stained glass window made up of two lights with tracery. The lights depict St Catherine and St Lawrence and date from between 1310-1330.
Stained glass window made up of two lights with tracery. The lights depict St Catherine, who is holding a wheel and a sword and St Lawrence, holding a gridiron. Tracery contained rearranged medieval fragments. The window dates from between 1310-1330. The patron saint of students, scientists, theologians and wheelwrights, St Catherine of Alexandria was a popular figure throughout medieval Europe. This depiction of her, with the spiked wheel on which she was tortured, is typical of the many thousands of images that could once be found in cathedrals and parish churches throughout Britain. The style of glass-painting shown in this and the following panel, showing St Lawrence, flourished in the period c1280-1350, with figures positioned under flat but decorative canopies. The modest use of yellow stain, applied only to the architecture, suggests a date early in the 14th century. The brilliant colour of the glasses and the confident painting are also typical of this great period for English stained glass, examples of which can also be seen at Ely Cathedral in the Lady Chapel. Lawrence was martyred in 258 AD during the persecutions of the Roman Emperor Valerian. He was said to have been roasted on a gridiron, a fate similar to that of St Vincent, although this grisly detail may not be founded on historical fact. Well over two hundred English medieval churches were dedicated to him. The tracery panel contains rearranged medieval fragments.
Object type: stained glass light
Number of objects: 3
Production date: 1
Production period: Medieval
Dimensions: Height: 760 mm, Width: 300 mm
Original location: St Andrew Wood Walton Cambridgeshire previously Huntingdon England St Andrew North-west Chancel
Acquisition: loan 1972
Acquisition source: The Friends of Friendless Churches
Bibliographical references: Alexander, J and Binski P (eds) : 1987: Age of Chivalry catalogue: page 445 : pl 559
Accession number: ELYGM:L1980.2
