The Cathedral Church of Oxford: A description of its fabric and a brief history of the Episcopal seeDearmer, Percy
History
The Cathedral Church of Oxford: A description of its fabric and a brief history of the Episcopal see
Dearmer, Percy
Christ Church Cathedral (Oxford, England)
The eastern window (inserted as a memorial to Dr. Bull) is a pathetic
instance of the corrupt following of Mr. Ruskin, which also inflicted
upon Christ Church the gaunt Meadow Buildings. It is, of course, really
as unlike Mr. Ruskin's well-loved Venetian work as anything can possibly
be: as heavy as that is light, as clumsy as that is graceful, it is ugly
and cold and dead; but it represents a genuine enthusiasm of the fifties,
and commands our respect as an honest though mistaken effort, a landmark
in the history of the architectural revival. It also illustrates a truth
which one is apt sometimes to forget,--that it is easy to appreciate
beauty, and very hard to create it.
Fortunately it is nearly lost sight of in the splendid Burne-Jones glass
which fills it, and represents another side of the artistic revival not
less important than the architectural.
=Glass in Latin Chapel=.--The beautiful windows at the side are filled
with fine fourteenth century glass, which was replaced after a long period
of exile by Dean Liddell. In the middle of each light is a figure in
canopy work, the rest of the light being covered with "quarries,"--that
is, diamond-shaped pieces of glass with leaves and flowers lightly
burnt upon them. The spaces in the tracery are ornamented with curious
medallions, and the borders with various beasts, as in St. Lucy's Chapel,
monkeys among them. The Courtenay Arms--Three Torteaux--suggest that the
family may have contributed towards building the chapel. Beginning at
the west, the first window contains a St. Catherine in the first light,
next a Madonna and holy Child (the blue pattern at the back of these
figures should be noticed); next a figure of St. Frideswide, or her
mother Saffrida.
The second window contains the figure of an archbishop, holding a cross
curiously blended into a crooked pastoral staff; angels are on either
side.
The next has St. Frideswide in the centre, with St. Margaret and St.
Catherine at her side. The patroness holds the curiously foliated sceptre
which has led to the identification of her figure in the choir boss,
and Catherine handles her wheel and sword in the same way as her statue
over the dean's stall in the choir. The last window on this side is by
Clayton and Bell, and a particularly feeble one.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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