The Tower of London, (Vol. 1 of 2)Gower, Ronald Sutherland, Lord
History
The Tower of London, (Vol. 1 of 2)
Gower, Ronald Sutherland, Lord
Tower of London (London, England)
A quantity of stained glass panels were found in the crypt of St John’s
Chapel, in which some interesting and valuable fragments, mostly
incomplete in themselves, of heraldic glass of the sixteenth century
and of small pictorial subjects, were mixed with modern and valueless
glass of subordinate design. The whole was carefully examined by Messrs
John Hardman, who separated the ancient from the modern glass, and
using delicate leads to repair the numerous fractures of the former,
and setting the various fragments in lozenges of plain glass, filled
the right windows of the chapel with the following subjects:—
The first window in the south front, entering from the west, a coat of
arms, with the words “Honi soit qui mal y pense” around it on the upper
portion; a sepia painting in the centre, representing the Deity and two
angels appearing to a priest, with flames rising from an altar. In the
lower portion is another sepia painting with the Deity depicted with
outstretched arms, one hand on the sun, the other on the moon, and the
earth rolling in clouds at the feet. This is generally supposed to be
emblematical of the Creation, but has been suggested as representative
of the Saviour as the Light of the World.
The second window has a head and bust near the top, with a peculiar cap
and crown. The centre is a sepia representing the expulsion of Adam
and Eve from the Garden of Eden, and the guardian angel. At the bottom
there is another sepia, depicting a village upon a hill, probably a
distant view of Harrow.
The third window has at the top a figure of Charles I. in sepia; in the
centre a knight in armour, skirmishing, and at the bottom what appears
to be a holly-bush with the letters H. R.
The fourth window has a negro’s head with a turban in the upper
portion; in the centre a sepia of Esau returning from the hunt to seek
Isaac’s blessing, Rebecca and Jacob being in the background. Near the
bottom is another sepia of the exterior of a church, probably Dutch.
The fifth window, and the last of the series facing south, has a coat
of arms and motto like those in the first window; in the centre, a
sepia of the anointing of David by Samuel, and near the bottom Jehovah
in clouds, with the earth and shrubs bursting forth. This is probably
emblematical of the Creation.
The south-east apsidal window has the coat of arms and royal motto as
before, with two smaller coats of arms and the same motto below, a
royal crown and large Tudor rose being near the bottom.
The eastern window (in the centre of the apse) has a crown with
fleur-de-lys and leopards at the top, and in the centre the small
portcullis of John of Gaunt and the wheat-sheaf of Chester. These are
by far the best heraldic devices in the whole series of windows.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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