30 July 2018

Jane B 1

Jane Brocket’s new book How to Look at Stained Glass: A Guide to the Church Windows of England was published recently and of course we sell it in the shop. It is very wittily arranged as an A to Z. The first sentence is: ‘Abstract stained glass in a church can be challenging. In a place where people are looking for meaning, it does not offer any immediate answers or guidance.’ The final entry is Zzzzz: ‘Windows are packed with action, incident and grand gestures. But sometimes in the midst of all this the pace slows down, tiredness takes over, and the viewer finds a weary figure fast asleep, leaning against a column or resting his head on his arm…’ This is Detail of Annunciation window by Karl Parsons 1912 St Alban’s Church, Hindhead.