The Times

December 18, 2002

Window reflects a dazzling light
By Brian Carter



A NEW stained-glass window at Oriel College, Oxford, commemorates the life and work of Cardinal John Henry Newman.
From 1825 until his reception into the Roman Catholic Church in 1845, Newman was a Fellow of Oriel, and during that period he established his reputation as the leading figure of the Oxford or Tractarian Movement. Subsequently Newman’s name has become indissolubly linked to Oxford and to Oriel in particular, though his affection for Trinity College — where he was an undergraduate — remained with him throughout his life.

A posthumous legacy was one of the criteria used in the recent television programmes to establish by popular vote who was the Greatest Briton. Newman was not on the list but there are few Britons who have sustained such a vibrant posthumous global reputation: schools, colleges, libraries, learned societies have been named after him and there is an apparently unending stream of scholarly publications in every language devoted to his life and work.

Lord Jenkins of Hillhead, Chancellor of Oxford University, has written of the “dazzling fascination” of Newman, which the new window at Oriel strikingly reflects.

Dedicated by the Bishop of Oxford, the Right Rev Richard Harries, at a service last month, it consists of 14 leaded lights extending to almost 150 sq ft and is an important addition to Oxford’s already rich holdings of stained glass. The project was funded by the late Norma Lady Dalrymple-Champneys, an honorary fellow of the college and generous benefactor, and, after a competition, the commission was given to Vivienne Haig and Douglas Hogg, both based in Edinburgh.

The iconography and overall design were created by Haig, assisted by Sarah McCabe, also from Edinburgh, in the final phase when preparing the full size cartooning. At that stage, Hogg took over the project to interpret and transform the design into glass.

The central image is of Newman seated and at prayer, with an open book on his lap. Surrounding him are images and motifs reflecting important associations in his life: Oriel College, the University Church of St Mary’s, and Littlemore. His life after Oriel is indicated by the use of a cardinal red for the floor colour, and more explicitly by the incorporation of the motto adopted by Newman when he was created a Cardinal in 1879, Cor ad cor loquitur (“Heart speaks to heart”).

In the central upper light is an image of the Virgin and Child, with angels and cherubim in the adjoining lights. In the outer wing lights are texts by Newman transcribed in a facsimile form on to the glass.

The materials have been sourced from several European glassworks, among them the esteemed, now defunct, Hartley Wood Glassworks of Sunderland. The artists have used a rich if relatively narrow colour range; and in the sections left uncoloured, textured glass has been used. In these ostensibly blank areas, slightly bubbled “seedy” glass and striated glass have been positioned with skill, allowing the architecture in the quadrangle to fill these spaces and blend with the architectural motifs in the coloured glass; the window and the college buildings form a unified whole.

Hogg has overlaid Newman’s white robes with a complementary enamel glaze and so intensified the effect of the window when backlit at night and viewed from the quadrangle. The lighting has been donated by Downside Abbey.

This large bay window encloses a small space over the chapel entrance and adjoining Newman’s old college rooms, to which there is a connecting door. Newman used this area as a private oratory; thus the logic of placing the Newman memorial window in this location might seem self-evident.

Unfortunately this area is relatively inaccessible, concealed as it is behind the organ casing and invisible from anywhere within the chapel itself: in reality it will be possible to view the window only by appointment, apart from seeing it in reverse from the quad when illuminated at night. Should Newman be canonised, the college will be faced with significant problems in responding to requests to view this and related items, including the beautiful Newman bowl engraved by Laurence Whistler, also donated by Lady Dalrymple-Champneys.