Picture This: Shedding light on England's most beautiful art
By KATHARINE SPURRIER
Published: | Updated:
The window in Ely Cathedral is home to the image of St Peter
Not only are they deeply sacred places of worship, churches and cathedrals are houses of the world's most beautiful art. The Sistine Chapel has its ceiling, Notre Dame its altar, and the holy places of England their stained glass.
In her new book, Janet Gough has brought together 50 of the most beautiful windows in England, marking their history and meaning. From the ancient windows of Lincoln Cathedral to the more modern William Morris offering in Birmingham, Gough basks in the glory on display.
Across the book we marvel at the stories these windows tell and the beauty that is cast across a Cathedral's stone as the sun shines through.
In Gough's curation, the resounding sense is of how enlightening and immediate the impression of artistry and divine brilliance would have been on visitors who lived in an age before technology or even widely distributed literature.
A beautifully lit stained glass window in the heart of a cathedral may well be as close to the divine as any of us will get.
Daily Mail
