William Wailes, (1808-1881), was the proprietor of one of England’s largest and most prolific
stained glassThe term stained glass can refer to the material of coloured glass or the craft of working with it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term "stained glass" has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches, cathedrals, chapels, and other significant buildings...
workshops.
Wailes was born and grew up in Newcastle on Tyne, England’s centre of domestic glass and bottle manufacturing. His first business was as a grocer and tea merchant. However, his artistic talent and practical skills led him to set up a small kiln in the backyard of his premises.
William Wailes, (1808-1881), was the proprietor of one of England’s largest and most prolific
stained glassThe term stained glass can refer to the material of coloured glass or the craft of working with it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term "stained glass" has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches, cathedrals, chapels, and other significant buildings...
workshops.
Biographical
Wailes was born and grew up in Newcastle on Tyne, England’s centre of domestic glass and bottle manufacturing. His first business was as a grocer and tea merchant. However, his artistic talent and practical skills led him to set up a small kiln in the backyard of his premises. He made and fired small decorative enamels which were sold in his shop.
In 1830 he went to Germany to study stained glass design and production under Mayer of Munich. In 1838 he set up his own stained glass studio to design and manufacture windows and in 1841 the business began producing its own glass.
In 1842 the architect Augustus Welby Pugin approached Wailes about producing windows for him. Working with Pugin was thankless task as he went from one workshop to another in an attempt to get his designs realised at the lowest possible cost. The working relationship lasted for only three years.
Regardless of this, Wailes made a name for himself through the provision of windows for local churches. As his enterprise prospered, he employed more men until there were 76 employees, who included in their number several designers who were to go on to establish their own factories. These included Francis Wilson Oliphant R.A. (1818-1859) and George Joseph Baguley (1824-1915). William Wailes was one of the twenty five stained glass manufacturers that exhibited in the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851.
Wailes married a wife, Elizabeth and together they had several children including a son, William Thomas Wailes who was to join his father in the business, as did his son-in-law, Thomas Rankine Strang, in 1861, when the firm became known as Wailes and Strang.
In 1860 Wailes bought the Saltwell Estate at
GatesheadGateshead is a city in Tyne and Wear, England. It lies on the southern bank of the River Tyne, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne. Gateshead town centre and Newcastle city centre are very close to one another, and together they form the urban core of Tyneside...
and set about improving it, building himself a decorative mansion and landscaping the grounds. Unfortunately he ran into debt and 16 years later sold the property to the Gateshead Corporation. However he continued to reside in his home until his death in 1881. William Thomas Wailes continued to manufacture stained glass until 1910.
William Wailes' glass
Style
Although William Wailes employed a number of designers, the products of his workshop are often identifiable by type of glass and the particular colour combinations that prevailed. Wailes’ glass is often a little paler and more brightly coloured than many English workshops of the same date, being rather more like glass from Germany or
LimogesLimoges is a city and commune in France, the préfecture of the Haute-Vienne département, and the administrative capital of the Limousin région....
. There are certain distinctive colour combinations that occur repeatedly in the clothing of figures in Wailes’ windows- mauve lined with bright red, yellow lined with bright blue, red lined with acid green. Many of Wailes window contain a great deal of pink glass.
Although Wailes was seen as a Gothic Revival artist, and was able to fill windows with ornate foliate patterns that have the quality of brightly painted manuscripts rather than ancient glass, his figures were elegantly classicising and decidedly staid of demeanour. Figures in Wailes’ windows communicate in a series of stereotypical hand gestures. Moreover, the details of faces are applied in a very painterly manner, as against the almost calligraphic manner with which some of the 19th century artists such as
John HardmanHardman & Co., otherwise John Hardman Trading Co., Ltd., founded 1838, began manufacturing stained glass in 1844 and became one of the world's leading manufacturers of stained glass and ecclesiastical fittings.- History :...
imitated ancient windows. The painterly manner is in fact typical of that employed by Mayer of Munich, with whom Wailes trained.
William Wailes’ major commission.
While most of the work of Wailes’ workshop is to be found in the North of England, other commissions came from further afield. The most significant window glazed by the firm, and one of the prize commissions of the industry was the glazing of the West window of
Gloucester CathedralGloucester Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Undivided Trinity, in Gloucester, England, stands in the north of the city near the river...
, an enormous window of c.1430 in the Perpendicular Gothic style, of nine lights and four tiers, complementing, at the other end of the building, the largest ancient window in the world. The East window (which is as big as a tennis court) fortunately had retained much of its 14th century glass, comprising many tiers of figures.
Wailes’ West window is a stupendous achievement, and not just because of the technicalities involved in glazing such a vast area. It makes no attempt to imitate the style or content of the East window. The content of the West window, like that of so many other commissions, was probably stipulated by a committee. Because the window was so very large there was room for a large number of narratives and lots of figures.
Picture of the Wailes window
http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=4290044
The window comprises nine vertical sections called
lights which are divided by mullions into three lots of three. The window rises in three stages, the first and the third being approximately half as tall as the middle one, the whole being surmounted by many smaller vertical tracery lights, which Wailes predictably filled with singing angels neatly arranged in robes of violet, bright red and arsenic green.
Wailes' design divides the window main part into four rather than three stages, each one containing three complex narrative scenes which are each made successfully to span three lights. The central section which shows the Nativity of Christ with the Baptism of Christ in the
JordanThe Jordan River or River Jordan is a river in Southwest Asia which flows into the Dead Sea. It is considered to be one of the world's most sacred rivers...
by
John the BaptistJohn the Baptist was a mission preacher and a major religious figure who led a movement of Baptism at the Jordan River in expectation of a divine apocalypse that would restore occupied Israel...
(one below the other) is a particularly successful composition, considering that it contains two very significant narrative incidents which visually harmonise, yet remain discrete scenes. While each of the twelve individual pictures work as a unit, the visual composition of the total window is skilfully arranged as to present as an integrated work of art. This has been achieved by the skilled placement of the 116 figures and the equally skilful disposition of colour.
Churches containing stained glass by William Wailes
- St Lawrence, Waltham, Kent – East window, Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension, 1847.
- St Andrew’s, Bradfield – 12 windows with stories from the Gospels, 1848
- Chichester Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, otherwise called Chichester Cathedral, is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Chichester. It is located in Chichester, in Sussex, England...
- 5 light window of Christ and the four Gospel writers. 1849
- Ss Peter and Paul, Great Missenden
Great Missenden is a large village in the valley of the River Misbourne in the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire between Amersham and Wendover. It closely adjoins the villages of Little Missenden and Prestwood. The narrow High Street is bypassed by the main A413 London to Aylesbury Road...
– East window, with angels and banners, 1850 and Chancel window 1865.
- St Mary’s, Thatcham
Thatcham is a town in Berkshire, England 3 miles east of Newbury and 15 miles west of Reading. It covers about 8.75 square miles and has a population of 23,000 people...
– East window of the Feeding of the Five Thousand, 1858.
- All Saints', Hursley
Hursley is a village and civil parish in Hampshire, England with a population of around 800 in 2005. It is located roughly mid-way between Romsey and Winchester on the A3090...
– A very important commission of a complete cycle of 21 windows, showing The Crucifixion at the East end, with the ResurrectionThe resurrection of dead humans is a central doctrine of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. It may refer either to the resurrection of particular individuals, or a general resurrection of humanity....
and Presentation in the Temple. At the West is Christ in JudgementThe concept of a Last Judgment is found in all Abrahamic religions and elsewhere like Zoroastrianism and Duat.In Islam, the Last Judgment is referred to as "the Day of Standing" and God Almighty, will judge all Creation....
. Along the South side are Apostles and Doctors of the Church, on the North are ProphetsProphets may refer to:*Nevi'im, which is the second of the three major sections in the Tanakh *Prophets of Islam - 124,000 in total, beginning with Adam and ending with Muhammad.*Prophet, an interpreter or spokesperson of a deity...
and Ancestors of Christ. 1858.
- Gloucester Cathedral
Gloucester Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Undivided Trinity, in Gloucester, England, stands in the north of the city near the river...
– the West window – The life of Christ with stories from the Old Testament and New Testaments. 9 lights. 1859
- St George, Benenden
Benenden is a village and civil parish in the Tunbridge Wells District of Kent, England. The parish is located on the Weald six miles to the west of Tenterden...
– East window of 5 lights, Crucifixion and Passion. 1861
- St Matthias, Richmond – Wheel window of 12 Apostles, 1862, and 7 small narrative windows.
- St Mary’s, Chilham
Chilham is a parish in the English county of Kent. Visited by tourists worldwide, it is known for its beauty. Chilham has been a location for a number of films and television dramas...
- East window of 5 lights, Crucifixion and Resurrection with other scenes. 1864. For full description see Poor Man's BibleThe term Poor Man's Bible has come into use in modern times to describe works of art within churches and cathedrals which either individually or collectively have been created to illustrate the teachings of the Bible for a largely illiterate population. These artworks may take the form of carvings,...
,
- St John's, Piddinghoe
Piddinghoe is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. It is located in the valley of the River Ouse between Lewes and Newhaven, five miles south of the former, downstream of Southease....
– 11 windows by Wailes and Strang, Gospel stories and Saints, 1882. http://www.roughwood.net/ChurchAlbum/EastSussex/Piddinghoe/PiddinghoeStJohn2004.htm
- St John the Evangelist, Birtley, Co Durham. 2 windows in south nave. Nativity - 2 scenes: Annunciation & Visit of Shepherds, Resurrection - 2 scenes: Raising of Lazarus & Empty tomb. http://www.birtley-stjohns.org.uk
- Cathedral Church of St Mary, Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England...
- 3 windows, Great East Window, Lady Chapel and Blessed Sacrament Chapel, 1843. http://www.stmaryscathedral.org.uk
- Church of St Editha, Tamworth
The Church of St Editha is a Grade I listed building in Tamworth, Staffordshire, England.-History:The church of St. Editha is the largest medieval church in Staffordshire. Most of the church is mid to late C14 and 15C work with some 19C additions....
- East window.
Other Early 19th century firms
- Thomas Willement
Thomas Willement, 1786-1871, British stained glass artist, called “the Father of Victorian Stained Glass”, active from 1811 to 1865.-Biographical:Willement was born on the 18th July 1786 at St Marylebone, London....
- William Warrington
William Warrington, , was an English maker of stained glass windows. His firm operated from 1832 to 1875.- Biographical :In his youth, Warrington first trained with his father as a painter of armorial shields. He then moved for a time into the stained glass workshop of Thomas Willement, one of the...
- Charles Edmund Clutterbuck
Charles Clutterbuck was a stained glass artist of Stratford, East London. He was originally a painter of miniatures and exhibited eight paintings at the Royal Academy. He began stained glass work in the 1840s. Examples of his work can be seen in many Churches in the South East of England...
- Hardman & Co.
Hardman & Co., otherwise John Hardman Trading Co., Ltd., founded 1838, began manufacturing stained glass in 1844 and became one of the world's leading manufacturers of stained glass and ecclesiastical fittings.- History :...
- Augustus Welby Pugin
Context
- Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to the material of coloured glass or the craft of working with it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term "stained glass" has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches, cathedrals, chapels, and other significant buildings...
- Stained glass - British glass, 1811-1918
- Victorian Era
The Victorian era of the United Kingdom was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from June 1837 until her death on the 22nd of January 1901. The reign was a long period of prosperity for the British people, as profits gained from the overseas British Empire, as well as from industrial improvements...
- Gothic Revival
- Poor Man's Bible
The term Poor Man's Bible has come into use in modern times to describe works of art within churches and cathedrals which either individually or collectively have been created to illustrate the teachings of the Bible for a largely illiterate population. These artworks may take the form of carvings,...