John Hayward: St Michael Paternoster Royal and Sherborne Abbey

 

John Hayward "was a stained-glass artist, who designed and made nearly 200 windows that irradiate churches and cathedrals throughout Britain and abroad."

I've recently more of his work through visits to St Michael Paternoster Royal and Sherborne Abbey. 

The glass by John Hayward at St Michael Paternoster Royal dates from 1968 and is considered to be among the "best post-war glass in the City". The scheme depicts the angels of Genesis and the Apocalypse - and, in the south-west corner, "a flat-capped Dick Whittington and his wily cat". The central window in Hayward's scheme is of "the church’s patron saint beating down the devil, of which the rich hues and thick textures in the glass work with the subject towards an explosive Armageddon of colour and light."

The Great West Window at Sherborne Abbey was designed and made by John Hayward and installed in 1997. The theme of the window is The Incarnation. Its subject matter contains elements which though drawn from a sequence of events are intended to operate as one image seen at a single moment.The window is treated as a triptych with centre and flanking lights divided by the heavy mullions allowing for a change of scale.

Hayward's design for the Millennium window commemorates two important events in the life of Sherborne Abbey separated by a thousand years. First, the year of the Millennium celebrations marking the arrival of the Benedictines at Sherborne Abbey in AD998 and, second, the highlight of 1998 with the visit on 8 May of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and HRH Prince Philip for the dedication of the new glass to the Great West window.

Other art work to be found at Sherborne Abbey include a sculpture of St Aldhelm by Marzia Colonna and icons by John Coleman.

For more on the art of John Hayward click here and here. Hayward's work features in 'The Art of Faith', an art trail in the City of London.

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Keith Green - Stained Glass.