Abstract
Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, is a unique institu-tion; not only is it the cathedral church of the diocese of Oxford, it is also the chapel of Christ Church, one of the largest colleges within the University of Oxford, al-though the cathedral itself is one of the smallest in Eng-land
1
. The glass in the cathedral has had a long, varied and in some cases turbulent history. The earliest glass dates to the start of the 14
th
century and is found in the ‘Becket window’ depicting the martyrdom of Thomas Becket; while later 14
th
century silver stain glass can be found in the windows of the Latin Chapel. During the 17
th
century many of the windows were altered in shape from the original three lights to a two light ver-sion. This was under the instruction of Dean Duppa, the then dean of Christ Church
2
. These windows were all filled with new painted glass that was commissioned by the dean and created by the Van Linge brothers
3
. The only surviving 17
th
century windows in the cathedral are the ‘Bishop King’ window by Bernard Van Linge and the ‘Jonah before Nineveh’ window painted by Ab-raham Van Linge 1631. During the English Civil War, the painted windows were seen as papist and idolatrous and between 1648 and 1651 they were removed
4
. By the Restoration c.1660 some of the Van Linge windows had been replaced and survived to the 19
th
century when the next major restorations to the cathedral took place. The Victorians restored most of the windows to three lights and they now feature the work of amongst others Burne-Jones and Clayton and Bell
5
. This paper forms part of an ongoing project which is investigating the changes in the cathedral glass and in particular the glass from the 17
th
century
6
1
. The glass in the cathedral has had a long, varied and in some cases turbulent history. The earliest glass dates to the start of the 14
th
century and is found in the ‘Becket window’ depicting the martyrdom of Thomas Becket; while later 14
th
century silver stain glass can be found in the windows of the Latin Chapel. During the 17
th
century many of the windows were altered in shape from the original three lights to a two light ver-sion. This was under the instruction of Dean Duppa, the then dean of Christ Church
2
. These windows were all filled with new painted glass that was commissioned by the dean and created by the Van Linge brothers
3
. The only surviving 17
th
century windows in the cathedral are the ‘Bishop King’ window by Bernard Van Linge and the ‘Jonah before Nineveh’ window painted by Ab-raham Van Linge 1631. During the English Civil War, the painted windows were seen as papist and idolatrous and between 1648 and 1651 they were removed
4
. By the Restoration c.1660 some of the Van Linge windows had been replaced and survived to the 19
th
century when the next major restorations to the cathedral took place. The Victorians restored most of the windows to three lights and they now feature the work of amongst others Burne-Jones and Clayton and Bell
5
. This paper forms part of an ongoing project which is investigating the changes in the cathedral glass and in particular the glass from the 17
th
century
6
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Annales of the 18th AIHV Congress |
Editors | Despina Ignatiadou, Anastassios Antonaras |
Pages | 425-429 |
Publication status | Published - 2012 |