Saint Paul Preaching at Athens
Panel
1816 (painted)
1816 (painted)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
William Collins painted this scene using only enamel paints and no lead work to create a ‘painting on glass’. This panel is one of two showing the same subject (the other is in the Stained Glass Museum in Ely).
Collins copied this composition from an engraving of one of Raphael’s cartoons, which were painted about 1520. The cartoon has been in the Royal Collection since 1623 and is now on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Some of Collins’s other painted glass commissions were for St Sidwell’s Church in Exeter. He also made a large window for St Peter’s Church in Calcutta, India.
In the second half of the 18th century there was a fashion for both private and ecclesiastical bodies to commission painted glass copies of famous paintings on canvas. Advances in glass manufacture now enabled larger sheets of thin, clear glass to be produced. It was possible to paint on them, without using lead to compose the structure. Glass painters like William Collins used enamel paints to create their ‘pictures on glass’. In the 18th century, however, these paints were quite opaque, so that light did not transmit easily through the painted surface of the glass. The fashion for this type of painting started to die out in the early decades of the 1800s.
Collins copied this composition from an engraving of one of Raphael’s cartoons, which were painted about 1520. The cartoon has been in the Royal Collection since 1623 and is now on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Some of Collins’s other painted glass commissions were for St Sidwell’s Church in Exeter. He also made a large window for St Peter’s Church in Calcutta, India.
In the second half of the 18th century there was a fashion for both private and ecclesiastical bodies to commission painted glass copies of famous paintings on canvas. Advances in glass manufacture now enabled larger sheets of thin, clear glass to be produced. It was possible to paint on them, without using lead to compose the structure. Glass painters like William Collins used enamel paints to create their ‘pictures on glass’. In the 18th century, however, these paints were quite opaque, so that light did not transmit easily through the painted surface of the glass. The fashion for this type of painting started to die out in the early decades of the 1800s.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Saint Paul Preaching at Athens (assigned by artist) |
| Materials and techniques | Clear glass painted in enamels |
| Brief description | Glass panel painted with enamels depicting St. Paul Preaching at Athens. Painted by William Collins after a cartoon by Raphael. English, 1816 |
| Physical description | The panel depicts a man preaching to a group in a classical setting and is broken along the left hand side. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | 'W.Collins. 1816' (Signature; date; Lower left hand corner; painted; Collins, William; 1816) |
| Gallery label | ST PAUL PREACHING IN ATHENS
William Collins of Collins Glassworks, London, painted this scene using only enamel paints and no lead work to create a ‘painting on glass’. This composition derives from Raphael, from a cartoon painted about 1520 and now on display in the V&A’s Raphael Gallery.
England, dated 1816, by William Collins
Clear glass with enamel paint.
From Harleyford Manor, Great Marlow, Buckinghamshire
Museum no. C.74-1980. Given by Harleyford Estate Ltd.((TB) 2005) |
| Object history | Collins copied this composition from an engraving of the tapestry cartoon by Raphael of around 1520. It was painted for the vestibule at Harleyford Manor, Great Marlow, Buckinghamshire. Historical significance: Thomas Jervais also copied Raphael's treatment of this subject for a window at Dangan Castle in the 1760s. (See M. Wynne Irish Stained and Painted Glass in P. Moore Crown in Glory Norwich, ca.1980, p.59.) |
| Historical context | This panel possibly formed part of a scheme of decoration William Collins was commissioned to create for the North entrance to Harleyford Manor. The scheme seems to have consisted of historiated painted panels within a painted and coloured glass decorative framework. The museum has two decorative and painted frameworks (C.72 & 73-1980) from the north entrance of the manor. |
| Production | Originally from Harleyford Manor, Marlow, Buckinghamshire. Collins compied this composition from an engraving of a cartoon painted by Raphael. This cartoon, painted about 1520, has been in the Royal Collection since 1623 and is now on loan to the V&A. |
| Subject depicted | |
| Summary | William Collins painted this scene using only enamel paints and no lead work to create a ‘painting on glass’. This panel is one of two showing the same subject (the other is in the Stained Glass Museum in Ely). Collins copied this composition from an engraving of one of Raphael’s cartoons, which were painted about 1520. The cartoon has been in the Royal Collection since 1623 and is now on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Some of Collins’s other painted glass commissions were for St Sidwell’s Church in Exeter. He also made a large window for St Peter’s Church in Calcutta, India. In the second half of the 18th century there was a fashion for both private and ecclesiastical bodies to commission painted glass copies of famous paintings on canvas. Advances in glass manufacture now enabled larger sheets of thin, clear glass to be produced. It was possible to paint on them, without using lead to compose the structure. Glass painters like William Collins used enamel paints to create their ‘pictures on glass’. In the 18th century, however, these paints were quite opaque, so that light did not transmit easily through the painted surface of the glass. The fashion for this type of painting started to die out in the early decades of the 1800s. |
| Associated objects | |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | C.74-1980 |
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| Record created | September 30, 1998 |
| Record URL |
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