Stained glass design for window in Holy Cross and St. Mary, Quainton, Buckinghamshire by Lavers, Barraud & Westlake, about 1876.

Small design for a two-light window on a sheet of cream paper which is thick as light card. The design on the left shows the three Mairies at the empty tomb and the design on the right shows the resurrected Christ appearing to Mary Magdalen.

This design for two lights of a window is credited to the firm of Lavers, Barraud & Westlake. This attribution is made from an analysis of the style, matching it to a known window of the same design by that firm and from a label of the firm stuck on the back another design in the folio.

The design is on a sheet of textured standard artist’s card and is worked up in ink and watercolour.

The two lights depict:
The Three Maries at the Empty Tomb
The Resurrected Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene

A window with stained glass showing the above scenes was traced to Holy Cross and t. Mary’s, Quainton, Buckinghamshire. The east window of this church is a five-light window with the scenes of:
1. Descent from the Cross
2. Entombment of Christ
3. Resurrection of Christ
Plus the above scenes.

The tops of the windows in Quainton Church differ from those in the design. It is quite possible that the design was made for another church and then reworked to fit the windows in Quainton.
It is hoped that the designs for the other three lights may turn up one day.

The firm of Lavers and Barraud was established in 1858 with premises at Southampton Street, Strand, London.
Nathaniel Wood Lavers (1828-1911) and Francis Philip Barraud (1824-1900) had previously worked in the glass firm of James Powell and Sons in Whitefriars, London.
Barraud was working as the designer and Lavers was the craftsman. Barraud was dissatisfied with his own designs. William Burges recommended hiring Nathaniel Westlake as a designer.
(1858) Westlake (1833-1921) joined the firm.
(1859) Moved to Endell Street, Covent Garden, London
(1860s) Westlake changed from a gothic style to one that was looser and more individualistic and depended heavily on 16th century prototypes. As the Aesthestic movement gathered momentum, the colour of his stained glass became diluted.

Other designers for the firm:
James Milner Allen (1860s)
Lewis Day (1864 onward)
Frederick Smallwood (b.1829)
Edward Burne-Jones did one design (1860)
Henry Holiday designed a number of windows over a 15 year period.
Michael Frederick Halliday (1822-69)
Clement William Barraud (b.1843)
John Richard Clayton (1827-1913) free-lanced with Lavers & Barraud from 1855 to 1858

(1868) Westlake was made a partner (now Lavers, Barraud & Westlake)
(1880) Westlake became the sole proprietor.
(1880-1921) Firm’s windows were technically excellent but not of the 1858-68 quality.
Westlake carried on after the death of Barraud (1900) and Lavers (1911) until his own death in 1921.

The V&A has one stained glass panel by this firm, 780-1864, ‘The Vision of Beatrice’ which was designed by Nathaniel Westlake. The museum has no other works on paper by this firm.

This is the design for two lights of a five-light window by the stained glass manufacturer, Lavers, Barraud, & Westlake, in about 1876 for the church of Holy Cross and St. Mary in Quainton, Buckinghamshire. This design was for presentation in advance of the commission for the window which still survives in situ. On the left of the design is the scene of the Three Mairies at the Empty Tomb and on the right is the scene of the resurrected Christ appearing to Mary Magdalen known as Noli me tangere which in turn means 'do not touch me'.

The design was possibly by Nathaniel Westlake (1833-1921) a protégé of the architect William Burges. Westlake began to design for the firm in 1858 and became a partner in Lavers & Barraud after 1868 after which the firm was called Lavers, Barraud & Westlake.

E.284-2009