Panel thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Sacred Silver & Stained Glass, Room 83, The Whiteley Galleries

Panel

ca. 1925 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Veronica Whall (1887–1967) was the daughter of Christopher Whall, the influential Arts and Crafts stained-glass artist who was also a teacher in the progressive art schools of the years around 1900. Whall taught his pupils glass-cutting, painting and leading. They included many women who went on to establish themselves as highly respected stained-glass artists. Veronica was one of them.

As early as the age of 13, Veronica contributed a design for a window depicting St Catherine for the Lady Chapel of Gloucester Cathedral. This was her father’s most important commission, begun in 1897. The windows are his acknowledged masterpiece.

During the First World War (1914–18) Veronica worked as a designer in her father’s studio. In 1922 she became co-director in the new stained-glass firm of Whall & Whall Ltd. She carried on the business with her brother after their father’s death in 1924. Their commissions included windows for Carlisle and Leicester cathedrals and works for churches in New Zealand and Australia.

Veronica Whall described the making of stained glass: ‘The three things technically essential to the making of a stained glass window are glass, lead and light . . . for light is our medium, and light is our colour’.

This panel of a trumpeting angel was made about 1925. The scroll contains a passage from the Gospel of St Matthew recounting Jesus Christ’s words at his Ascension: ‘[I am with you] even unto the end of time’.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Stained and painted glass
Brief description
Panel of tinted,coloured and flashed glass with acid-etching, painting and yellow (silver) stain. Depticting a trumpeting angel. Made by Veronica Whall, English, ca.1925.
Physical description
Rectangular panel with a semi-circular arched head depicting a many-winged angel holding a trumpet and standing in clounds above the earth and against a background of blue and turquoise sky and clouds. The angel in yellow, brown, grey and red.
Dimensions
  • Height: 794mm
  • Width: 495mm
Production typeUnique
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'Usque ad consummationem seculi' (Decoration; Latin; Towards the bottom of the panel.; Whall, Veronica; ca. 1925)
    Translation
    Even unto the end of time
  • 'Matthew Chapt. 28. ver 20.' (Decoration; Whall, Veronica; ca. 1925)
Object history
Historical significance: The inscription comes from St Matthew's Gospel, Ch.28 v.20: I am with you even unto the end of time. The figure of the angel resembles a design by Christopher Whall for Holy Trinity, Sloane Street (around 1906).
Historical context
Veronica Whall (1887-1967) was the daughter of the influential Arts & Crafts stained glass artist Christopher Whall who was also a teacher in the progressive art schools of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Whall taught his skills in glass-cutting, painting and leading to his pupils who included many women who went on to establish themselves as highly respected stained glass artists. Veronica was one of these women artists.

As early as the age of 13, Veronica contributed a design for a window depicting St. Catherine for the Lady Chapel of Gloucester Cathedral. This was her father's most important commission (begun in 1897) and the windows are his acknowledged masterpiece.

Veronica was working with her father in his studio during the First World War as a designer. In 1922 she became co-director with her father in the new stained glass firm of Whall & Whall Ltd. She carried on the business with her brother after the death of their father in 1924. Their commissions included windows for Carlisle and Leicester Cathedrals and works for churches in New Zealand and Australia.

Veronica Whall described the making of stained glass as:
The three things technically essential to the making of a stained glass window are glass, lead and light…for light is our medium, and light is our colour.

This panel of a trumpeting angel was made in about 1925. The scroll contains a passage from the Gospel of St. Matthew recounting Jesus Christ's words at His Ascension:
(I am with you) even unto the end of time
Summary
Veronica Whall (1887–1967) was the daughter of Christopher Whall, the influential Arts and Crafts stained-glass artist who was also a teacher in the progressive art schools of the years around 1900. Whall taught his pupils glass-cutting, painting and leading. They included many women who went on to establish themselves as highly respected stained-glass artists. Veronica was one of them.

As early as the age of 13, Veronica contributed a design for a window depicting St Catherine for the Lady Chapel of Gloucester Cathedral. This was her father’s most important commission, begun in 1897. The windows are his acknowledged masterpiece.

During the First World War (1914–18) Veronica worked as a designer in her father’s studio. In 1922 she became co-director in the new stained-glass firm of Whall & Whall Ltd. She carried on the business with her brother after their father’s death in 1924. Their commissions included windows for Carlisle and Leicester cathedrals and works for churches in New Zealand and Australia.

Veronica Whall described the making of stained glass: ‘The three things technically essential to the making of a stained glass window are glass, lead and light . . . for light is our medium, and light is our colour’.

This panel of a trumpeting angel was made about 1925. The scroll contains a passage from the Gospel of St Matthew recounting Jesus Christ’s words at his Ascension: ‘[I am with you] even unto the end of time’.
Bibliographic references
  • Cormack, Peter. Christopher Whall 1849-1924: Arts and Crafts Stained Glass Worker. Walthamstow, 1979. Catalogue entry 151.
  • p.17 Cormack, Peter. Women Stained Glass Artists of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Walthamstow, 1984.
  • Veronica Whall, 'Glass, Lead, and - Light', Stained Glass (Journal of the Stained Glass Association of America), Vol.xx, no.1 Spring/Summer 1935, pp.10-14.
Collection
Accession number
C.65-1973

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Record createdJuly 14, 1998
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