See God Face to Face: Pray for the King: The Painted Glass of Winchester Cathedral, c1495-c1515

This thesis is the first detailed modern study of the painted glass installed in the Lady Chapel and presbytery of Winchester Cathedral between c1495 and c1515.

The thesis sets the Winchester glass in its wider artistic context. It confirms the glass as a key example of the glass painting style popular at this period, which has been described elsewhere as “Anglo-Netherlandish”, preferring to label it more broadly “Anglo-Continental”. It then describes the physical context for the glass within the cathedral. It considers the building schemes of which the glazing formed part, and discusses new research which helps to date the glass. The analysis of the earlier glass in the presbytery contributes to the debate on the dating of the presbytery clerestory windows.

Much of the glass is lost, dispersed, and jumbled, so a crucial task has been to try to reconstruct as much of the subject matter and layout as possible. The thesis also considers what the glass may have meant to its audience, showing how effectively the schemes supported the liturgy.

The thesis concludes with a broad discussion on patronage, suggesting the intellectual and social context within which the glass was commissioned. It is argued that the glass was part of a programme of royal commemoration, which was widespread and obligatory under Henry VII. New circumstantial evidence supports the possibility of contributions to the Lady Chapel works by the king, by courtiers and by Bishop Langton. It is proposed that Langton is likely to have been a significant influence on the Lady Chapel glass. Bishop Fox’s contribution to the presbytery work is defined more closely than previously. It is argued that Fox’s glazing, depicting traditional subjects in the most up to date painting style, was part of his attempt to reinvigorate the church on the eve of the Reformation.