Although widely recognised as the supreme achievement in the Victorian revival of stained glass, the windows (1885-1897) at Birmingham Cathedral by Burne-Jones and Morris & Co. have not been the subject of any detailed technical analysis. Their recent conservation (by Holy Well Glass of Wells, Somerset) in 2023, which enabled close-up access to the glazing, provided unique opportunities for the study not only of Burne-Jones’s artistry but also of the methodology of Morris & Co.’s Merton Abbey glass-painters and glaziers, and the skills of the local Midlands glass manufacturers. This lecture documents the history of the commission and highlights some of the stylistic and technical observations made during the Cathedral’s ‘Divine Beauty’ conservation project.
Peter Cormack MBE FSA was formerly Keeper of the William Morris Gallery, London, where he curated many exhibitions of work by Morris and members of the Arts & Crafts Movement. He has been a Research Fellow at the V&A Museum, and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, Honorary Curatorial Adviser for Kelmscott Manor and Vice-President and Honorary Fellow of the British Society of Master Glass-Painters. His Arts & Crafts Stained Glass (Yale University Press, 2015) was the first study of the subject; his monograph on the American stained glass artist Charles J. Connick was published by Yale UP in May 2024.
