1923 Clayton & Bell Stained Glass Window Drawing Heraldry ISABELLA CARNEGY

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1923 Clayton & Bell Stained Glass Window Drawing Heraldry ISABELLA CARNEGY:
$295.00

Original Drawing (Cartoon) of the Heraldry - Shield of Isabella CarnegyLocation: UnknownDate: 1923Company: Clayton and BellDrawing is 16 inches high by 14 inches wide. Contains original folds done by the company. Clayton and Bell was one of England’s best known stained glass window manufacturers. The firm was established in the 1850’s through the partnership of John Richard Clayton (1827-1913) and Alfred Bell (1832-95). The pair met through the architect Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-78), a man responsible for designing over 800 buildings, many of which were churches and cathedrals. In the 1850’s, a number of young designers worked in conjunction with the Gothic Revival architects to provide stained glass windows for new churches and to repair the windows of old churches. These included John Richard Clayton, Alfred Bell, Clement Heaton, James Butler, Robert Bayne, Nathaniel Lavers, Francis Barraud, and Nathaniel Westlake. The eight worked in a number of combinations, Alfred Bell initially working at Sir George Gilbert Scott’s, architectural practice in the 1840s, then forming a partnership with Nathaniel Lavers, before forming the partnership with Clayton in 1855. Initially, Clayton and Bell’s designs were manufactured by Heaton and Butler, with whom they shared a studio between 1859 and 1862. From 1861, Clayton and Bell commenced manufacturing their own glass. The firm moved into large premises in Regent Street, London, where they employed about 300 people. In the late 1860s and 1870s the firm was at its busiest and employees worked night shifts in order to fulfill commissions. “[I]t is said of Richard Clayton that when doing his rounds, he would have no hesitation in smashing out backgrounds and blocks of colour if he didn’t like them, insisting that the window be remade until it pleased him. Alfred Bell had always delighted in doing the architectural details himself, and inspected these with a highly critical eye, insisting that canopies, be they Gothic, Byzantine or Renaissance, had to be correctly drawn….”“The studios at Regent Street were staffed with experts in their own specialties, artists, designers and draughtsmen, those who did the figure work, the most highly paid, those who did the backgrounds and grisaille, those who did draperies and folds, texts and inscriptions and so on, as well as many apprentices and colourmen…. In addition to those in the studios, there was a sizable ‘outside’ department of artists, muralists and decorators working around the country.”John Richard Clayton’s son worked for the business, but since he predeceased his father, the firm continued on through Alfred Bell’s descendants: John Clement Bell (1860-1944) and Reginal Otto Bell (1884-1950). Records from the firm and, presumably, the 19th century cartoons were destroyed in the Blitz during World War II. Clayton and Bell were familiar with both ancient windows and with the various artistic movements of their time, such as the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Their works shows the influence, but not the dominance, of either. “It is difficult to pinpoint exactly, but the years 1880-1885 witnessed an important change in Clayton and Bell’s style, which continued to develop to the end of the decade, by which time they had virtually abandoned the strictly mediaeval formulae of the previous thirty-five years.” John Clement Bell’s style dominated the early 20th century. “The halcyon days of the glittering Edwardian era produced the what was to be for them the final flood of windows…echoeing so exactly those last great trumpet-blasts of self confidence in the truly Great Britain, on whose Empire the sun would surely never set.” Information provided by Wikipedia: Clayton and Bell. Quotes from Clayton and Bell, Stained Glass Artists and Decorators, by Peter Larkworthy. London. 1984For more information, search for the New York Times Article:Conserving Stained-Glass Records at Corning Museum