ingly, indeed – in some of our most renowned cathedrals and churches. It has been supposed that this art was entirely lost to us during the middle ages, but competent authorities say that it has only lain dormant. It has likewise been supposed to be necessary to seek foreign aid and foreign skill to carry out works of any pretension in stained glass. That this latter opinion is an unfounded one is practically proved by Mr. Gibbs’s beautiful design and by many other works of a high character which he has executed in the western part of this county, and also by the productions exhibited in Hyde Park in 1851. Mr. Gibbs’s late relatives have exercised their talents in this wide field of decorative art for a succession of years, and the gentleman now alluded to, although in the prime of life, has had 25 years’ experience in his profession. He is said already to have equalled – in some respects, excelled – continental artists, and we can only wish him long life and health, with powers of mind and body, which will enable him to mount to the pinnacle among his compeers of this generation in his peculiar and beautiful art.
In noticing the window more in detail, we have to explain that externally and internally the stone work of the window has been restored from plans and under the supervision of A. D. Gough, Esq. (the architect of Christ Church, Ore), of Lancaster place, London. At present the window in height is 25 feet, by a width of 12 feet. It is divided by mullions into five principal compartments, with a tracery head of neat design, and, surmounted with an elaborately carved cross. The painted window of course occupies the spaces between the mullions, and the subject is chosen just at the moment of the blessed Saviour’s death. The middle compartment pourtrays(sic) the Messiah extended upon the cross, his features vividly picturing the bodily and mental anguish which the sacred records acquaint us he was the subject of at that awful moment. At his feet Mary Magdalene exhibits the deep grief of her heart at what is taking place, while Matthew is standing a little to the rear, still showing that his devotion to his Lord which had ever characterised him, with a countenance expressive of the feeling “Oh! that I could suffer with him!” Another of the holy women stands in the background, looking on in deep grief. In the adjoining compartment to the northward are seen several of the other principal figures. The Virgin Mary occupies the foreground, having fallen in a recumbent position, overwhelmed with the intensity of her feelings at the ignominious death of such a Son; she is supported by her sister Mary, the wife of Cleophas. The Roman centurion is depicted in an attitude of wonder and amazement in which one can easily imagine his utterance, “Truly this was the Son of God!” The group of Jews, standing at a distance, looking on, aply(sic) expresses that feeling -
