Jane Gray (b.1931)

St Peter’s Church, Chorley, Lancashire, Design for Stained Glass Window (1987)

  Watercolour 18 x 13 cm

Signed, dated and studio stamp verso.

St Peter’s Church was designed by the Liverpudlian architect, Charles Reed in the Early English style and built in 1850 with stone donated from Lady Hoghton’s nearby quarry. Reed wrote, ‘The general effect is expected to be very quaint and beautiful, while its elevated situation will make it a charming landmark from every side’. The church was consecrated on St Mark’s Day, 1851 by the first Bishop of Manchester, the Rt. Revd. James Prince Lee. This window was installed in 1988.

Provenance: the artist’s studio sale. Literature: Jane Gray, Playing with Rainbows. (Shropshire: Ellingham Press, 2011), p.79. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. For other works by Jane Gray and more information about her, please click here.    

Jane Gray (b.1931)

Holy Trinity Church, Morecambe, Design for Stained Glass Window (1985)

  Watercolour 25.5 x 10 cm

Signed, dated and artist label verso.

Holy Trinity Church was originally built as a chapel-of-ease to St Mary’s, Lancaster in 1745 on land bequeathed for the purpose in the village blacksmith’s will of 1742.  By the early 1800s the chapel was too small for the growing population and in 1840 it was redesigned and rebuilt by the Lancaster architect, Edmund Sharpe with the help of a personal contribution from Queen Victoria. The church features a number of stained glass windows designed by Shrigley and Hunt, Abbott and Company, and the Loyne Ecclesiastical Studios amongst others.

Provenance: the artist’s studio sale. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. For other works by Jane Gray and more information about her, please click here.    

Jane Gray (b.1931)

Ruislip Library, Design for Stained Glass Window (1987)

  Watercolour 18 x 8.5 cm

Signed, dated and studio stamp verso.

In 1987, money was put aside for something to commemorate the Ruislip Library’s 50th anniversary; instead of another bench in a reading room, Gray received a commission for a stained glass window. This was the first window Gray made from her home in Shropshire  and she used the nearby willow trees to inspire the wreath of willow leaves and central ‘Tree of Knowledge'—a pollarded willow. The choice of tree was highly intentional as, coincidentally, a librarian by the name Miss Pollard had also died that year.

Provenance: the artist’s studio sale. Literature: Jane Gray, Playing with Rainbows. (Shropshire: Ellingham Press, 2011), p.36. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. For other works by Jane Gray and more information about her, please click here.    

Jane Gray (b.1931)

St Michael and All Angels Church, Craven Arms, Shropshire, Design for Stained Glass Window (1995)

  Watercolour 18.5 x 10.5 cm

Signed, dated and studio stamp verso.

St Michael and All Angels is a Norman church that dates back to the 12th century. In 1902, it was sympathetically restored by the renowned early 20th century architect, Detmar Blow in his characteristic Arts and Crafts style, but is perhaps best known for housing both a significant fragment of a medieval wall painting, and the oldest Perpendicular pulpit (with Jacobean additions) in Shropshire.

Provenance: the artist’s studio sale. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. For other works by Jane Gray and more information about her, please click here.    

Jane Gray (b.1931)

St Peter’s Church, Monkmoor Road, Shrewsbury, Design for Stained Glass Window (1990)

  Watercolour D.12 cm

Signed, dated and studio stamp verso.

St Peter’s is a small, modern mission church adjoining Shrewsbury Abbey and was consecrated shortly before the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Gray’s stained glass design sensitively yet strikingly reflects this simple site of religious worship in her typical modern-medieval style. Important numbers in Christian iconography are included: three for the Trinity (Body, Mind, and Spirit), four for the material world of the Elements, and so, together, seven which combines the worlds of matter and spirit and is thus regarded as the perfect number. At the centre of the window sits the Chi-Ro, or monogram of Christ, placed against the emblems of St Peter (a pair of crossed keys and an inverted Latinate cross). Surrounding the design, seven fish swim in a turquoise sea. The window was installed in 1992.

Provenance: the artist’s studio sale. Literature: Jane Gray, Playing with Rainbows. (Shropshire: Ellingham Press, 2011), pp.48, 81. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. For other works by Jane Gray and more information about her, please click here.    

Jane Gray (b.1931)

St Peter’s Church, Martindale Design for Stained Glass Windows (1976)

  Watercolour 17.5 x 6 cm

Studio label verso.

St Peter’s Church was built in Martindale, Cumbria in 1880 by a local craftsman using stone from the surrounding area. The church is situated in an enchanting rural oasis and has connections to the acclaimed modern poet, Kathleen Raine, who lived in the Old Vicarage, as well as William and Dorothy Wordsworth who visited the area on one of their Cumbrian excursions. Gray’s ‘Martindale Era’ lasted from 1974-1981, in which time, she designed and installed fifteen stained glass windows in St Peter’s Church. These window designs are for Resurrection and Passion windows on the north-side of the church.

Provenance: the artist’s studio sale. Literature: Jane Gray, Playing with Rainbows. (Shropshire: Ellingham Press, 2011), pp.17, 74. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. For other works by Jane Gray and more information about her, please click here.    

Jane Gray (b.1931)

Saling Hall, Essex, Design for Stained Glass Window (1980)

  Watercolour 11 x 20 cm

Signed and dated.

Saling Hall, in Essex, has a long and rich history, dating back to the early 12th century when Sir Baldwin Wiscart was the first recorded Lord of the Manor. After his his son, the house passed to the knightly family of Bibbesworth, who lived there for four generations. Sir Walter de Bibbesworth was a crusader and a poet (in French). Nothing remains of the first Saling Hall which was rebuilt around 1590 by the Maxey family who had bought the hall in 1487. The house faced further remodelling by its 17th century owner, Martin Carter, a lawyer. He ornamented the new facade with Dutch gables, which are the latest example of their kind in Essex, and the house has changed little since. The hall passed through many more hands before it was bought, in 1935, by Lady Isabella Carlyle (née Barton) who was a passionate gardener and gave the Hall its first modern gardens. Lady Carlyle sold the Hall in 1971 to Hugh Johnson, a well known garden writer, who continued Lady Carlyle’s work on the gardens. This design is a final drawing for a stained glass window commissioned by Johnson for a fanlight in Saling Hall. Johnson wished the design to include the plants he grew in his own garden to symbolise the seasons. Gray designed the panel using Corsican Hellebore for winter, the Crown Imperial Fritillary for spring, Agapanthas for summer, and Japanese Anemones for autumn. Gray also included vines to frame the design and nod to Johnson’s oenological interests.

Provenance: the artist’s studio sale. Literature: Jane Gray, Playing with Rainbows. (Shropshire: Ellingham Press, 2011), p.40. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. For other works by Jane Gray and more information about her, please click here.    

Jane Gray (b.1931)

St Barnabas Church, Franche, Kidderminster, Design for Stained Glass Memorial Window (1992)

  Watercolour 21 x 12.5 cm

Signed, dated and studio stamp verso.

St Barnabas Church, a red brick church designed by Martin & Chamberlain, was established in Franche in 1871 as a chapel-of-ease to the Parish Church of Kidderminster, St Mary and All Saints. St Barnabas is known for its diverse collection of stained glass windows and, alongside Gray’s modern memorial window, features windows in the Arts and Crafts style, likely designed by Benjamin Warren.

Provenance: the artist’s studio sale. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. For other works by Jane Gray and more information about her, please click here.    

Jane Gray (b.1931)

The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries, Design for Stained Glass Millennium Window (1999)

  Watercolour 25 x 13.5 cm

Signed.

The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries was founded in 1617, after breaking away from the Grocers’ Company (founded 1345). The Society were granted a royal charter by James I, and, throughout the remainder of the 17th century, challenged the College of Physicians monopoly on practicing medicine. In 1704, the House of Lords overturned a ruling of the Queen’s Bench that gave apothecaries the right to practice medicine. Apothecaries, therefore, may be viewed as the forerunners of present-day general (medical) practitioners or family physicians. Gray’s design for this 2000 memorial window, in the Apothecaries Hall in Blackfriars, London, features the names and illustrations of several medicinal plants, including Belladonna, Opium, Digitalis, Oenothara, Primrose, Cowslip, Nasturtium, Camomile, and Marigold.

Provenance: the artist’s studio sale. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. For other works by Jane Gray and more information about her, please click here.    

Jane Gray (b.1931)

Arms of the Worshipful Company of Launderers, Design for Stained Glass Window (1985)

  Watercolour 12.5 x 13.5 cm

Dated and detailed in artist's hand with studio label verso.

This window was commissioned by the Worshipful Company of Launderers to oversee their banqueting hall (which belongs to the Worshipful Company of Glaziers, of which Gray was the first female member). Besides the traditional symbols of aprons, irons, and mangles, Gray’s design also humorously includes a white cat licking itself clean. Alongside this window, Gray also designed a roundel containing the Company’s Arms.

Provenance: the artist’s studio sale. Literature: Jane Gray, Playing with Rainbows. (Shropshire: Ellingham Press, 2011), p.39. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. For other works by Jane Gray and more information about her, please click here.    

Jane Gray (b.1931)

St John the Baptist Church, Preen Manor, Design for Stained Glass Window (2003)

  Watercolour 17.5 x 5 cm

Signed, dated and studio stamp verso.

St John the Baptist Church sits at the heart of the Shropshire hamlet, Preen. Church Preen Manor sits adjacent to the church and lies on an old Clunjac Monastery, thought to have been built in 1159. The present church was built in the 13th century although it was originally a monastic church, founded as a cell of Wenlock Priory in 1163 and features in the Domesday Book. A prior and two or three monks would have served the church, however the priory has little remains, excepting a few visible in the gardens of Church Preen Manor.

Provenance: the artist’s studio sale. Literature: Jane Gray, Playing with Rainbows. (Shropshire: Ellingham Press, 2011), p.88. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. For other works by Jane Gray and more information about her, please click here.    

Jane Gray (b.1931)

Christ Church, Oxon, Shrewsbury, Design for Millennium Stained Glass Window (1999)

  Watercolour 12.5 x 3.5 cm

Signed, dated and studio stamp verso.

Christ Church in Oxon, Shrewsbury is a fine example of an early Victorian church, built in 1854 by Edward Haycock Snr in the Early English style with many lancet features. This stained glass window above the chancel arch was commissioned to celebrate the new millennium, and centres on the star of Bethlehem against a coastal backdrop. This window was installed in 2001.

Provenance: the artist’s studio sale. Literature: Jane Gray, Playing with Rainbows. (Shropshire: Ellingham Press, 2011), p.86. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. For other works by Jane Gray and more information about her, please click here.    

Jane Gray (b.1931)

Floral Design for Domestic Stained Glass Window

  Watercolour 11.5 x 11 cm

Studio stamp verso.

This uniquely shaped design for a domestic window centres on a sprawling pair of entangled floral branches that cover the small squared panels in an astute imitation of a trellis. The design is typical of many of Gray’s domestic windows which often focus on floral designs.

Provenance: the artist’s studio sale. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. For other works by Jane Gray and more information about her, please click here.    

Jane Gray (b.1931)

St Mary’s Church, Sullington, Design for Stained Glass Window (1992)

  Watercolour 18 x 5 cm

Signed, dated and studio stamp verso.

The little church of St Mary’s, Sullington, has laid nestled beneath the Sussex Downs for almost a thousand years, within the bounds of an even older yew grove. The tower and the nave date back to c.1050 but were altered in the Norman period and again in thee 12th and 13th centuries.This small window pays remembrance to the local carpenter and verger. The design incorporates carpenters’ tools, peacock feathers from the peacocks in the neighbouring Manor House who often joined the church services, the Church’s communion chalice, and a view of the Sussex Downs. This window was installed in 1992.

Provenance: the artist’s studio sale. Literature: Jane Gray, Playing with Rainbows. (Shropshire: Ellingham Press, 2011), pp.51, 82. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. For other works by Jane Gray and more information about her, please click here.    

Jane Gray (b.1931)

St Mary’s Church, Harmondsworth, Design for Stained Glass Window (1982)

  Watercolour 11.5 x 4.5 cm

Studio stamp verso.

St Mary’s Church, the Parish Church of Harmondsworth, dates from the 12th-15th centuries. The South aisle, with its massive Norman columns, and the entrance are the oldest parts of the building still intact today. The North aisle dates from the 13th Century, the North Chapel the 14th Century, the chancel was remodelled in the 15th Century, and the tower was built in 1500. In the 19th century the church underwent extensive restoration and a porch and vestry were added but the original Norman font still exists today. This window features a red Cross and a wreath of flowers, and was installed in the church in 1983.

Provenance: the artist’s studio sale. Literature: Jane Gray, Playing with Rainbows. (Shropshire: Ellingham Press, 2011), p.77. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. For other works by Jane Gray and more information about her, please click here.    

Jane Gray (b.1931)

Christ Church, Bicton, Shropshire, Design for Stained Glass Window (2005)

  Watercolour 16 x 5 cm

Signed, dated and studio stamp verso.

Christ Church in Bicton Heath, Shrewsbury is a fine example of an early Victorian church, built in 1854 by Edward Haycock Snr in the Early English style with many lancet features. This stained glass window above the chancel arch was commissioned to celebrate the new millennium.

Provenance: the artist’s studio sale. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. For other works by Jane Gray and more information about her, please click here.    

Jane Gray (b.1931)

Framfield Church, Uckfield, Sussex, Design for Stained Glass Window (1961)

  Watercolour 18 x 13.5 cm

Signed and dated on backing board and verso.

The village of Framfield is mentioned in the Domesday Book, suggesting that there may have been a church on this site in the 11th century; however, the building of the existing church began in the early 13th century when  Hempstead chapel was erected, a prelude to the much larger church that followed, consisting of a nave, north and south aisles, western tower, chancel, and chapels. Between 1200 and 1250, this new church emerged into the structure that survives unto the present day. A rare example of Gray’s early work, this design shows a more traditional approach to stained glass window design and centres on the figure of Jesus playing with children. In much of her later work, Gray eschewed this traditional, medieval style in favour of a more modern style.

Provenance: the artist’s studio sale. Literature: Jane Gray, Playing with Rainbows. (Shropshire: Ellingham Press, 2011), p.72. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. For other works by Jane Gray and more information about her, please click here.    

Jane Gray (b.1931)

St Paul’s Church, Warwick, Design for One of Two Stained Glass Windows (1991)

  Watercolour 27.5 x 5 cm

Studio stamp and notes in artist's hand verso.

Rapid population expansion in Warwick in the early 1800s, due to the opening of the canal and industrialisation, saw the churchyards of St Mary and St Nicholas unable to cope. In 1823 both churches petitioned the Bishop of Worcester for extra burial space, but it wasn’t until 1918 that the Coventry diocese was finally created. A cemetery and chapel, known as St Mary’s Episcopal Chapel were built in 1824 on the site where St Paul’s sits today but was used exclusively for burials. In 1844 the Parish of St Paul's was formed and the church was consecrated on 26th July 1844 by the Bishop of Worcester. This window was installed in 1992.

Provenance: the artist’s studio sale. Literature: Jane Gray, Playing with Rainbows. (Shropshire: Ellingham Press, 2011), p.81. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. For other works by Jane Gray and more information about her, please click here.    

Jane Gray (b.1931)

St Paul’s Church, Warwick, Design for One of Two Stained Glass Windows (1991)

  Watercolour 27.5 x 5 cm

Signed, dated and studio stamp verso.

Rapid population expansion in Warwick in the early 1800s, due to the opening of the canal and industrialisation, saw the churchyards of St Mary and St Nicholas unable to cope. In 1823 both churches petitioned the Bishop of Worcester for extra burial space, but it wasn’t until 1918 that the Coventry diocese was finally created. A cemetery and chapel, known as St Mary’s Episcopal Chapel were built in 1824 on the site where St Paul’s sits today but was used exclusively for burials. In 1844 the Parish of St Paul's was formed and the church was consecrated on 26th July 1844 by the Bishop of Worcester. This window was installed in 1992.

Provenance: the artist’s studio sale. Literature: Jane Gray, Playing with Rainbows. (Shropshire: Ellingham Press, 2011), p.81. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. For other works by Jane Gray and more information about her, please click here.    

Jane Gray (b.1931)

Gatton Church, nr Redhill, Surrey, Design for Stained Glass Window (1979)

  Watercolour 16 x 9 cm

A church has existed in this Surrey parish since the Doomsday Survey in 1086 but the present Church dates back to the 13th century, undergoing extensive alterations in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Notably, in 1834, the pulpit and altar, bought from Nuremberg, were hopefully attributed to Albrecht Dürer; the carved doors had travelled from Rouen; the presbytery stalls from a disestablished monastery in Ghent, the altar rails from Tongeren; and the stained glass for the windows, and the wainscoting of the nave and carved canopies had come from Aarschot, near Leuven. This tiny church window was one of Gray’s smallest commissions. Her brief was to include the church at the heart of the Gatton agricultural community, and she did, supplementing this with illustrations of corn, oats, barley, poppies, bees, butterflies, ladybirds, a caterpillar and a grasshopper, alongside small roundels set amongst these containing a calf, a tractor, and a combine harvester respectively. The window was installed in 1980.

Provenance: the artist’s studio sale. Literature: Jane Gray, Playing with Rainbows. (Shropshire: Ellingham Press, 2011), pp.41, 76. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. For other works by Jane Gray and more information about her, please click here.    

Jane Gray (b.1931)

St Giles Church, Bradford on Tone, Taunton, Somerset, Design for Stained Glass Window (2011)

  Watercolour 21.5 x 11.5 cm Signed, dated and studio stamp verso.

St Giles Church in Bradford on Tone lies nestled between the Blackdown and Quantock Hills and dates back from the 13th century. One of the lords of the manor, Sir John de Merit (d.1391), founded a chantry chapel here in 1387 but the church has undergone a series of renovations since. The present south aisle and most of the windows date to the 15th century, and the west tower to the early 16th century, before the church underwent full restoration works in 1867.

Provenance: the artist’s studio sale. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. For other works by Jane Gray and more information about her, please click here.    

Jane Gray (b.1931)

Warrington Hospital Chapel, Design for Stained Glass Window (1984)

  Watercolour 7.5 x 5 cm Dated, detailed in artist’s hand and studio label verso.

Warrington Hospital was originally built as an isolation hospital in 1893. The Warrington Union Workhouse Infirmary was built on the site shortly after in 1898, and it was occupied by the Whitecross Military Hospital during the First World War. It wasn’t until 1930, that the infirmary officially became the Warrington Borough General Hospital. Gray’s design for this window in the hospital’s chapel wonderfully demonstrates her colourful, modern style and features the Cross suspended between land and sky, and a line from Psalm 139: ‘O Lord, Thou hast searched me out and known me’. This was one of Gray’s simplest but most favourite window designs, it was installed in the chapel in 1984.

Provenance: the artist’s studio sale. Literature: Jane Gray, Playing with Rainbows. (Shropshire: Ellingham Press, 2011), pp.23, 77. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. For other works by Jane Gray and more information about her, please click here.    

Jane Gray (b.1931)

Church of the Holy Nativity, Bristol, Design for Stained Glass Memorial Window, Commemorating Frank Ernest Pring (1997)

  Watercolour 25 x 9.5 cm Signed, dated and studio stamp verso.

The Church of the Holy Nativity in Bristol started out as a Mission Chapel in the latter half of the 19th century, when the population of hamlets surrounding Bristol expanded into suburbs—the result of industrial growth around Temple Meads railway station. The site chosen was close to Arnos Vale Cemetery in Knowle, where a wooden church was built to serve the local residents, opening in 1865. From the start the Mission Chapel was well attended and grew significantly in size until it became necessary to find a larger, more permanent building to accommodate the congregation. In 1867 the Chapel was moved to a new site in Wells Road, Knowle, and an appeal for building funds started. To save money the new church was developed in sections, and the Mayor of Bristol laid the foundation stone of the new church in June 1870, it was dedicated on Holy Cross Day, in September, 1871.  Tragically, during the first heavy air raid on Bristol on 24th November 1940, Holy Nativity became the first church in the city to be destroyed, however, by some stroke of luck, the Tower, Clock and Bells survived the destruction and it was said that as flames consumed the church the clock continued to chime. Approval  to rebuild the church was given in December 1950 and the new church was completed in November 1955. The church was consecrated on the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul, in January 1958. This window was dedicated to the memory of the late churchwarden emeritus, Ernest Pring. In this window, Gray incorporated many significant features of Ernest’s life such as his churchwarden’s staff, the Boy Scouts, his favourite biblical text and the Bristol landscape. A cross dominates the design and a star beams light across the whole design from above. Adjacent to the window is a memorial to Phyllis Pring, Ernest’s wife, also designed by Gray. This window was installed in 1998.

Provenance: the artist’s studio sale. Literature: Jane Gray, Playing with Rainbows. (Shropshire: Ellingham Press, 2011), pp.50, 60, 85. Condition: very good. If you are interested, please email info@manningfineart.co.uk or call us on 07929 749056. For other works by Jane Gray and more information about her, please click here.