William Nicholson (1872 – 1949)

Mells Window (1930)

Photographic collage

57 x 33 cm

Titled below and signed lower right in ink.

Nicholson’s original photographic collage of his magnificent stained glass window at St Andrew’s Church in Mells. It depicts St Francis of Assisi preaching to the fish and the birds, with a Madonna and Child in the central panel.

The window was commissioned by Lady Frances Horner as a memorial to her husband Sir John Horner, a barrister whose family seat was Mells Manor, a grand country house and park near Frome in Somerset. Lady Horner was a great patron of the arts and commissioned by artists including Eric Gill, Edwin Lutyens, and Edward Burne-Jones, as well as Nicholson. Nicholson was a regular visitor to Mells from the early 1920s, and designed the window in 1930. Burne-Jones had already designed a memorial in the church (to a different member of the family) in 1886.

Sir William Nicholson was a British painter and printmaker. He is also known as an illustrator, author of children’s books, stained glass designer, and theatre set designer.

Condition: a small stain to bottom of central panel – otherwise very good.

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