Jane Gray (b.1931)

St Mary’s Church, Chirk, Design for Stained Glass Window Dedicated to the Royal British Legion (1992)

Watercolour

28 x 20.5 cm

Signed, dated and studio stamp verso.

The first stone church in Chirk was erected during the early 11th Century by the Normans, however, the site of St Mary’s church is originally thought to be a llan—a Welsh phrase that denotes a walled enclosure containing a chapel, hermit’s huts and burials—dedicated to Saint Tysilio. The church was re-dedicated to Saint Mary in the late 15th or early 16th century and remained part of the Church of England until the disestablishment of the Welsh Church in 1921. Gray’s stained glass design commemorates the 50th Anniversary of the D-Day Landings in her inimitably modern style and features the archetypal motif of red poppies, scattered across the three window panels. The leek, rose, thistle, and shamrock roundels nod to the key symbols of the British Isles. The window was installed and dedicated by the Archbishop of Wales in 1994.

Provenance: the artist’s studio sale.

Literature: Jane Gray, Playing with Rainbows. (Shropshire: Ellingham Press, 2011), p.50, 83.

Condition: very good.

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