Jane Gray (b.1931)

St Nicholas Church, Worth Matravers, Dorset, Design for Memorial Stained Glass Window (1983)

Watercolour

17 x 6.5 cm

Dated, detailed in artist’s hand and studio label verso.

St Nicholas Church in Worth Matravers is one of the oldest churches in Dorset. It was built around the year 1100 AD. Though the majority of the church is Norman, some of the stonework appears to come from an earlier building, suggesting that there was a church here in the late Saxon period.This memorial window commemorates John Strange who died in 1984. It was commissioned in advance by John, a keen admirer of Gray’s work, after his wife, Diana, died tragically in 1977. John asked that his window included the sea view from their home, and the vine of grapes in the top panes nods to the full chalice in Diana’s window which sits directly opposite John’s and was also designed by Gray. John’s window was installed in the church in 1986.

Provenance: the artist’s studio sale.

Literature: Jane Gray, Playing with Rainbows. (Shropshire: Ellingham Press, 2011), p.22, 75.

Condition: very good.

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