Jane Gray (b.1931)

St Nicholas Church, Worth Matravers, Dorset, Design for Memorial Stained Glass Window (1978)

Watercolour

15.5 x 5 cm

Dated and detailed in artist’s hand with 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 Diana Strange who died tragically in 1977. It was commissioned by her husband who was a keen admirer of Gray’s work and centres on the Elizabethan chalice used in St Nicholas’ Church. The window directly opposite contains another memorial window designed by Gray for Diana’s Husband, John Strange, who died seven years later. Diana’s memorial window was installed in 1979.

Provenance: the artist’s studio sale.

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

Condition: very good.

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