Illustration: Ballantine and Allan. Stained glass window design for Glenormiston House, 1851.
This particular stained glass window was entered as an example of the work of the Edinburgh based stained glass makers Ballantine and Allan, at the Great Exhibition of 1851 held at the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park. Many British and foreign companies displayed their work at the exhibition which was openly portrayed as a convenient marker celebrating the industrial process of the mid-nineteenth century, particularly of Britain itself. However, manufacturers and the retail trade saw it ostensibly as being the first international trade fair of its kind. Profits and full order books were hoped for, and therefore space was at a premium. Many companies, rather than display their everyday products, instead chose to feature commissioned or specially designed work, hoping that these would outshine potential rivals and increase orders, both domestic and foreign.
The stained glass example shown in this article was a case in point. It was a commissioned piece for Glenormiston House in the Tweed Valley in Scotland. it was to sit within the entrance hall and was specifically designed to reflect the unique prospect and history of Glenmormiston. This very personal piece had little connection to the Great Exhibition, but a great deal with Glenormiston itself. Because the estate was technically crown land, the occupiers were in some respects seen as tenants of the Crown. Their rent was symbolic as it entailed one red rose which was to be presented to the monarch on the festival of St John. The centre panel illustrates the handing of the rose to the reigning monarch. The standing knight in the background is holding the banner of St John.
In actuality, the central scene is quite specific and is said to represent the handing over of a red rose by a maiden in 1529 to James V of Scotland, traditionally the last time the ceremony was held. Whether the date of 1529 was portrayed for any other reason than that it was held as a romantic point, being the last ceremony of its kind, or that it was a period that was favoured by the customer, is unknown. That it was portrayed as suitably medieval, even down to the encaustic tiled floor, also represents the intrinsic fashion of the period.
Although a black and white illustration, it was said that the window itself was richly coloured. The borders of both the central panel and the exterior frame were picked out in ruby red and gold, with imitation gemstones throughout. The background itself was in pale blue with gold bands stencilled in white enamel. The Scottish thistle, Irish shamrock and English rose were used as repeat motifs throughout the background work of the window.
It is an interesting piece of medievalism from the mid-nineteenth century, made more interesting by being of Scottish origin, rather than English. Medieval themes were just as popular during this period in Scotland as they ever were in England. In some respects it could be said that the enthusiasm for the romance and chivalry of the medieval world was a Scottish invention, at least hugely popularised by Sir Walter Scott. Although the historical era could be said to have been overly glamorised and fictionalised by Scott himself, it does not change the fact that many got their first introduction to the medieval world from Scott's prolific novels and poetry. This importantly included William Morris, who voraciously read Scott's novels as a boy, a habit that clearly changed his perspective on the contrasts, as he saw it, between the medieval past of his imagination and the contemporary industrial world in which he lived, all produced at a very early and impressionable age.
Ballantine and Allan had been making stained glass since the 1830s. In 1843 they won a prestigious commission to produce the stained glass for the gothically inspired Houses of Parliament, though for some reason they supplied fewer windows than were actually originally expected. The company had obviously made an impression with their stained glass work and the medieval inspired commission in London must have added to their reputation as a company that could easily supply good quality medieval work for ecclesiastical and domestic buildings, hence the 1851 Glenormiston piece for the Great Exhibition. The company stayed in business until well into the twentieth century. Some of their work produced for church buildings in Wales from the 1850s up until near the end of the nineteenth century can be found here. They will perhaps give some indication as to the colour schemes that were used for the Glenormiston piece.
Glenormiston House was unfortunately demolished in 1950 like so many country estates and houses across Britain. What happened to the stained glass window celebrating the handing over of one red rose to the reigning monarch on the festival of St John is unknown. However, despite the fact that the house is no longer there, the story of the rose as a form of rent is still attached to the Glenormiston land, although the traditional ceremony seems more a matter of amusement today than a serious theme for decorative art.
Further reading links:
Victorian Stained Glass Pattern Book (Dover Pictorial Archives)
390 Traditional Stained Glass Designs (Dover Pictorial Archives)
Victorian Stained Glass
William Morris Stained Glass Pattern Book
Stained Glass and the Victorian Gothic Revival (Studies in Design & Material C)
Victorian Stained Glass Designs CD-ROM and Book (Electronic Clip Art)
The Stained Glass of A.W.N. Pugin
The Stained Glass of William Morris and his Circle (Studies in British Art)
Victorian Stained Glass. With Photographs by the Author
Encyclopedia of Victorian Colored Pattern Glass, Book 7: Ruby Stained Glass from A to Z
Edward Burne-Jones (Master of Drawing, Painted Glass and Ceramic Art)
William Chambers of Glenormiston
The Great Exhibition of 1851: A Nation on Display
Britain, the Empire, and the World at the Great Exhibition of 1851
The Great Exhibition of 1851 (Texts in Culture)
