3-009-009 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The International Exhibition: stained-glass window by Messrs. J. Ballantine and Son, Edinburgh, 1862. 'This window...has for its subject the Crucifixion, and is to be erected in Prestolee Church, Lancashire, as a memorial to the late Mr. Thomas B. Crompton, of Farnworth...In the centre compartment is seen the body of Christ nailed to the cross, round the foot of which has gathered a sorrowing group, among whom the Virgin Mary and the disciple John are conspicuous...[On] the right of this hangs the repentant thief, his face wearing in death an expression of resigned and hopeful calmness; and in the left one is the impenitent sinner, whose fearfully distorted lineaments, iron-pierced and rope-bound hands, and muscles distended almost to bursting, show the intense agony with which he met his end; while in the two outer sections are the Roman sentinels, two of them busy in the foreground on the left casting dice for the garments of the Saviour...in the mullion tracery are introduced angels bearing scrolls...In colour the window has all the power and harmony of a high-class, deep-toned picture, preserving at the same time in great perfection the brilliancy and transparency indispensable in all mediums for the transmission of light'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.