In 1892, Burne-Jones was given an important commission to design a pair of stained glass windows for the new and generously funded Hillhead Church in Glasgow. The windows, ”˜presented’ by Mrs. Donaldson in memory of her husband, a manager of the Church,(1) were crafted the following year by Morris & Co. and painted by Bowman and Walters.(2) They were one of the first in a series of stained glass designed by various artists to illuminate the semi-circular wall of the apse behind the altar. Other windows in the series by Cottier & Co., Meikle & Sons and Shrigley & Hunt, depict Jesus on trial before Pilate, at the wedding in Cana, together with his disciples in Samaria and Weeping at the grave of Lazarus. The subject of Burne-Jones’s commission was Jesus’s welcome and Blessing of little Children, which is addressed in the Gospel narratives of Matthew, Mark and Luke. Matthew describes how: Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them.(Matt. 19.13) But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not to come unto Me: for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven.(14) In the finished windows the figures are set against a rich backdrop of silver foliage. Beneath the main two windows two angels bear a scroll which reads: In Heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father (Matt. 18:10).(3) The architect, James Sellars, had drawn his inspiration from the stunning medieval lights of la Sainte-Chapelle in Paris (1238-1244). The apse window at Hillhead Church was finally completed in 1909. The biblical story is suspended in a colourful translucency of the imagery, where, in direct sunlight, the church becomes flooded with jewel-like colour. 1. Mr. Donaldson had died in 1885. 2. Bowman and Waters also undertook other commissions for Morris & Co., including the stained glass in St Helen’s Church, Low Fell. 3. Another version of the Morris & Co. window can be found at Sparsholt, Wadhurst and St. Cyprian's Chapel, Eastbourne.
The two windows tell the story described in the gospels of Sts Matthew, Mark and Luke when Jesus welcomed children to come to him. Matthew 9:13-15 gives the text: 'Then they brought unto Him little children, that he should put His hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not to come unto me: for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven. And He laid His hands on them, and departed hence.' The two cartoons are for the main panels of the upper register of the two-light window, with the figure of Christ on the left side and the Women bringing Children on the right. The window is illustrated in Albert Charles Sewter, The Stained Glass of William Morris and his Circle, two volumes, New Haven, 1974-5, II, pl. 612. Burne-Jones recorded payment for his designs for stained glass at Hillhead in his account book in 1892. The actual glass was completed by 1893. Sotheby's London 2007