The early work of the young architect George Frederick Bodley happily coincided with the establishment of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner 8c Co. "The Firm" was commis- sioned to provide stained glass and painted decoration for sev- eral of his new churches; Bodley s invigoration of Gothic Revival architecture in the 1860s was exactly in tune with Morris and Burne-Jones s attitude to decorative art, both of them seeking inspiration from medieval precedent without resorting to imitation or pastiche. 1 Two of the most important churches, both of 1861-62, were All Saints' Church, Selsley, near Stroud in Gloucestershire, and Saint Martin on the Hill, at Scarborough in Yorkshire; each was filled with Morris glass, including eight major subjects by Burne-Jones. 2 There are two important stained-glass windows by the firm in Saint Michael and All Angels, Lyndhurst, a spectacular church in the heart of the New Forest, in Hampshire, designed by the architect William White (1825-1900) in 1858. The large east window, with an unusual tracery pattern alternating thin lancets with larger lights, was filled in 1862-63 by subjects illus- trating the New Jerusalem, including the Apostles, the Three Marys, and pairs of angel musicians, all numbering among Burne-Joness best early designs. He was also responsible for six half-length angel musicians in the upper tracery. All these designs, according to his account book with the firm, were made between August 1862 and February 1863. 3 In the firm's minute book for April 22, 1863, it is recorded: "Agreed that the cartoons for the south transept window of Lyndhurst be assigned to Jones," and entries in the artists account book duly include two pairs of cartoons, under August and November 1863, charged at £10 for each design. 4 The subjects, two from the Old Testament and two from the New Testament, all illustrative of the power of prayer, were titled by the artist himself: Joshua Staying the Sun and Moon, Elijah and the Priests of Baal, The Stoning of Saint Stephen, and The Liberation of Saint Peter; all four cartoons are now in the Birmingham collec- tion. It is a testament to Burne-Jones's patience and dedication that he was willing to produce such dramatic and impressive cartoons for so little remuneration. The steady stream of com- missions that was now flooding in, as the firm s work became more widely known and admired, especially after the successful dis- play at the International Exhibition of 1862, certainly provided a regular income for a young artist with a family to support, but it would not be long before Burne-Jones began to realize the inequity of his payment. Such cartoons as these were effect- ively large paintings in monochrome, which would have taken as much time to plan and execute as his smaller finished water- colors (it was his habit to do stained-glass designs in the evenings, after a day's work in the studio). Acerbic notes writ- ten as he made up the partners' payments, surely penned for Morris's eyes, begin to appear in Burne-Jones's account book in the mid-186os, but these seem to have had little effect, and by the early 1870s he was designing individual figures with sufficient potential to be turned into independent works in watercolor or oil (see cat. nos. 69, 102). The Lyndhurst cartoons are among Burne-Jones's most elaborate and dynamic, the Joshua (also known as The Battle of Beth Horon) being the most celebrated. Like the Saint Frideswide designs of 1859 (cat. no. 9), a number of scenes and a multitude of figures are heaped together, but now in a much more unified and powerful way, the action making physical sense as a battle raging around the hilltop on which Joshua calmly makes his plea to God to delay the sunset until his rout of the Canaanites is complete. In the other scenes, the sense of foreshortened height is also maintained, through the use of rising ground or sequences of steps. While conveying the full vigor of dramatic action — ingeniously geared to the needs of the glass painter by providing bold outlines of armor, shields, and spears to be used for lead lines — Burne-Jones also intro- duces some characteristic lighter touches, such as the simple plant motif on the hill (echoing Morris's daisy pattern, used on tiles and textiles from about i860) and the jolly swirling deco- ration on the tents at the top. The sense of fun runs also to the inclusion of a portrait of Morris (often used in other of the firm's stained-glass designs to represent Saint Peter) about to fall victim to the sword in the left foreground. 1. For Bodley s work, see David Verey, "George Frederick Bodley: Climax of the Gothic Revival," in Seven Victorian Architects, edited by Jane Fawcett (London, 1976), chap. 5, pp. 85-101, and for his association with Morris and Burne-Jones, see "Bodley, Morris and the Gothic Revival in Cambridge," Fitzwilliam Museum 1980, ch. 2, and Whitworth Art Gallery 1984, pp. 147-51. 2. See Sewter 1974—75^01. 2, pp. 168-78. 3. Sewter 1974-75, vol. 2, p. 124. 4. Ibid., p. 125.
Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. Minute Book 22 April 1863 meeting at 8 Red Lion Square "Agreed that the cartoons for the South Transept window of Lyndhurst be assigned to Jones." 29 April 1863 "Agreed that Jones have 4£ for the cartoons (viz 4 subjects for the lights and one angel with censor) for S. transept window Lyndhurst" Joshua design was made in November 1863 and the slain knights at its base bear a resemblance to the sleeping knights in "The Knight enters the Briar Thicket" tile design which was made in January 1864. The similarity between the two sets of figures infers that they were employed for both schemes. The theme of recumbent male bodies that persisted in his work has its origin here and culminated in the 1890 Briar Rose series.