Paintings in Light

Although primarily targeted at 9-13 year olds, Paintings in Light has been designed to appeal to a wide readership.

The 56-page, 280mm x 210mm softback, perfect-bound book is richly illustrated throughout with stunning imagery highlighting some of Canterbury Cathedral’s best medieval and ‘modern’ windows. It includes a fold-out cover with a cathedral plan showing the location of all the windows.

Paintings in Light is divided into 13 short chapters:

A brief history of glass
How a stained glass window is made
The story of English stained glass
A bit about Becket
Canterbury Cathedral’s stained glass
Saints windows
Genealogy windows
Bible windows
Miracle windows
Royal windows
‘Modern’ windows
Restoration - a family business
Conservation - a new approach

Sample page spreads

A BRIEF HISTORY

The cathedral’s present-day collection of medieval stained glass owes much to the brutal murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket… and a few stray sparks! After Becket’s murder in the cathedral in 1170, and subsequent reports of miraculous healings in his name, his shrine became one of the most important places of pilgrimage outside of the Holy Land. But disaster struck in 1174, when one of the houses near the cathedral gate caught fire. Although it was quickly brought under control, sparks were carried up on to the wooden roof of the cathedral, which led to the destruction of the recently completed choir building.

Thanks to their highly profitable pilgrim trade, the cathedral’s monks could afford to rebuild the eastern end of the church and fill it with the very best stained glass. The famous French architect William of Sens supervised the rebuilding of the new choir in the new Gothic style. With pillars, vaulting and flying buttresses bearing the weight of the roof, more of the wall space could be taken up with stained glass windows.