The Stained Glass Windows
of
The Parish of the Good Shepherd,
Waban, Massachusetts
John Burruss
Photographs by Mary Ann Stewart
The Parish of the Good Shepherd
1671 Beacon Street, Waban, Massachusetts 02468
www.goodshepherdwaban.org
[email protected]
Text © 2010, 2017 John Burruss.
Photographs © 2010 Mary Ann Stewart, excepting the photograph of Crucifixion
window design (page 17) from the Charles J. Connick Collection, courtesy of the Boston
Public Library, Fine Arts Department.
To
Jean and Paul Miller
For your many years of dedicated service,
through good times and hard times,
even for our survival as a parish,
we all thank you.
1: Saville or Ferris, 1896
The
Good
The
Good Shepherd
Shepherd
Annunciation to the Shepherds
to the
Shepherds
2: Bessey, 1931
33
44
19: Parker, 1937, C.J. Connick
1937, C.J.
18:Connick
LeClear, 1937, C.J. Connick
Ascension
HeavenlyHeavenly Praise
Praise
Resurrection
Blessing
the the Children
Blessing
Children
1937, C.J.
Connick
17: Winchester, 1941, C.J. Connick
1941, C.J.
Connick
16 Winchester, 1938, C.J. Connick
Peace Be With You
With You
Nativity
C.J. Connick
6: Burke, 1921, Phipps-Ball-Burnham
Phipps-BallBurnham
7: White, 1915
Gethsemane
Christ in
the in the Temple
Christ
Temple
8: Sawyer, 1909, Goodhue Studios (?)
Goodhue Studios
(?)
A Child in Their Midst
Their Midst
Wedding Wedding
at
at Cana
Cana
9: Parent, 1914
1938, C.J. Connick
15: Ver Planck, 1941, C.J. Connick
1941, C.J.
Connick
14: Best, 1930, C.J. Connick
Nativity
5: Stone, 1952, Connick Associates
Connick Associates
Parable of the Vineyard Workers
Vineyard
Workers
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Christ
Christ Teaching
Teaching(Center)
(Center)
Flight into
Flight into Egypt
Egypt
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1
10: Stetson, 1920
The stained glass windows at Good Shepherd parish in Waban,
Massachusetts -- a neighborhood of Newton, in west suburban Boston -are much valued by parishioners (along with the parish's high standards
in music, preaching, and liturgy) for their beauty, their emotional power,
and their artistic significance. For many years they were the principal
decorative element in the church after a rather austere re-decoration.
Where did they come from? Who made them? Whose are the names
recorded in them?
This essay has several purposes: to reproduce the window art at Good
Shepherd Parish for a wider audience, perhaps, than sees it Sunday by
Sunday; to explicate the subjects of the windows and to record their
history as artworks; and to keep alive the memories of those in whose
honor the windows were given. The dedicatees of the windows were
clearly important to parishioners of the time, and they deserve our
remembrance and prayers.
Stained Glass at Good Shepherd, Waban
Most of Good Shepherd's windows are almost certainly the work of two
great American stained glass artists, Wilbur Burnham and Charles
Connick, although several other eminent craftsmen -- Harry Goodhue,
H.J. Phipps, and Walter G. Ball -- also touch on our windows.
Harry Goodhue is considered by many to be the pre-eminent American
stained glass craftsman of the 20th Century. His brother, Bertram
Goodhue, was partner in Cram, Goodhue, and Ferguson, the
architectural firm so closely associated with the gothic revival in the
United States, and Harry worked with the firm on numerous
commissions. Goodhue trained with Phipps, Slocum & Co. in Boston.
After establishing his own studio in 1903, he was responsible for
windows at the First Unitarian Society of Newton; at All Saints, Ashmont;
at the Unitarian-Universalist Church of Buffalo, New York; at St.
Stephen's Church, Cohasset; at Emmanuel Church, Boston; and at
many other churches of the northeast, including a notable commission
at the Church of the Holy Family in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Although
probably he did not have a personal hand in any of Good Shepherd's
windows, he advised the rector and vestry on a thematic plan for the
church. Parish notes assert that at least one of our windows came from
-1-
his studio. Besides his son, Wright Goodhue, who had a short but
promising career as a stained glass artist, Harry Goodhue's studio on
Church Street in Harvard Square trained Walter G. Ball and Wilbur H.
Burhnam, who would each set up individual studios, producing many
high-quality windows. Harry Goodhue died in 1918; before that, in
1915, Ball had left Goodhue to set up on his own. Burnham left Goodhue
in 1916 to join the H.J. Phipps studio, where he remained until 1918,
when he partnered with Ball to form Ball and Burnham. Phipps joined
this partnership in 1921 to form Phipps-Ball-Burnham. In 1923, this
firm dissolved, the three partners each going their separate ways.
Wilbur Burnham continued to develop his art, and became well-known
as the designer of windows at St. Augustine's, Montpelier, Vermont; at
the Church of the Mediator, Washington, Georgia; at First Cumberland
Presbyterian Church, Chattanooga, Tennessee; and at Trinity Cathedral,
Cleveland, Ohio. His son followed him in the stained glass business, and
the studio flourished, eventually locating in Wakefield, Massachusetts,
until 1982, when W.H. Burnham, Jr., closed the studio due to ill health.
The studio's records are deposited in the Smithsonian Institution's
Archives of American Art.
Charles J. Connick, a native of Pittsburgh, came to Boston in 1902, and
worked on commissions from Ralph Adams Cram, first in the Arthur
Cutter studio and then in the H.J. Phipps studio, later establishing his
own workshop on Harcourt Street in Copley Square in 1913. Connick
worked closely with Cram and other architects of the Gothic revival,
producing such work as the great Rose Window of St. Patrick's Cathedral
in New York; the glass at the Heinz Chapel at the University of
Pittsburgh; the Rose Window of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in
New York; the chapel at Princeton University; and windows at St. Vincent
Ferrer church, New York. Locally, his works can be seen at All Saints,
Brookline; at the Cowley Monastery on Memorial Drive, Cambridge; St.
John’s, Beverly Farms; and at St. Catherine of Siena, Norwood, among
many others. After his death in 1945, the studio continued work until
1986. The Charles J. Connick Stained Glass Foundation oversees
conservation of the studio's papers and promotes public understanding
of Connick's work; the studio's archives are deposited in the Boston
Public Library.
-2-
The Parish
The Church of the Good Shepherd was founded in April, 1896, by a
group of 33 persons forming the Waban Church Corporation. Land was
given for the church building by William Chamberlain Strong, himself a
Congregationalist, who would also later give the property on which the
Union Church in Waban stands. The Waban Church Corporation was
not affiliated with the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, and it was
not until 1908 that the Parish of the Good Shepherd was canonically
established as a parish of the Episcopal Church. The church building
was designed by William F. Goodwin, who had also designed the
Mercantile Building at 70-72 Chauncey Street in Boston (1891). The
building was completed and the first service held on Christmas Day,
1896. The Good Shepherd window over the altar was part of the original
church building; the other windows were installed as plain Cathedral
glass, awaiting donors who would give decorative stained glass windows.
Of the windows presently in the church, all are the original donations.
No windows have been removed, even through the radical re-ordering of
the sanctuary in 1967, when all the windows in the chancel were
covered. In the 1970s, the windows on the south side of the chancel
were restored, although it was only in 1999 that the Good Shepherd
window was uncovered.
Stained Glass Craft
The windows at Good Shepherd show examples of several types of
stained glass technique. Representational stained glass windows such
as ours are made up of pieces of colored glass fit into a window frame
and held together in a soft metal matrix called leading. Individual pieces
can be painted to modify color or brightness or to delineate detail; the
glass pieces are then assembled with leading between them, to create the
intended image.
The Good Shepherd window in the chancel is an example of American
opalescent glass, a technique developed in the later 19th century by
John LaFarge and (independently) Louis Comfort Tiffany. Opalescent
glass varies in intensity of color and thickness; sometimes several layers
of glass are stacked together to create variation in hue and brightness.
The texture of the light grey glass represents the curls of fleece on the
sheep, for example, and changes in color and opacity make visible the
-3-
background clouds and sky. As much pictorial detail as is possible
comes from variations within the glass itself; painted detail is largely
restricted to the head, hands, and feet of the figure. Opalescent glass
enjoyed great popularity in the late 19th and early 20th century in
domestic and decorative installations.
The non-representational windows behind the organ and in the stairwell
to the common room are made of what is known as cathedral glass; this
is glass that receives a surface texture while still soft, by pressing the
soft glass with metal rollers.
A third type of glass, used in the aisle windows, is created by glass
blowers. Molten glass is picked up on the end of a pipe and blown by
mouth to the desired thickness, then cut and softened to form a sheet.
Such glass is typically thinner and more uniform in color than
opalescent glass, but still shows unique variations such as streaking or
bubbling as a consequence of its hand-crafted nature.
Artists working in the gothic revival style used vitreous paints to add
representational detail to individual stained glass pieces. Sometimes this
detail was positive – dark lines upon a lighter piece of glass, as if drawing
on light-colored paper; sometimes it is negative – the paint, once applied,
could be scratched off to reveal the color of the glass beneath. Metal
stencils could be used to guide the application of the paint, as seen in
the borders of the windows in the south aisle. Close examination will
show that most of the representational effects are achieved with various
degrees of black vitreous paint, scraped away to achieve detailed
shading. Less commonly used are silver salts, which can create
variations in yellow and gold when applied to different underlying colors
of glass.
The painted glass pieces are fired in a kiln and then assembled in the
window frame with lead cane – strips of grooved lead – between the
pieces. Additional bracing is provided by horizontal bars that prevent the
window from collapsing under its own weight. Any of these window
techniques requires a high level of craft skill to execute; creation of
windows as beautiful and meaningful as these requires artistry of the
highest order.
-4-
Early Plans for Window Subjects
There are some nineteen windows in the nave and chancel of the Church
of the Good Shepherd: the large window at the east end; three windows
on the south side of the chancel; six windows on each of the north and
south aisles in the nave; and three windows at the west end, overlooking
the churchyard. When the church was built, there were apparently four
windows on each of the north and south sides of the chancel, but one
window on the south side and all the north side windows were lost when
the parish house was added to the church building. The east end
window – the Good Shepherd window – was an original feature of the
church building; the remaining windows were glazed with frosted glass –
as windows 3 and 4 still are – until such time as a donor might wish to
dedicate a window.
Good Shepherd’s windows fall naturally into three obvious groups – first,
the oldest window at the east end, in the fin-de-siècle opalescent style, of
the parish’s dedication to Our Lord Jesus as the Good Shepherd;
second, nine windows on the subject of Our Lord’s early life, most
designed and crafted either by the Phipps-Ball-Burnham studio of
Boston, or individually by Wilbur H. Burnham, Sr.; and, finally, seven
windows designed and crafted by Charles J. Connick or his successors at
the Connick Associates studio. Diagram 1 shows the present
arrangement of the windows (the locations of several windows were
moved during the 1967 rearrangement of the church). It should be noted
that, whereas we can date the north aisle windows with confidence
(thanks to the Connick archives at the Boston Public Library), the dates
of the windows at the west end and in the south aisle can be dated only
relatively and speculatively with reference to the deaths of the dedicatees.
Dedications were not long in coming. Perhaps in anticipation of a desire
to dedicate windows, but more likely in response to such requests, the
rector, the Reverend James Clement Sharp, and the vestry wished to lay
out a coherent plan for the church windows. The vestry sought the
advice of the well-known Harry Eldridge Goodhue. A document filed with
the parish records, dated Easter Monday, 1910, (excerpted below)
outlines his proposal for the church’s windows. The subjects proposed
are all illustrations of the life of Our Lord, up to His entry into Jerusalem
on Palm Sunday. It is clear from marginal marks that windows 1-8 are
windows on the south side (chancel and nave), windows 9-11 are the
west end windows, and windows 12-19 are north side windows.
-5-
A Tentative Plan of windows for Church of the Good Shepherd,
Waban (Newton) Mass.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
The Annunciation
The Visitation
The Nativity
The Presentation
The Holy Family
The Boy Christ in the Temple
The Baptism of Christ
The Miracle at Cana
The Calling of Andrew and Peter
The Sermon on the Mount
Driving the Money-changers from the Temple
Healing the Son of the Kings Officer
The Raising of Lazarus
Mary Anointing the feet of Jesus
The Good Samaritan
Healing the Blind Man
The Prodigal Son
Healing the Leper
The Entry into Jerusalem
This schema does not mention the east end Good Shepherd Window; one
assumes that it had already been installed as of 1910 and that, since it
was not mentioned, it was not a product of the Goodhue studio.
In this same 1910 document, the special characteristics of Good
Shepherd’s windows are taken into account: “It is thought best to follow
the style already suggested of a group of figures, rather than one figure
as the shape of the windows will not allow according to best taste the
placing of a one figured window.” That is, the relatively short, wide
lancets of Good Shepherd’s windows would not be adequately filled by a
single figure. The windows of the South aisle address this constraint by
naturalistic groupings of figures in a historical scene; in the North aisle,
Connick solved this problem by dispensing with naturalistic perspective,
and following the medieval practice of sizing figures according to their
theological importance to the window theme – for example, Our Lord
appearing in the central, largest position, and smaller subordinate
figures on either side. The document continues, “It is also to be desired
that only stained glass windows of the old English type be placed in the
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Church, rather than opalescent glass windows. The aim is to obtain a
uniform quality and style of glass.” This advice echoes Goodhue’s own
promotional advertisements – “Stained Glass. No opalescent glass used
in the making of Memorial Windows. All work painted on antique and
pot-metal glasses as was done in the best period of Christian Art” (Albert
M. Tannler, “Harry Eldredge Goodhue: Pioneer of American Stained
Glass,” Stained Glass, vol. 99, no. 1, p. 56). This constraint had already
been violated in the border of the Good Shepherd window (number 1),
and in fact, between that window, the painted glass of the South aisle,
and the gothic style of the North aisle windows, the church is marked by
a pleasing variety of styles, coherently grouped.
The document accompanying the proposed scheme reserves the approval
of window subjects to the vestry. It would appear that from the
beginning, the schema was not followed to the letter. Pencil notations on
the back of the paper mention windows in positions 8 and 13, the
subjects of which do not correspond to the proposed scheme. These
notations are undated, and it is evident from the dates of death of the
dedicatees of the windows that the notes are considerably later than the
1910 composition of the document. We shall consider these notes under
the windows to which they refer, but it should be noted that they only
raise additional questions about the artists who designed and executed
the windows.
Let us consider the windows according to the three major groupings
outlined above.
The Good Shepherd Window
It is not clear from the parish records exactly who gave this window nor
to whose memory it was dedicated. The memorial panel reads simply “In
Memoriam,” a general dedication, as well as an echo of the words of
institution recited every Sunday in the canon of the mass: “Do this in
memory of me”: in mei memoriam facietis. The window is 8 feet high and
3½ feet wide.
Katharine Harlow, in her parish history, Church of the Good Shepherd: 50
Years (1946), states, “Mrs. William Saville gave the Tiffany Memorial
Window of the Good Shepherd.” No evidence has been found that the
window is the work of the Tiffany Studios. It is more likely that the
-7-
description of the window as “Tiffany” refers to its use of opalescent
glass, which was a hallmark of Tiffany’s work. In the exuberance of the
green leaf border around the main subject and in the opalescent horizon
and sky, the window exhibits the good qualities of American glass of the
period. The contrast between the detailed and conventional painting of
the central panel and the highly textured opalescent green leaf border
has led some observers to conclude that the window is the work of two
different artists. Such speculation cannot be supported by
documentation, however.
By the 1950s the window had aged to the point that it required
restoration. The parish contracted with Connick Associates for this
work. Correspondence in the Connick files at the Boston Public Library
shows that the window (explicitly noted not to be a Connick window) was
cleaned and repaired in the summer of 1955, and that the work was paid
for by Mr. Cyrus Y. Ferris of Waban, whose mother had originally given
the window (this, and all subsequent references to and quotations from
the Connick Studio work records and correspondence are by the courtesy
of the Boston Public Library, Fine Arts Department, and can be found in
the file dealing with Good Shepherd, Waban). As to who gave the
window, Mrs. Ferris or Mrs. Saville, parish records are silent. Nor is it
recorded to whose memory, if indeed in remembrance of a single
individual, the window was dedicated. In 1967, the window was covered
over as part of a general restyling of the chancel, and for the next 32
years was visible only from outside the church. The window was again
removed and refurbished as part of another renovation of the chancel in
1990, at which time it was again exposed as a principal feature of the
church. At this time it was reported that part of the window framing was
labeled with the name of H.J. Phipps, but there are no records linking
the window to Phipps or his studio either.
The subject of the window, obviously, refers to the parish’s dedication to
Our Lord Jesus the Good Shepherd. The treatment is familiar: even a
cursory investigation will turn up a dozen churches with near-identical
windows. Very much the same treatment can be seen in Bible
illustrations from the 1890s to the present day, on posters, funeral home
fans, and prayer cards. In fact, the window is modeled on an oftenreproduced painting by Bernhard Plockhorst, born in Brunswick,
Germany in 1825, and a professor at the Weimar Art School. He is
remembered for this painting of Jesus the Good Shepherd and for other
biblical subjects, including a well-known painting of Jesus blessing the
-8-
children (probably an influence on the Edmund Winchester Burke
window 6).
Our particular example of this subject is notable for the high quality of
its opalescent glass and the green leaf border. The inset illustration
concentrates on the essentials, eliminating extraneous landscape and
other sheep present in the original painting. The stained glass artist
marks Our Lord with a plain glass nimbus, the traditional cross picked
out only in leading, thus translating into glass the indistinct nimbus of
Plockhorst’s painting. The window is of its period in its depiction of
Jesus with northern European features, and in its sentimentality. The
-9-
long popular survival of Plockhorst’s image is surely due to its powerful
emotional engagement. One cannot intercept Our Lord’s gaze except by
imaginatively projecting oneself into the picture as the lamb in His arms.
The window depicts the mutual recognition and love described in John
10:11-16 (Good Shepherd Sunday, Year B): “I know my own and my own
know me.”
Another stained-glass treatment of Plockhorst’s painting is found at the
Newton United Methodist Church, and was moved when the congregation
relocated to 430 Walnut Street. This version reproduces more of
Plockhorst’s painting; without the focus of Good Shepherd’s version, the
devotional effect is diminished. This window is illuminated in the
evenings and can be conveniently viewed from outside the building.
The South Aisle and West End Windows
Notes on Charles Connick’s work at Good Shepherd in the Boston Public
Library record the original spatial sequence of window subjects on the
south aisle in the early 1940s after Connick completed the north aisle
windows. The first window on the south aisle was number 5, the
Edmund Winchester Burke window; this window was followed by
number 2, the Annunciation to the Shepherds (now installed on the
south side of the chancel). The remaining windows run in their present
order. The Connick files designate all the south aisle and west end
windows as the work of Phipps-Ball-Burnham, although, given the death
dates of the dedicatees, this could not have been possible for most of
them [Connick worksheet #1433, BPL].
These windows, like all of the nave windows, are short lancets, 22 ½
inches wide and 44 inches tall. Of the south aisle windows, only the
Edmund Winchester Burke window is signed “Ph[i]pps-Ball-Burnham,
Boston” with no date. It is evident from a survey of these windows that if
they are not the work of a single studio, they at least bear a strong family
resemblance. A survey of the dedications show that they could have
been installed any time between 1909 and 1931. These windows depict
scenes of the early life of Our Lord, from the Annunciation to the
Shepherds to His first miracle at Cana. They are, like the Good
- 10 -
Shepherd window, highly indebted to biblical illustration of the early
Twentieth Century, showing Our Lord and the other figures with
northern European features and in recognizably modern poses. The west
end windows are closely related but slightly different: the glass pieces in
those windows are rather smaller and their use more interesting in itself,
while the scene depicted is not narrative. The left-hand window of this
set is signed by Wilbur Herbert Burnham with no date. It would appear,
upon comparing the dates and styles of the south aisle and west end
windows, that Wilbur H. Burnham, Sr. designed at least four of them
and probably designed or at least oversaw most of the others.
Relative dating of these windows is difficult: the Phipps-Ball-Burnham
partnership existed only from 1920 to 1923; pencil notes on the back of
the window schema proposed by Harry E. Goodhue note of window 13,
“This window … [was crafted] by H.J. Phipps”. Burnham (who signed the
window) had left Goodhue in 1916 to join H.J. Phipps from until 1918,
when he joined with Walter G. Ball in the firm Ball and Burnham; in
1920, Phipps joined the partnership to form Phipps-Ball-Burnham. The
west end windows were given by Mrs. Earle E. Bessey in memory of her
parents; she was also the donor of window 2, which could not have been
earlier than 1931, long after the dissolution of the Phipps-Ball-Burnham
partnership. It seems probable, although speculative, that, given the
stylistic similarities in all the south aisle and west end windows, that the
Sawyer window 8, noted in the stained glass schema as “by Goodhue”,
might have been executed by Burnham while at the Goodhue studio, and
that Good Shepherd’s commissions followed him to H.J. Phipps, to Ball
and Burnham, to Phipps-Ball-Burnham, and finally to his own studio.
The connections between Goodhue, Phipps, and Burnham are very close.
Goodhue trained with Phipps, as did Burnham, who also had worked in
Goodhue’s studio. Phipps lived in Brookline, and was a member of the
Braeburn Country Club where he would have met several of the founders
and early parishioners of Good Shepherd. It is likely that he was
acquainted with the William F. Goodwin, the architect of the Good
Shepherd church building.
2 The Annunciation to the Shepherds
This window was executed in the same style as the
other South aisle windows, but later than most of
them. It is dedicated to Dr. Earle Emerson Bessey
(1871-1931): “Honor a Physician for the Lord hath
- 11 -
created him.” In this window (and number 9 as well), the color of the
glass is more prominent than in numbers 7 and 8. The style is
sufficiently like numbers 6, 10, 11, and 12 to conclude that Burnham
was the artist, and, given the late date, that the window is a product of
Wilbur H. Burnham Studio at Dartmouth Street, Boston. The donor,
Mrs. Bessey, also gave windows 10, 11, and 12, so it would be
unsurprising that she might call upon the same artist. Dr. Bessey
operated a private hospital in Boston. This window was originally located
where window 6 is presently installed.
6 “A Little Child Shall Lead Them”
This window was given by Edmund Winchester,
Senior Warden of the parish from 1909 to 1937,
“in loving memory of Edmund Winchester Burke.
Born Aug. 27, 1916; Died Nov 4, 1921”, his
grandson. The window is signed “Ph[i]pps-BallBurnham-Boston”. The design employs lighter
colors than the adjacent windows, and
comparison of the figures in this window with
those in windows 11, 12, and 13 leaves little
doubt that this window was also executed by
Wilbur Burnham. The children attending on
Jesus hold palms of victory and the lily of the
resurrection, and are led by a young boy. The style of the dedicatory
inscription also shows this window’s close
relationship to the Burnham windows at the West
end. This window was originally located where
window 5 is now installed.
7 The Nativity
This window was given “To the Glory of God and
in Loving Memory of Leila Morean White, 18591915”. Stylistically close to window 8, but with a
deeper color palette. The red and orange of the
evening sky closely link this window to window 2.
- 12 -
8 Jesus among the Elders in the Temple
This window was dedicated “In Sacred Memory of
Florence M. Sawyer, 1872-1909”. Florence M.
[Glover] Sawyer was a parishioner at Good
Shepherd. She succumbed to peritonitis in 1909.
The 1910 plan for window subjects bears a handwritten note: “This window by Goodhue, placed in
the Church by Mr. Sawyer, cost $185.00”. The
window is very much in the style of number 6
and 8, and the detailed glass painting does not
seem typical of Goodhue, although the window
shares narrative and decorative elements with a
signed Goodhue window at St. Catherine of Siena
(R.C.) church in Norwood, Massachusetts. It is possible that Burnham
executed this window while working with Goodhue (he was with that firm
until 1916). The color scheme of this window is rather different from the
other windows in the south aisle. The window is strongly influenced by
William Holman Hunt’s painting, “The Discovery of the Saviour in the
Temple”.
9 The Wedding Feast at Cana
This window was given “In Loving Memory of
Lena Day Parent, 1872-1914”. The artist has
maintained the same conventions evident in
windows 7 and 8, but with a somewhat brighter
color palette.
10 The Flight into Egypt
This window was dedicated “In Loving Memory of
Julia Van Veghten Stetson, 1842-1920”. Early
parish registers list members of the Stetson
family, and the house at 91 Pine Ridge Road in
Waban is known as the Stetson house, but Julia
Stetson does not appear in parish records. The
colors in this window are brighter than those in
windows 7, 8, and 9, and appear closer to those
in window 2. It is not impossible that this
window and window 2 are later works by the
same artist who executed windows 7, 8, and 9.
- 13 -
11 Jesus Preaching to the Multitude (right)
The right-side window is dedicated to the memory
of “Herbert Baldwin Cushing, 1843-1922.
Blessed are they that hear the word of God and
keep it.” The inscription is from Luke 11:28. The
three west-end windows share many
characteristics with the south aisle windows, as
we have noted; but they are also distinct from
them in that, while naturalistically illustrative,
they are not narrative in nature. The leading of
the blue glass in the sky over the figures in all
three windows adds a visual interest not found in
windows 2 and 7-10.
12 Jesus Preaching to the Multitude
(center)
“He taught them as one having authority and the
common people heard him gladly.” The
inscriptions are from Matthew 7:29 and Mark
12:37. The tree branches over the figures in all
three west windows, and most obviously in this
one, take the place of the architectural niches
that frame figures in gothic windows; using
vegetation to evoke conventional architectural
detail fits the directness of these windows, the
simplicity of the church building itself, and the
church’s suburban locale.
13 Jesus Preaching to the Multitude (left)
Window 13 is dedicated to the memory of
“Henriette Josephine Cushing, 1952-1912.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God. Matthew 5:8” Signed “Wilbur Herbert
Burnham, designer & craftsman”. On the reverse
of the 1910 document on the proposed plan for
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window subjects is found the handwritten note, “This window by H.J.
Phipps & Co. [given] by her daughter Mrs. E.E. Bessey. Cost $150.00”
All three of these west end windows are clearly by the same artist and
executed at the same time, gifts of Mrs. Bessey [Constance Josephine
Cushing, 1875-1959] in memory of her parents. It is furthermore clear
that they could not have been executed by Burnham while at H.J. Phipps
& Co., since by 1922, he and Phipps had joined with Ball in Phipps-BallBurnham (and the windows are so like the Burke window, number 6,
that they can comfortably be grouped with it as works of Burnham in the
1920-1923 period). Therefore we assign them, with window 6, to the
Phipps-Ball-Burnham studio. Mrs. Bessey also gave window 2 no earlier
than 1931, in memory of her husband.
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The North Aisle Windows by Charles J. Connick
Whereas the artists and dates of the south aisle windows are uncertain,
we have good records concerning the windows of the north aisle, their
artist, and their dates of installation. These six windows were all
executed by Charles J. Connick during the period 1930-1941, when he
was at the height of his artistic powers. The south aisle windows are
illustrative and sentimental; the Connick windows are symbolic and
iconographic. He was clear in his attitude towards verisimilitude: a
stained glass window is “a symbol and not a picture.” They are instantly
recognizable as his work, both in their design and by the deep blue color
that he discovered at Chartres Cathedral, so characteristic of Connick’s
mature period. Connick interpreted the predominant colors in stained
glass symbolically. Good Shepherd parishioner Lewis Whitlock describes
Connick’s ideas about color in glass thus:
Color is the glory of stained glass, and always the great master
craftsmen have used color as musicians use sound; that is, in
terms of its most profound spiritual significance. Pure color in
light reminds the observer afresh of the ancient symbolism that
distinguished each one of the spectrum colors with spiritual
significance. Red is the color of divine love, of passionate
devotion, of sacrifice, of martyrdom. Blue is the color of divine
wisdom, of enduring loyalty, of eternal heavenly spaces, of victory.
White is the color of faith, serenity, and peace. Gold is the color of
spiritual achievement, of the good life, of treasures in heaven.
Violet or purple is the color of justice, royalty, humility, and in the
sense of unknown quantity, mystery. [in Appendix 1: The Parish of
the Good Shepherd: A History Continued (1996)]
The first of the north aisle windows, number 14, was installed in 1930,
while the Reverend Richard Loring was rector; a scheme was proposed
that would have illustrated several of Jesus’s parables in the north aisle
windows: This first window illustrated the parable of the workers in the
vineyard (Matthew 20:16), and Connick suggested subjects for
subsequent windows: “The Ten Virgins” – Matthew 25:1; “The Sower” –
Mark 4:3; “The Mustard Seed” – Luke 10:30; and “The Prodigal Son” –
Luke 15:11 [Connick work card #1433, BPL – all citations to Connick’s
working files are courtesy of the Boston Public Library, Fine Arts
Department.].
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It is not clear how the initial connection between Connick, Father Loring,
and Good Shepherd was made. Window 14 was donated by Thomas W.
Best of Sutherland Road, Brighton, in memory of his parents; neither Mr.
Best nor his parents are to be found in Good Shepherd’s registers. Mr.
Best was a Boston bookseller and the proprietor of the Harcourt Bindery,
then and still today a highly-regarded book bindery producing artistic
bindings for prominent book collectors. The bindery was the third-floor
tenant at 9-11 Harcourt Street, the building in Copley Square owned by
Charles J. Connick, whose stained-glass studios occupied the fourth
floor [communication from Sam Ellenport, current owner of the Harcourt
Bindery]. The work card for this window notes that the price of $550 for
window 14 “is a special price given to Mr. Best – other windows will be
$600.00”, perhaps because of the close relationship of Best and Connick.
At any rate, the $600 price was never, in fact, charged for subsequent
windows, which were all charged at $500 or $550, bringing little profit to
the studio, and often a small loss. Such details in the files illustrate the
truth of Connick’s own assessment that the studio was “only incidentally
a business” [Charles J. Connick Stained Glass Foundation, Ltd. website].
Another connection between Connick and Good Shepherd was through
the VerPlanck family, patrons of Connick for a window at All Saints’,
Brookline. Certainly by 1930, Connick was well known for his art both
locally and nationally; so no further introduction may have been
necessary.
The next windows to be installed were numbers 16 through 19, during
the tenure of a new rector, the Reverend Stanley Ellis, and under a new
plan: the windows would illustrate the principal events of Holy Week
and Easter. In 1937, Mrs. Gifford LeClear commissioned windows 18
and 19 in memory of her husband and father, illustrating Our Lord’s
Resurrection and Ascension, and in 1938 and 1941, Mrs. H. S. Tilton of
93 Avalon Road commissioned windows 16 and 17, commemorating her
parents. Finally, in 1941, window 15 was installed, completing the 1415 pair with left-to-right symmetry between the two windows, rather
than the bi-lateral symmetry of each individual window of the other four.
Window 15 does not match 14 by illustrating a gospel parable; but it
complements 6 by illustrating a very similar scene in a strikingly
different style. Each of the windows on Holy Week and Easter themes
contains inset emblems that relate typologically to the event depicted in
the window. One of the emblems is a biblical type, a foreshadowing of
Jesus’s death and resurrection in the Hebrew scriptures. The other
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emblem is a symbol of the same mystery drawn from natural history or
mythology.
Father Ellis was sensible of the quality of the Connick windows and
realized the distinction they conferred on the parish. Evidently Connick
sometimes sent prospective clients to view the windows at Good
Shepherd. After the installation of window 15, Father Ellis wrote to
Connick,
May I add my personal word of appreciation for the work which
you have done here. This series of windows is truly glorious, and I
find that they are a source of inspiration to an increasing number
of people who come to see them. . . .
Perhaps it is not too soon to begin thinking of the eventual
replacement of the window above the altar with a new one more in
keeping with the rest of our glass. If this could be done I feel that
our little church might embody, in part, at least, some of the
principles which you have enunciated in your book on glass.
[1941-09-18, Ellis to Connick, BPL files]
Connick replied by sending Father Ellis photographs of Connick’s
treatments of Good Shepherd iconography (at Grace Church,
Framingham; at Good Shepherd, Nashua, N.H.; and at Good Shepherd,
Ogden, Utah). Whether for budgetary reasons (a new window on this
theme was quoted at between $1800 and $2000) or because the parish
was attached to the 1896 window, this proposal did not advance.
Windows by Connick Associates
The craftsmen of Connick’s studio continued their work after Charles
Connick’s death in 1945 as Connick Associates. They executed two
projects at Good Shepherd: the first being the 1952 Stone memorial
window, presently in location 5 but originally installed as the southeast
window in the chancel. The second was when craftsmen of Connick
Associates removed and refurbished the 1896 Good Shepherd window in
1955. As noted above, the bill was paid by Mr. Cyrus Y. Ferris, and the
Connick files note that he undertook this gift because his mother was the
original window donor.
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14 Workers in the Vineyard
This window, given “In Gratitude to God and in
Loving Memory of Father and Mother” by Thomas
W. Best of Sutherland Road, Brighton, was
installed in 1930. The window is marked with the
figure of an angel, the traditional symbol of St.
Matthew, in whose gospel the parable appears. As
noted above, the window cost $550 [Connick work
card #1433, BPL]. The grapevine in the border of
this window and window 15 symbolizes the unity
of the Church: “I am the vine, you are the
branches.”
15 A Child in Their Midst
Given by Philip VerPlanck in memory of “Adele
Pattison VerPlanck 1994-1928” and installed in
1941. Philip VerPlanck is another possible
connection of Charles Connick to the parish: his
father commissioned Connick to execute a
window dedicated to Florence Prescott VerPlanck
at All Saints, Brookline. In window 15 (as in
window 14) is observed an angel, the symbol of
St. Matthew, from whose gospel the subject of the
window is taken. The grapevine in the border
links the window with its pair, window 14, and is
symbolic of the Eucharist. The window cost $550 [Connick work card
#2288, BPL]. It is interesting to compare the very similar subjects of
window 6 with this window: the naturalistic, sentimental style of window
6 strongly contrasts with the gothic, iconographic style of this window.
By reversing the positions of the larger figure and the smaller figure in
this window, Connick closes the pairing with window 14 by making the
two windows schematic mirror-images.
The VerPlanck family was prominent in the parish for many years: upon
Philip VerPlanck’s death, the vestry passed the following resolution that
indicates how central he was to the life of the parish:
[The vestry resolved] to record, with deep sorrow, the death on
November 14, 1965 of Philip VerPlanck, our beloved Treasurer and
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Vestryman for over 30 years. The Parish was an integral part of
Phil’s life, his children grew up in the Parish, and he gave
generously of his time and resources to maintain and expand the
financial and spiritual posture of the Parish. Phil was always
patient in explaining financial and other matters to vestrymen and
parishioners and his meticulous records of Parish affairs will be
continuing reminders to us and those to follow of Phil’s devoted
service for so many years.
16 Gethsemane
“Not my will but thine be done. Luke 22:42 –
Edmund Winchester, 1865-1937.” Edmund
Winchester came to Good Shepherd just after its
founding, and served as treasurer from 1906 to
1908, as junior warden from 1909 to 1916, and
as senior warden from 1916 to 1937 – a tenure
which no other parish officer or rector has
approached. He worked with the Old Colony
Insurance Co. of Boston. Upon his death, the
vestry passed the following resolution:
Edmund Winchester was Treasurer and Junior
Warden, and for the last twenty years of his life Senior Warden of
this Church. During all this time no important decision as to
church affairs was made except with his advice and approval. His
quiet influence was felt throughout the Parish and this community
in which he had lived for over forty years. We have lost a
Christian gentleman and a dear friend.
The window was accepted and installed in 1938, the gift of his daughter,
Helen W. Tilton, of 93 Avalon Road. Our Lord is shown kneeling in prayer
with an angel above holding the chalice, of which he prayed “Father, if
thou be willing, remove this chalice from me” (quoted thus on the
Connick Studios workcard). Smaller figures of Peter, James, and John
are shown below, sleeping. Through the border runs a growing vine of
pomegranate, symbolic of the unity of the Church. Inset emblems show
Christ’s sacrificial chalice and the pelican in her piety, a common
iconographic motif related to Jesus’s sacrifice, in which the pelican is
shown piercing her own breast to feed her young with her blood [Connick
work card # 2051, BPL]. This window cost $500.
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17 “Peace Be With You”
“Peace be with you. John 20:26 – Ruth Dana Winchester 1865-1939.”
This window was completed in December 1940
and installed in 1941, the gift of her daughter,
Helen W. Tilton. The window depicts the postresurrection appearance of Our Lord described in
John 20:26. The eleven disciples are present,
and Jesus appears, bearing the marks of
crucifixion, before the locked door. The
conventionalized pomegranate in the border is a
symbol of the Christian life, and the border also
incorporates the olive branch of peace and the
palm of victory [Connick work card #2211, BPL].
This window cost $500.
Curiously, of the four windows on Passion and Easter themes, this
window is out of sequence: it interposes a post-resurrection appearance
of Jesus before the window depicting the Resurrection itself. As it
happens, the proposed subject of the window was the Crucifixion. A
photograph of a study for the proposed window exists in the BPL’s
Connick archive. The proposal shows Our Lord crucified in the center,
with the Blessed Virgin and St. John on either side (in accord with
traditional iconography), and St. Mary Magdalene at the foot of the cross.
In the other windows of this sequence, Our Lord Jesus is the largest
figure, because the most important to the subject of the window; in this
window, the side figures of St. Mary and
St. John are larger than Our Lord’s body
but smaller than the Holy Cross itself. The
figure of Mary Magdalene at the foot of the
cross is smaller still. The inset emblems
are of the peacock and the brazen serpent
(a type of the crucifixion described in
Numbers 21:8 and interpreted in John
3:14). A contract was drawn up for this
window, but on May 17, 1940, just when
the contract was to be signed, the subject
was altered. Whether this was at the
request of Mrs. Tilton, or of Father Ellis or
the vestry, is not known, but it is clear
that the change was not suggested by
Connick or his craftsmen. The study
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printed here is reproduced with the kind permission of the Boston Public
Library, Fine Arts Department.
18 Resurrection
“Why Seek Ye the Living Among the Dead? Luke 24:5 – Gifford Le Clear,
1874-1931.” Installed in 1937, the gift of Mrs. Le
Clear, of 276 Dorset Road. Gifford Le Clear was a
lecturer on Architecture at Harvard University,
and a partner in the architectural firm Densmore,
Le Clear, and Robbins, designers of the Waban
Branch Library (1930) on Beacon Street, as well
as the MDC headquarters building at 70
Somerset Street, Boston, among many other
buildings. He was well-known regionally as a
golfer, and participated in seminal experiments in
acoustic sound absorption at the Fogg Lecture
Hall and Sanders Theatre in Boston under the direction of Wallace
Sabine.
The window shows the Hebrew and the mythological types of the
Resurrection: Jonah emerging from the whale, and the phoenix rising
from the ashes of its immolation. The window border incorporates the
Easter lily [Connick work card #1978, BPL].
19 Ascension
“Lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world. Matthew 28:20
– George Judson Parker, 1850-1917.” Installed in
1937. The window shows Our Lord ascending
into heaven, observed by the eleven disciples,
Peter and Andrew being the largest figures. The
window is the gift of Mrs. Gifford Le Clear, in
memory of her father [Connick work card #1978,
BPL]. Inset emblems show Elijah’s ascent in the
fiery chariot and the eagle, traditional symbols of
the Ascension. The cloud forms and stars in the
border are symbols of the attainment of heaven.
This window and window 18 together cost $1000.
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5 Heavenly Praise (Psalm 150)
Dedicated to “Archibald and Lillian N.H. Stone.”
Psalm 150:3 and 4 read: “Praise him with trumpet
sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him
with timbrel and dance; praise him with strings
and pipe!” The window is in the tradition of St.
Cecilia windows (St. Cecilia being the patron of the
organ), and was originally and appropriately
installed in the chancel with the choir and organ.
The window is the gift of the estate of Lillian Stone,
and was installed in May, 1953 by Connick
Associates, which was the association of
craftspeople from Charles Connick’s studio who continued the studio
after Connick’s death in 1945. This window cost $500 [Connick work
card #3341, BPL].
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Acknowledgements
In this little essay, I have tried to contribute to our parish's collective
memory; to record, at least so far as I have been able to discover, the
stories of these windows: the artists who made them, the donors who
paid for them, and those they loved and remembered with their gift.
They are our predecessors in the parish, who built this community that
sustained them and sustains us, worthy of our memory and prayer.
The seed for this essay was one of Mary Ann's photographs:
photographing stained glass windows is a tricky business, and she has
done a marvelous job. I am thankful for her help and meticulous
attention to detail. The Reverend Truman Welch graciously approved of
the project and has given us every assistance we desired. He has been
an interested and informed audience to my ideas and discoveries as they
progressed, and I am most grateful. For particular information, answers
to queries, and access to primary sources, I am particularly indebted to
Joshua Aranov; Elizabeth Botten of the Smithsonian Institution’s
Archives of American Art; Chip Coakley; Sam Ellenport; Albert M.
Tannler; the staff of the Boston Public Library Fine Arts Department;
Peter Cormack, F.S.A.; and Marilyn Justice of the Charles J. Connick
Stained Glass Foundation. Naturally, errors of fact or judgment and wild
flights of speculation are wholly my own.
Finally, I want to express my deepest and most affectionate gratitude to
Lewis Whitlock, who, with respect to Good Shepherd's windows as well
as in so many other ways, went before me; without his generous help
this project would never have been completed.
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For Further Reading
Connick, Charles J. Adventures in Light and Color. 1937.
Cormack, Peter. “Glazing ‘With Careless Care’: Charles J. Connick and the
Arts & Crafts Philosophy of Stained Glass,” The Journal of Stained Glass,
volume 28 (2004), pp. 79-94.
Harlow, Katharine. Church of the Good Shepherd: 50 Years. Waban,
Massachusetts: 1946 (privately printed).
Miller, Paul C. The Parish of the Good Shepherd: A History Continued 19371996. Waban, Massachusetts: 1996 (privately printed).
Montross, Richard. The Windows of All Saints Parish. Brookline,
Massachusetts: 2007.
Shand-Tucci, Douglass. Boston Bohemia 1881-1900. Ralph Adams Cram: Life
and Architecture. Amherst, Massachusetts: 1995 (University of Massachusetts
Press).
Tannler, Albert M. Charles J. Connick: His Education and His Windows In and
Near Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, 2008.
Tannler, Albert M. “Harry Eldredge Goodhue: Pioneer of American Stained
Glass,” Stained Glass, vol. 99, no. 1 (Spring, 2004), pp. 54-67.
Tannler, Albert M. “Harry Wright Goodhue: Stained Glass of Unsurpassed
Distinction and Rare Beauty,” Stained Glass, vol. 99, no. 2 (Summer, 2004), pp.
134-147.
Tannler, Albert M. “’We Have Only One Window’: Stained Glass and the Arts &
Crafts Movement in the United States,” The Journal of Stained Glass, volume 28
(2004), pp. 61-78.
Temme, N. “The Burnhams: A Story of Outstanding Achievement,” Stained
Glass (Winter, 1982-3, pp. 366-370).
Tevesz, Michael, Nancy Persell, Michael Wells, and James Whitney. Stained
Glass Windows of Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland, Ohio, Produced by the Wilbur H.
Burnham Studios. Sacred Landmarks Monograph Series, Cleveland State
University, the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, 1999.
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