FDA-A.398:1-2017

FDA-A.398:1-2017

stained glass

East Window of Eton College Chapel: The Last Supper and the Crucifixion

assigned by cataloguer

Stained glass window.

The window is made up of 18 main lights and 37 tracery lights, as described below.

Six main lights of the lower tier (from left to right):

Light 1a:
Melchizedek, King of Salem and priest of El Elyon
(Melchizedeck met Abraham returning from the Battle with the Kings, blessed him and presented him with bread and wine [Genesis XIV vv 18-20]. He was taken as prefiguring Christ. [Hebrews VII vv 1-3])

Light 1b: The sword and scales denote Melchizedek's kingship; the altar-book, chalice, bread, wheat and grapes denote his priesthood.

Lights 1c to 1g: Scene of The Last Supper
Light 1c: Four Apostles
Light 1d: Three Apostles
Light 1e: Christ in prayer, seated before the chalice and bread
Light 1f: Judas and St John
Light 1g: Three Apostles

Lights 1h and 1i: Scene of the Sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis XXII vv 1-14)
Behind are the ram caught in the thicket and the angel speaking to Abraham. The Sacrifice of Isaac prefigures the Crucifixion of Christ.

Six main lights of the upper tier (from left to right):
Light 2a to 2i Scene of The Crucifixion

Light 2a: The Crowd
Light 2b: The Crowd (The man near the front is Simon of Cyrene, an African, who carried Christ's cross on the way to Calvary)
Light 2c: The Repentant Thief
Light 2d: The Virgin Mary
Light 2e: Christ on the Cross
Light 2f: St John (holding in his hands a Chalice, from which issues a serpent. According to the legend, he was given poison, which he rendered harmless, and the chalice with a dragon or serpent is the usual attribute of St John)
Light 2g: The Unrepentant Thief
Light 2h: The Crowd
Light 2i: The Crowd

Above the upper tier of main lights is a row of tracery lights (from left to right):
Tracery lights A1 to A18

Above the lower row of tracery lights are three small tracery lights (from left to right):
Tracery lights B1 to B6

Above, a row of twelve tracery lights (from left to right):
Tracery lights C1 to C12

At the top of the arch, a single small tracery light:
Tracery light D1

Identified subjects of the tracery lights are as follows:

A1:
A2: The Keys, symbol of the Church
A3: The Lion, symbol of St Mark the Evangelist
A4: The Man, symbol of St Matthew the Evangelist
A5: The Moon
A6:
A7: The Nails
A8: The Reed
A9:
A10:
A11: The Scourge
A12: The Dice
A13:
A14: The Sun
A15: The Eagle, symbol of St John the Evangelist
A16: The Bull, symbol of St Luke the Evangelist
A17: The Hammer and Pincers, instruments of the Passion
A18:

B1:
B2:
B3:
B4:
B5:
B6:

C1:
C2: A crown
C3: A ship, symbol of the Church
C4: Grapes, symbol of the Eucharist
C5: A Beehive, symbol of the industry of the Church
C6: Alpha
C7: Omega
C8: The Loaves and Fishes
C9: Sheaf of Wheat, symbol of the Eucharist
C10: Two vessels - one upturned, symbol of the Old and New Law
C11: Fleur-de-Lys
C12:

D1: The Dove of the Holy Spirit

After bomb damage destroyed the earlier East Window in 1940, this window was commissioned from Evie Hone in 1949. The window was completed by 1952.

glass

Hone, Evie, 1894 - 1955 (Artist)

1952

Provenance: Commissioned by Eton College in 1948; installed by 1952