Image from: Cathedral Church of St Philip, Birmingham

The photograph shows the Last Judgement window being assembled at William Morris and Co., 8 Red Lion Square, London. Burne-Jones prepared the sketch for the design in 1889, but the window was not installed at St Philip’s until 1897.

Image from: Cathedral Church of St Philip, Birmingham

The lower section of the widow contains an anxious child wearing a delicately patterned white robe. He stands between his father and mother, clutching his father’s red garment.

Image from: Cathedral Church of St Philip, Birmingham

The lower portion of the window is equally striking. A fearful, apprehensive group of people fill the scene below the doomed city. They are dressed in many different colours, some are veiled and others wear turbans. The sense of anticipation, for good or ill as they await judgement is enhanced by their gestures. They face in different ways. A wind appears to blow the hair of bareheaded onlookers. Two fearful women, standing on a tomb, clasp each other. A husband comforts his wife who holds holding a baby. A barefoot, red-robed man with his back to the viewer twists in the foreground. His pose connects with that of the Archangel Michael above him.

Image from: Cathedral Church of St Philip, Birmingham

Based on images from the Book of Revelations, the window portrays the Last Judgement at the end of the world. The Archangel Michael, robed in red with powerful red wings sweeping from his right shoulder is depicted moving across the window blowing a long golden horn. Above him, clothed in white, Christ wears a green crown of thorns and a deep red halo.

Seated on a rainbow throne, he looks downward. One hand points upwards to heaven and the other to the rainbow, the symbol God’s covenant with Noah that he would never wipe out the population of the world again. Both of his hands show the stigmata, the wounds made by the nails that were driven into his palms.

Christ and Michael are framed by angels wearing red. They are distinguished by the different colours of their haloes and wings. One holds a golden key and a double chain which refers to binding of the dragon referred to in Revelations chapter 20 verse 1. Other angels hold the Book of Life and seven vials.

This dynamic image is separated from the lower portion of the window by buildings which fall in different directions.

Image from: St Philip’s Anglican Cathedral, Birmingham

The most striking image in the lower section of the window is the mourning figure of Mary Magdalene, dressed in a peach-coloured robe. She kneels beneath the feet of Jesus at the base of the cross, cupping her head in her hands in a gesture of deep sorrow. The green stones on which she kneels are the same colour as the walls of Jerusalem in the centre of the window. Mary Magdalene’s striking pose, her downward gaze and the bright colour of her garments contrast with the figure of Mary, who stands erect and fixes her eyes upwards on her dying son. Together, they are the dominant images in this part of the window.

Image from: St Philip’s Anglican Cathedral, Birmingham

Jesus is nailed to a large cross which directs the eye of the observer from the foot of the image to the head and arms of Christ and the letters INRI. These are the initials of the Latin words which Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor of Judea, had placed on the cross over Christ’s head when he was sentenced to crucifixion by the authorities. In translation, the words mean Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews (St John’s Gospel, chapter 19, verse 19). Christ wears a crown of thorns and a loin cloth with a foliage design. His halo is also patterned with flowers. The clouds are represented as circles and connect visually with the turbans of the onlookers at the foot of the cross.

Image from: Cathedral Church of St Philip, Birmingham

The window is dominated by an image of Christ who hangs lifeless from the cross. He is framed by a deep blue sky and a mass of red Roman banners. The colours link the image of Christ with the onlookers and soldiers who are also clad in blue and red.

The onlookers include three standing women. Mary, the grieving mother of Jesus gazes towards her son. She wears a delicately patterned blue dress and her head is framed with a red halo. A second woman in a white veil provides comfort. A third supports the second and holds a piece of brown cloth.

The disciple John gazes at Christ and presses against the cross. He wears green and has a green patterned halo. A crowd of people inhabit the rear of the scene. They wear turbans and direct their eyes towards the cross and the Roman soldier who stands behind John and aims his spear at Christ’s side. A second soldier on the other side directs his lance towards Christ. Other soldiers hold the banners which frame the figure of Christ. The walls of Jerusalem rise above the heads of the onlookers.

Mary Magdalene kneels at the foot of the cross.

Image from: Cathedral Church of St Philip, Birmingham

Set against a winter scene of grey, skeletal trees and a black sky, the upper part of the window depicts a mass of angels with red wings. They illuminate the nocturnal scene and observe three shepherds who are guarding a flock of sheep. The most prominent angel greets the men. The two shepherds in the foreground, wearing yellow and purple robes, gaze at the angels and shade their eyes from the light. A third man wearing blue, the oldest of the three shepherds, grasps his staff and looks intently at the angels.

Image from: Cathedral Church of St Philip, Birmingham

The infant Christ sleeps on the rocky floor of a cave. His hands are tucked under his chin and his body is wrapped in white bedclothes. His halo is white and patterned with fleur-de-lys. Mary, in a deep-blue gown, kneels on the left before her baby. Her hands are clasped and she wears a patterned veil. Her red halo stands out against the dark interior of the cave. Joseph, her husband, depicted as an elderly man, leans on a staff. He is dressed in a red garment and his white cap is surrounded by his red halo. He gazes at the child with his hands together as if he is praying. Three angels stand behind him their hands wide apart in a gesture of adoration. They wear robes of different colours and are shown with wings and red haloes.

Image from: Cathedral Church of St Philip, Birmingham

The window of the Nativity forms the left section of a triptych of three stained-glass windows. A huge arch of rock curls from the left and divides the scene into two. The lower part includes the baby Jesus, Mary his mother, Joseph and angels. The upper section includes a scene of angels, shepherds, sheep and trees. The angels form a sinuous curve echoing the shape of the trees and the rock.

Image from: St Philip’s Anglican Cathedral, Birmingham

The lower portion of the window contains twelve people whose awestruck expressions and different ages contrast with the uniform faces of the angels. The scene includes Mary and two disciples clad in white and two wearing blue. Their garments provide a visual link with the blue of Christ’s tunic in the upper portion of the window.

Image from: Cathedral Church of St Philip, Birmingham

Barefoot and clothed in red and blue, Christ stands on the clouds and looks tenderly towards the people below. He points upwards with his left hand to show that he is ascending to Heaven. Wearing sandals, angels hold their hands in gestures of prayer or praise. In contrast to the otherworldly angels, he is presented as a human figure connecting to the onlookers who watch his ascension.

Image from: Cathedral Church of St Philip, Birmingham

The Ascension window is divided horizontally by a dark blue band of sky with oval- shaped clouds in pale blue. Above the clouds, Christ ascends into Heaven surrounded by angels. Below, a crowd of onlookers gaze upwards.

Image from: Cathedral Church of St Philip, Birmingham

This view of the interior looks westwards towards the Last Judgement window in the baptistry of St Philip’s. The window was designed by Edward Coley Burne-Jones in 1991 and was erected in memory of H B Bowlby, Rector of St Philip’s and Bishop of Coventry who died in 1894. It was installed in 1897.

Image from: Cathedral Church of St Philip, Birmingham

This view of the interior of the Church looks eastwards towards the chancel. The window above the altar depicts the Ascension of Christ, one of three stained-glass windows designed by Edward Coley Burne-Jones. The Ascension was the first to be installed in the chancel. The other two were the Nativity and Crucifixion.

The cost of the three windows was borne by Miss Emma Chadwick Villers Wilkes, who died in 1891, the daughter of Edward Villers Wilkes, a successful manufacturer of copper, brass and pewter goods in Moor Street, Birmingham who died in 1835.  She was a devout Anglican and attended services at St Philip’s regularly. The family are recorded in monuments inside and outside the church.

The architect, J A Chatwin extended the chancel of the Church, redesigned part of the interior and created a semi-circular apse. Burne-Jones received £200 for each of his designs. His account book records that the work on the Ascension involved “much physical fatigue in addition to mental weariness” and he regretted “the flagrantly inadequate sum by way of payment.” His disappointment did not last. When he visited St Philip’s in 1885, he was struck with admiration for his own work and was determined to produce two other windows “worthy of my former achievement…”

Image: Edward Burne-Jones in garden studio aged 57 from a photograph by Miss Barbara Leighton.

Image from: Local Studies and History, Birmingham Central Library

Edward Coley Burne-Jones was born in 1833 in Birmingham at 11 Bennett’s Hill and he was baptised in St Philip’s Church. His father was a carver, framer and gilder. Burne-Jones developed his artistic sensibility by observing his father’s trade. He attended King Edward’s Grammar School in New Street and went to Oxford University to study for the church. There he developed a lifelong friendship with William Morris and both men became artists. Burne-Jones was a painter, but he also created stained glass.

The four Burne-Jones windows in St Philip’s Cathedral, Birmingham were designed for two separate commissions between 1885 and 1891. They depict three scenes from the life and death of Christ, the Nativity (1885), Crucifixion (1887) and Ascension (1887) and the Last Judgement (1897). The images are striking not just for their size, colour and design, but for their theological interpretation. Burne-Jones concentrates on Christ’s humanity and the human figures of the family of Jesus, his disciples and other participants who populate the images. The artist rejected the damnatory and judgemental aspects of Church teaching, so there is no scourging or bleeding in the Crucifixion or hellfire images in the Last Judgement.

The windows were installed after the enlargement of St Philip’s in 1884 and before it became a cathedral in 1905.  Sir Edward Burne-Jones was knighted in 1894 and died in 1898.