The Crucifixion window

The crucifixion window depicts Jesus’ death, with many references to descriptions from the Gospel of John. The striking design of the third window on the right hand side is a powerful piece of storytelling. The central image of Christ hanging on the cross draws Heaven and Earth together, with the sturdy wood of the cross powerfully portrayed, occupying the height of the window.  The head of the cross pierces up through the pattern of blue circles depicting the floor of Heaven, fulfilling Burne-Jones’ intention for the huge cross to become a bridge between things heavenly and earthly.

A parchment with the letters INRI has been pinned to the top of the sturdy dark wood cross. These stand for Iesus Nazarenus, Rex lauaeorum which translates as Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.

The benefactor of the new chancel, Emma Villers Wilkes did not originally want the Crucifixion scene as a subject of the windows. When she was persuaded to agree to the Crucifixion window, she insisted that there was no blood showing in the image. However Burne-Jones’ use of a blood red banners flanking the crossbeam suggests to the viewer the blood pouring out of Christ. On the far right a helmeted soldier in a red cloak, aims a tall spear towards Jesus’s side, in a further reference to St. John’s Gospel, which says in 19:34:  “Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water”.

Jesus’s beloved disciple John stands with Mary on the right, at the foot of the cross, clearly following the text of John 19:26-27, which says: “so when Jesus saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother ‘Woman, behold, your son!’ Then He said to the disciple ‘Behold your mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his own household”.

Particularly interesting are the William Morris textile designs that pop up unexpectedly: Jesus’s loincloth in The Crucifixion window is more or less exactly Morris’s famous Willow Boughs design.

Some of the details of the superb craftsmanship are only apparent in close-up: for example, the feet of the Apostles, complete with individual toenails in The Ascension window, or the wonderful leggings and chain-mail bindings of the centurion on the far right of The Crucifixion window.

The use of silver stain, a technique of adding a mixture of silver compounds and firing, on the little windows and the crenellations of the buildings, adds to the powerful 3D effect of the image.

The top of the cross reaches into the floor of Heaven itself, depicted here as rich blue, patterned with circles, matching the floor where Christ stands in the Ascension image. In the distance a broad sky merges different shades of blue, above the crenellated towers of the walls of Jerusalem.  Little yellow windows glow in the brown walls, the emanating lights indicating that people in Jerusalem were carrying on with their daily lives, whilst the crucifixion takes place outside the city walls.  

Christ’s head is turned sideways and a narrow green crown of twisting thorns encircles his brown, shoulder length hair.  His solemn, dignified face has a short brown beard, his eyes are looking down to those at the foot of the cross. A glowing white halo frames his head, and in that halo are faint pale blue lines and the three arms of a cross symbol used in Byzantine Icons of Christ.

Christ’s bare torso is robustly muscled; the pieces of glass depicting his chest appear to be wrongly arranged with mismatching anatomical shapes and shades of colour. This disarray and dissonance suggests the artist is powerfully representing the man’s anguish as his beaten, nailed body, carries the burden of the sins of the world.  He wears a white loincloth decorated with delicate William Morris designed floral patterns. His arms are stretched along the crossbeam; small marks show on the palms of his hands where the nails have been driven in.

Clusters of tall red banners stretch across the background, framing Christ, and a crowd of faces gathered at the foot of the cross look upwards. On the far right a helmeted soldier in a red cloak, aims a tall spear towards Jesus’s side, in a further reference to St. John’s Gospel.

At the foot of the cross a mass of faces tilted up to the figure of Christ, stretches into the background, among the banners. Their darker skin tones representing the Middle Eastern population. In the foreground on the left, three grieving women cluster close on the rocky ground around the base of the cross.  Two have their heads veiled in white; one wears a navy robe, the second a rose-coloured robe; the other is in crimson; they reach tender hands to Mary, Jesus’s mother.  She stands closest to the cross, just below Christ’s nailed feet. Her distinctive blue robe covers her head and drapes above her white dress.  Her clasped hands lift her face to gaze up at her son.

The devastated Mary Magdalene, one of Christ’s most devoted followers, who was erroneously identified in the Middle Ages as a penitent prostitute, originating a long-accepted tradition, has fallen to her knees at the foot of the cross, her face buried in her hands as she weeps.  She is dressed in red; the colour, and the curve of her bowed back give her an immediacy in contrast to the stillness of those standing around her. A golden halo frames her head.

Jesus’s disciple John stands with Mary on the right, at the foot of the cross; John’s scarlet cloak drapes in folds around his green robe. His brown hair falls to his shoulders, under a green halo that matches his robe. His smooth, youthful face is lifted up to Jesus, his hands clasped at his chest.