The Celtic Revival marked an increasing awareness in a section of the Irish population of the cultural and political differences between Ireland and England following the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829.
Popularisation of Celtic Designs: The Tara Brooch and George Petrie
The reintroduction of Celtic designs inspired by eighth and ninth century artwork into the decoration of monumental gravestone Celtic crosses in the late nineteenth century was catalysed by the desire for metalwork reproductions of the Tara Brooch which had been discovered in 1850. A key figure in popularising interest in Celtic icons and art was George Petrie (1790-1866) who as a collector, artist, and scholar preserved and acquired many artifacts through the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) in which he was a leading figure. Through his paintings, he also drew attention to the ruins of Irish monasteries and round towers engendering a sense of national loss due to centuries of economic and social mismanagement by the British in what was referred to as a ‘cultivation of remembrance’ by Joep Leerssen in Remembrance and Imagination (1996).
Celtic Revivalism, Devotional Revolution, and Earley & Powells
In the latter half of the 1800s Celtic revivalism coexisted with the devotional revolution in Ireland when a high number of Catholic churches were being built and refurbished. Celtic motifs reinforced by the ongoing rise of nationalism became part of the required approved imagery that suited Roman Catholic orthodoxy. This was reflected in the commissions being offered to businesses such as Earley studios. Earley & Powells had been established in Dublin in 1864 as a branch of Hardman & Sons, a Birmingham (England) firm producing A. W. Pugin’s designs in stained glass, marblework and church decoration.
Daniel O’Connell’s Tomb: An Early Example of Celtic Designs
One of their commissions was to design and construct the tomb in Glasnevin cemetery, Dublin, for Daniel O’Connell in 1869. The design incorporated both lacework and the more complex knotwork patterns which were carved on the Romanesque pillars of the sarcophagus. These patterns were very typical of the basic Celtic designs used by carvers, metalworkers, and calligraphers alike and were based on agreed mathematical formulae which used templates for the basic design.
Celtic Motifs in Earley Stained Glass and National Identity
These carved stonework designs spilled over into stained glass designs in Earley studios encouraged by a new consciousness of Gaelic heritage which included traditional prayers, devotional songs, and religious legends, which was supported by the clergy. Windows by Earley studios featured Celtic motifs for over twenty years with the depiction of St Patrick in St. Nicholas of Myra in Francis Street, Dublin (dated 1902) providing a representative example.
These windows span a time of Celtic revivalism, nationalistic fervour, the wars of independence, the Anglo-Irish treaty of 1921 and the Civil War which followed. A more subtle expression of Celtic fervour persisted into windows of the 1930s where, for example, a round tower is incorporated into the lower left corner of the four-light window depicting ‘The Sacred Heart before Sr. Margaret Mary Alacoque’ from St. Brendan’s Church in Eyrecourt, Co. Galway. This was a popular motif for the 1932 Eucharistic Congress as it consolidated ‘the connection between Catholicism and Irish identity’.
The Arts and Crafts Movement’s Challenge to Stained Glass Production
The Arts and Crafts Movement challenged Earley & Co. in a more significant manner than the Celtic revival which had simply been incorporated into their conservative house style by adding decorative embellishments. It proposed a change from the stained glass production line that had been the tradition of English and German firms where there was little place for originality or individuality of design. The English companies such as Clayton & Bell, Heaton, Butler & Bayne and James Powell & Sons were similar to Mayer of Munich where, in the 1880s large workforces were employed with teams of designers, draughtsmen, and painters, supported by glaziers and other fabrication workers.
Arts and Crafts Principles and William Morris
The Arts and Crafts movement in Britain had started in the mid 1800s as a backlash against industrialization and mass production which led to changes in stained glass design to one that was very different from the previous Victorian product. One of its ‘inspirational figureheads’ was William Morris whose business, Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. produced stained glass work in the 1860s using the Medieval principles which revolved around the use of small pieces of glass rather than the use of large painted glass panels. In 1862, there were twelve employees producing designs for stained glass amongst whom were Ford Maddox Brown, Phillip Webb, and Edward Burne-Jones. An example of a very typical three-light window designed by Byrne-Jones and William Morris, made in the London studio, is along the North nave wall of Trinity Church in Boston USA.
Debate on Imported Stained Glass Quality in Ireland
In order to understand the interest caused by the Arts and Crafts principles in the world of Irish stained glass, one must set it in the context of a more long-standing debate about the variable quality and repetitive nature of much of the imported stained glass into Ireland from England and Germany in the late 1800s. This criticism had a background of the concerns regarding importation of foreign goods in general, but which was now focussing on the commissioning of church furnishings. However, supporting Irish-made goods became only part of the argument against importing stained glass windows, with the main discussions and critiques becoming more concerned with aesthetics, in what was perceived as a ‘complete decay of art in the churches’.
Critics of Irish Art
The main drivers of this view were the writer and cultural activist Edward Martyn (1859-1923) and the writer Robert Elliott (1863-1910) whose book Art and Ireland is full of extreme opinions. An example of the way he presented his views can be seen while he discusses ‘The Gothic Revival’ in church architecture and states that ‘Puginism…ran a fairly prosperous course. It is a pity; but it did.’ ‘Like everything else that sickens in England, it came over here to expire’. His ire falls on architects in general when he states, ‘your everyday architect cares little about quality in anything … and his soul is warped early in his career’. The author quotes Elliott’s extreme views above as they make us exercise some caution in interpreting his sustained attack on stained glass in Ireland which is often quoted as being an inspiration for Martyn’s patronage which led to the formation of ‘An Túr Gloine’ (The Tower of Glass) studio.
Elliott also coined the phrase ‘Munichised Dublin’, which refers to the imported Mayer of Munich windows all of which he condemned. There is no doubt that the output of Mayer’s was uneven in both draughtsmanship and execution but dismissing its complete body of work seems harsh by any aesthetic standard.
Two further critics of the state of art in Ireland in the late 1800s and early 1900s were Edward Martyn (mentioned above) and George Moore (1852-1933). Both are recorded as being ‘of Anglo-Irish stock’ and both were descendants of landlord families. In his evidence before the Royal Commission of Art in Ireland in 1906, Moore claimed that ‘All modern stained glass is so utterly bad and so beastly ugly, that it is simply throwing away money trying to improve it – in fact, the sooner it dies the better’.
In the preface for Elliott’s book, Martyn refers to a ‘complete decay of art in the churches’ mainly due to the availability of cheap imitations enabled by the ‘vulgarity of the intellect’ of the new middle classes. But perhaps it is best to quote in full the following extract, as it sums up Martyn’s interpretation of the core of Elliott’s book: ‘The admirable book, Art and Ireland, to which I gladly write this Preface, has for its chief theme the saving of modern church design and ornament from the crude paw of the tradesman, and their restoration, as in the olden time, to the delicate hand of the artist’. He concluded his preface stating that ecclesiastical art was ‘now debased by the trade architect, the trade sculptor, the trade decorator, and the stained glass tradesman to be an object of pity and horror to persons of artistic taste’.
While the Celtic Revival added decorative elements, the Arts and Crafts Movement presented a more fundamental challenge to production methods. Building on this foundation, the second part of this article will examine the Arts and Crafts influence on Earley & Co. in greater depth, analyzing their artistic approach and key commissions during the twentieth century, as they navigated tradition and innovation in the creation of Irish devotional stained glass.
¹ M. Earley (2023): ‘Devotion and Tradition in Stained Glass in Twentieth Century Ireland: Earley & Co. 1903-1953’ : PhD thesis, National College of Art and Design, Ireland.
² J. Sheehy (1980): The Rediscovery of Ireland’s Past: The Celtic Revival 1830-1930: UK, Thames and Hudson.
³ V. Kreilkamp (2016): ‘Introduction’: In: V. Kreilkamp (ed.): The Arts and Crafts Movement-Making it Irish: USA, McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College: University of Chicago Press.
⁴ J. Leerssen (1996): Remembrance and Imagination: Patterns in the Historical and the Historical and Literary Representation of Ireland in the 19th Century: Cork, Cork University Press.
⁵ G. Bain (1977): Celtic Art-the Methods of Construction. London, Constable: pp.15-19.
⁶ R. Kennedy (2021): Art and the Nation State: UK, Liverpool University Press: pp.50-51.
⁷ P. Cormack (2015): Arts and Crafts: Stained Glass: New Haven, and London, Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art by Yale University Press: p.9.
⁸ C. and P. Fiell (2017): Morris: Koln, Taschen: pp.48-51.
⁹ E. Martyn (1906): ‘Preface’: In: R. Elliott: Art and Ireland: Dublin, Sealy, Bryers & Walker.p.v-x.
¹⁰ R. Elliott (1906): Art and Ireland: Dublin, Sealy, Bryers & Walker. p.49-50.
¹¹ N. G. Bowe (1985): ‘The Arts and Crafts Society of Ireland (1894-1925) with Particular Reference to Harry Clarke.’ The Journal of the Decorative Arts Society 1850 – the Present, no. 9 (1985): pp.29-40.
¹² N. G. Bowe, D. Caron and M.Wynne (2021): Gazetteer of Stained Glass: Newbridge, Irish Academic Press: p.7.