Thomas N. Miller
Lot 8
Sarah Grace of Sunderland, a dedicated pair of stained glass lancet windows, 'To the Glory of God and in Memory of Sarah R Grace, who entered the fuller life January 7th 1928. She loved this Church and its People'. A pair of stained, painted and leaded glass lancet windows, representing two of the three theological values, Faith and Hope, two angels stand holding palm branches symbolising martyrdom, against a foliate background, within Gothic architectural borders, each consisting of a rectangular panel and an ogee panel above, 165cm by 62cm each. * Provenance : The aisle windows of Burn Park Road Methodist Church, Sunderland (known previously as Thornhill Methodist Church), built 1902-1903 by TR Millburn and JE Miller. The Millburns also built the Empire Theatre in Sunderland. The windows were designed by Atkinson Brothers of Newcastle Upon Tyne. William, Frederick and Albert Atkinson started their business at 125 New Bridge Street, Newcastle upon Tyne in 1876. William died in 1890, and the others continued in business. A large amount of their work involved memorial windows after World War One. Frederick died in 1927 and Albert sold the business to Reed Millican in the early 1930s. These panels were manufactured by Hartley Wood & Co Glass Works in Sunderland, using the Atkinson designs. CONDITION REPORT: Auctioneer's comments regarding the method of photography employed - Due to the scale of some of these windows, and the fact that they have been separated into their constituent panels since being removed from the church, it was not possible to photograph them as a complete, assembled structure. Instead, the panes of each window were photographed separately. They were placed on a window sill, allowing natural sunlight to illuminate them from behind. The surroundings of each panel were cropped out of the image, and the resulting panes of glass were superimposed onto a black background, then aligned as they would have been originally, therefore creating a realistic depiction of the complete window as it was within the church. Whilst I am happy with the overall result, it did prove difficult to replicate the overall perspective of some of the larger pieces, and separate panes could not be aligned perfectly edge-to-edge in every instance. Photographing panels at different times of day also resulted in varying levels of light, meaning some panels are slightly more illuminated than others. For additional photographs, or further comment regarding the condition of these windows, please email sam@millersauctioneers.co.uk. Images also exist of the windows prior to their removal from the church, and can be provided upon request.
