With the closing of the Chauncey H. Stillman Dining Hall for renovation in March of this year and the subsequent protective masking of the roundel stained glass windows there, the Library Director began a photographic inventory and then a documentary search for information on the Medieval Stained Glass at Portsmouth Abbey and School. Portsmouth is listed in the multivolume Corpus Vitrearum Checklist, entitled "Stained Glass before 1700 in American Collections". The glass at Portsmouth is primarily from two periods, the thirteenth and the sixteenth centuries. It is only one of two preparatory schools in the New England edition (I) of the Checklist, written by Dr. Madeline H. Caviness et al, the other being, the Pomfret School.
The medieval glass can be found in 14 window panels. Also some medieval glass pieces can be found to have been used in the 10 roundels created in the eighteen hundreds and now incorporated in the lobby of the dining hall.
The glass was a donation in the 1950's of John William Mackay; given in memory of his father, Clarence Hungerford Mackay from his estate Harbor Hill, Long Island, New York (now destroyed).
Previous to that the pieces had been in the collection of Henry C. Lawrence of New York. Records indicate that two (and probably four) of the panels were part of a chapel built for his medieval glass by George William Jerningham, the 8th Baron Stafford of Costessey, Norfolk, England. As a high ranking Austrian army officer, George's brother, William Charles, is credited with amassing the Costessey Collection and installing it in England during a time when they were considered out of decorative fashion. After a century and a quarter the land was sold, the chapel demolished and the glass purchased by Grosvenor Thomas of Kensington. Later some were in the galleries of Henri Daguerre and the gallery of A. Seligmann, Rey and Co. both in Paris. Thus they came to America, to Lawrence, to MacKay, and then Portsmouth Priory (Abbey).
At the time the Mackay gift was made the Abbey church, designed by Belluschi, did not yet exist but the Abbot and monks knew it was planned. The pieces were exhibited at museums until the church was finished. Among the first was the at Bush Reisinger Museum of Germanic Culture at Harvard University in 1952. Another was at an exhibit at the Mary Hutchinson Compton Gallery at MIT. Since the installed pieces are not in public areas of the church they were uninstalled from the walls and displayed for an exhibit, again at the Bush Reisinger Museum at Harvard, in 1978.
The oldest panel is The Magus also known as King or Magi, seen here, dated from 1225-1235. It is from Angers, France most likely the Cathedral of St. Maurice. It measures 21? x 9? in. without border. Boarders of glass fragments were attached to the perimeter of the original composition. It was probably part of a multi paneled Infancy of Christ cycle in the church where contemporaneous depictions and sizes still exist. It was featured in an exhibit at MIT entitled "Science and Religion".
Also very old are four panels from Cologne, Germany, thought to be from the destroyed Church of the Maccabees, with each measuring 63 ? and 20 ? in. Their date is 1505-1525. The are St. Benedict, St. Katherine of Alexandria, St. Peter with kneeling patrons and St. George of Cappadocia with kneeling patrons. They are shown here. All are brilliant and have wonderful color balance. Each is identified with their symbols, key for Saint Peter, red cross and dragon of Saint George, ring and wheel of Saint Katherine, and black Benedictine cowl over the cope and surplice of an Abbot.
Two beautiful panels, which are identified as two halves of a composition of the Annunciation, are also dated from the period of 1525-1535. These show the Blessed Virgin Mary turned slightly toward the Angel Gabriel. The white dove of the Holy Spirit, in a halo of light, hovers between them. White, yellow and pale blue permeate the scene. The architectural setting of vaults and columns gives the mood of the High Renaissance.
The oldest fragment pieces on the campus are now incorporated in roundels is a head of Christ, believed to be from Borges Cathedral, another head of Christ in the Saint Chapelle style and a few fragments of glass in the draperies. The remainder of the glass in the roundels survived until the destruction of churches during the French Revolution after which these pastiches of medieval and later glass were composed, probably in the 1800s. All the roundels are mounted in clear glass clearstories in the dining hall, three or four to a wall segment. Their diameter is either 17 ? or 23 ? inches.
These roundels, a few of which appear here, depict the life of Christ and the saints. This Saint George is slaying the dragon, symbolism associated with his life and legends. Most are Biblical scenes and are quite colorful in the deep reds and blues associated with medieval glass.
