An Evie Hone Window or Two

Last week I mentioned visiting old haunts in Highgate (Highgate Revisited). The primary purpose of my return was to go to St Michael’s which has perhaps Evie Hone’s third best window.

Evie Hone, John Piper and others must have guiltily felt a degree of gratitude to the Luftwaffe after the war. Some stained glass windows were taken down at the beginning of the war and put into storage but many were destroyed, including those at Eton and St Michael’s. The latter was her last major commission completed in 1954, the year before she died. It is smaller than the East window at Eton but has the same vibrant colours and detailed characterisation.

The main scene is of the Last Supper. Hone’s characterisation of the Apostles did not meet with the approval of one parishioner in 1954 – “I have never seen such a bunch of pirates”. In the foreground Christ washes Peter’s feet and in the right-hand corner Judas makes off with his money bag. At first sight it seemed to me he was holding a wine jug and I thought he was going out to get a refill. The tracery at the top of the window has numerous symbols of the Passion and of the Church.

The church itself is the work of Lewis Vulliamy and was built by Thomas Cubitt. It is in the Gothic Revival style and opened in 1832. It only took eleven months to build. Cubitt could teach modern builders a thing or two. I photographed this model of the church while I was there. When Vuilliamy’s drawing was exhibited at the Royal Academy one reviewer noted “the spire of this church is a chaste and elegant design”. Most visitors come to see a memorial to Samuel Taylor Coleridge who is buried in the crypt.

The Church of the Immaculate Conception in Farm Street, Mayfair, took the precaution of storing their East window at the outbreak of war. However, Evie Hone was commissioned to replace three windows at the west end of the church. One, above the door, is a magnificent rose window done traditionally. The two side windows are more characteristic of her work. Here is one of them depicting the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The Feast of the Assumption on 15th August used to catch my colleagues in the City unawares. Many Catholic parts of Germany and Switzerland would be on holiday. I tended to remember it because it was a holiday for the farm workers at Barmeath. Should you want to see Hone’s work without trekking to Highgate, Farm Street is a good place to start. Afterwards you might care to leave by the Mount Street door and cross the road to the Connaught for an expensive cocktail.

Or if you’d like to know more about Evie Hone, who is my grandmother’s cousin, read My Four Green Fields.