If you missed the exhibition of Henry Thomas Bosdet’s drawings, known as catoons, at St Martin’s Church last December, The Glass Rainbow Trust will be presenting another exhibition at St Mary’s Church from Tuesday 14 May to Sunday 19 May, displaying for the first time in public six cartoons used as templates for his three windows that grace that church.
Henry Thomas Bosdet, one of the Island’s foremost artists and craftsmen, was celebrated during his lifetime as a complete artist, as he designed, painted and oversaw the production of his stained glass windows. A master draftsman, known also for his life studies and as a teacher at The Royal Academy of Arts, Bosdet’s cartoons are outstanding works of art in their own right.
His three windows at St Mary’s Church all relate to the story of the birth of Jesus Christ depicting respectively: The Angels appearing to the Shepherds, The Adoration of the Magi and The Presentation in the Temple, and were commissioned by members of the St Mary branch of the Collas family of La Frontière. The windows are located alongside each other on the south wall of the chancel and nave, optimising the myriad plays of sunlight through the coloured glass and into the church.
As well as being able to appreciate the artistry of the drawings at close quarters, one can compare the finished window with its cartoon displayed beneath.
Manuscript notes made in the margins of the cartoons made by the artist have also been carefully preserved, illustrating their function as working drawings.
The conservation work has been carried out by Lisa Oxenden-Wray of Baudains Art Conservation, and the framing by Carlo Zen of Framing & Arts, New St, and by Michael Bourke of Victoria Art Gallery, Victoria St. This exhibition is the second of three exhibitions of Bosdet cartoons which the Trust is curating with the assistance of Jersey Heritage. The cartoons are from a collection of items given by Bosdet’s widow to La Société Jersiaise in 1934 and now in the care of Jersey Archive and the conservation and framing of the cartoons have been made possible by support from The Jersey Community Foundation with funds from the Channel Islands Lottery, for which support from all three bodies the Trust is most grateful.
For further information about Bosdet’s life and work, see www.glassrainbowtrust.org.je
