Left: Whole window. Right: The Angel with the Three Shepherds. [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
The Angel brings tidings of joy to the shepherds in the field; the Presentation in the Temple, with a closer view of the shepherds on the right, by John Hardman & Co. This is another south aisle window showing the early events recorded in the New Testament. It was installed in 1869-70 in Alexander Ross's Inverness Cathedral, dedicated to St Andrew, Inverness-shire, Scotland. Having started with the Annunciation, here Hardman shows the shepherds looking up in surprise at the angel's "glad tidings," delivered from the night sky with a crescent moon and stars. Some of their lambs look up too. There is no nativity scene: Mary and Joseph are shown in the next light taking their infant to be presented at the Temple, where Simeon gazes at him tenderly. Hardman's scheme will follow Jesus's life through these early days to the Crucifixion in the apse, the Ascension in the North Transept window and the Last Judgement in the West Window. Light shines here through the "bright colours" that John Gifford remarks upon, casting a beautiful pattern on the side of the window (189), and giving some idea of the changing effects of stained glass when not just seen through a lens.
Photographs by Colin Price, reproduced here by kind permission of the cathedral; text and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee. You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.
Related Material
Bibliography
Gifford, John. Highland and Islands. The Buildings of Scotland. London: Penguin, 1992.
"Inverness, Ardross Street, Cathedral Church of St Andrew." British Listed Buildings. Web. 11 January 2018.
"A Tour of the Cathedral." United Diocese of Moray, Ross and Caithness. Web. 11 January 2018.
11 January 2018