Late Victorian stained-glass panels in the Booth Museum of Natural History, Brighton. On the left is a flamingo, and on the right an ibis. According to the museum's information board, these lovely examples of secular stained glass are thought to date from about 1890, and to have originally been installed in commercial premises to hide "an unsightly view across roofscapes and service wells." They might have been the work of A. W. Loomes, since the local (Hove) stained-glass firm, Cox and Barnard, which carried on the business later, have descriptions of similar designs in their records. Whatever the panels' genesis, it is interesting to see such exotic scenes being produced for decorative purposes outside both ecclesiastical and domestic settings. Their present situation is absolutely ideal. As the board says, the depictions of the birds amid other wildlife and natural scenery — including small birds, winged insects, bulrushes and irises — are perfect for the Booth Museum, which was originally founded in 1874 to display Edward Booth's collection of stuffed birds, and has all sorts of other natural history treasures as well.

Photographs and text by Jacqueline Banerjee. The photographs are reproduced here by kind permission of the museum, with thanks to the Visitors' Service Officer there. 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 it in a print one. [Click on the images for larger pictures.]

Related Material

Sources

"Architects and Artists—C." Sussex Parish Churches. Web. 20 October 2015.

The Booth Museum of Natural History, Brighton. Booklet available at the museum.


created 20 October 2015