Left: Whole window, and dedication. Right: Detail of St Peter, and the rural background.
The Charge to Peter ("Feed My Sheep"). This is the second window in the north aisle of Christ Church, Streatham, London SW2, a church which pioneered the use of polychromy in the early 1840s, and had attracted a good deal of attention for that at the time. Like the neighbouring window in this aisle, it was designed by Walter Crane and installed in 1891, in memory of the Reverend Woodstock Raven, the first vicar of the church, from 1841-1887.
Nothing could be more appropriate for a vicar than a depiction of this New Testament episode in John 21, 15-25. In Crane's depiction of it, there is a shepherd boy sitting in the background at the right, and several sheep (as well as cattle, and ripened corn) around the main figures. The presence of the Agnus Dei in Jesus's staff reminds us that Jesus himself was said to be a Lamb of God, while the staff also reminds us of the crozier, and the role played by churchmen such as the one commemorated here.
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Photographs by John Salmon, text and formatting by Landow and 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. Click on the images to enlarge them.
Bibliography
Eberhard, Robert, Stained Glass Windows at Christ Church, Streatham, Inner London. Church Stained Glass Windows. Web. 22 August 2020.
Created 23 August 2020