Left: Whole window. Right: Closer view of the two lower panels.
Zechariah's Visions. Stained glass in St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Cork, Ireland. Part of the general iconographic scheme of the stained glass windows here, these lights depict Zechariah, the crucified prophet of the Old Testament, and his visions. The lowest panel realises the scene in Zecharia 9,9: "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy King cometh unto thee! He is just and having salvation, lowly, and riding upon an ass and upon a colt, the foal of an ass." The one above shows the prophet in another vision: "I lifted up mine eyes again, and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand" for building the New Jerusalem (Zecharia 2, 1), and (at the top), he is seen in front of the fountain in the New Jerusalem: "In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness" (Zecharia 13, 1). Here, the function of the stained glass window, to impart messages of the Bible (in this case, one of hope), is well realized in key episodes from a prophet less well-known than, for example, Isaiah. [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Photographs by Robert Freidus, perspective correction, commentary, 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 or credit the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Searching for the New Jerusalem: The Iconography of St Fin Barre's Cathedral, with a Foreword by the Very Revd Nigel Dunne, Deane of Corke, and Michael Murphy, President, University College Cork, and "Searching for the New Jerusalem," an essay by Richard Wood. Cork: Lewis Glucksman Gallery and the University of Cork, 2013. See pp.30-32. [Review]
Last modified 13 November 2019