Mary, Elizabeth, and the Presentation

William Morris, with Edward Burne-Jones and Ford Madox Brown

1873

Chancel window, south-west

St. Martin's Church, Low Marple, nr Stockport

This window shows the Virgin Mary holding a flowering lily (upper left) and her cousin Elizabeth with her son, the young John the Baptist (upper right); and two scenes depicting the Presentation in the Temple below, with Simeon receiving and then holding the infant Jesus. According to the church's notes, Mary was to the design of Edward Burne-Jones, Elizabeth and John were the work of Ford Madox Brown, while the scenes below were both by Morris himself. The background in the upper parts, of roses and trees, matches that of the adjacent Annunciation window, though grapes hang on Mary's side, and there is no fruit in the other tree. There are white roses in the tracery lights.

Photograph and caption material by Michael Critchlow, who provided some information from the church notes; text and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee.

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