Marc Chagall’s stained glass window in All Saints' Church in Tudeley, Kent, England
All Saints’ Tudeley is the only church in the world to have all its twelve windows decorated by the great Russian artist Marc Chagall In September 1963 Sarah Venetia d'Avigdor-Goldsmid, eldest daughter of Sir Henry and Lady d'Avigdor-Goldsmid, was tragically drowned in a sailing accident off the coast of Rye. In her memory her family and friends subscribed to the restoration of the interior of Tudeley church, and Marc Chagall was commissioned to design an east window in her memory. Lady d'Avigdor-Goldsmid and Sarah were both enraptured at the Paris Chagall exhibition in the summer of 1961 by the windows for the synagogue of the Hadassah Medical Centre in Jerusalem that Chagall had designed and which Charles Marq of Atelier Jaques Simon of Reims had translated into stained glass. The east window at Tudeley was restored to an earlier Norman shape to take the glass Chagall designed. It depicts in a series of moving cameos the young girl drowned in the dark swirling waters of the sea. to the left her mother is shown cradling her two children, while a kneeling figure at the lower right expresses the grief of family and friends. From the turmoil of the sea a ladder ascends to the figure of Christ. To the left of Christ there is an angel waiting as though to herald the arrival of the new young souls. One of Sarah's companions can be seen at the top of the ladder, while at the foot a girl is preparing to mount it. Chagall insisted that though the figure of Christ is on the cross, it is not a figure of a suffering Christ but rather the young man, whose presence attracts young people and who stands for the healing power of love. When asked the symbolism of the red horse Chagall simply replied that "Horses are for happiness. Everyone must choose the symbolism for themselves. Judge me by my form and colour".
Size: 3968px × 5331px
Location: All Saints' Church, Tudeley, Kent, England, UK
Photo credit: © parkerphotography / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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