Uncovering the story of a Stained Glass Window in St Martin's Church

This window in the Parish Church of St Martin, Jersey, really had me stumped. Most of the stained glass windows in Jersey's churches depict scenes from the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) or the Gospels. One exception is the Pentecost window in St John's Church, but that is modern, and very obvious.

Here we have a holy figure with a beard, making a strange gesture of his hands that is not a blessing. Who is he, and who are the people listening, especially the man and woman in the foreground on the left?

In all the many histories of St Martin's Church - including the little leaflet at the Church - there is no detail on this window. But it is mentioned. I found it eventually references in an article by R G Warton which was first published in the 1915 Annual Bulletin of the Société Jersiaise.

"St Paul preaching at Athens", presented by churchwardens past and present, bearing the inscription 'Don des Surveillants sous-nommes 1750-1890 ', with a list of 23 donors. It occupies the south side of the church."

This is the only window in the church which fits this story of St Paul. It doesn't, unfortunately, tell us who produced the window but it is not a Bosdet window.

There are many versions in paintings and stained glass, but like this one many have the same strange gesture of the hands, as seen in this tapestry by Raphael.



This is I think the earliest depiction, and later depictions, like that in St Martin's Church, draw on Raphael. The tapestry is held in the Vatican Museum. Depictions of Peter and Paul from the stories in the Book of Acts seem quite widespread in Rome, no doubt because those were its founding Apostles.

Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (March 28 or April 6, 1483 – April 6, 1520), known as Raphael was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance.

In the tapestry, and in our stained glass, Paul is depicted with raised arms as he preaches on God and the Altar to the Unknown God.. His audience is the assembled court of Athens, the Areopagus. The group of onlookers are shown in various stages of excitement as they listen to the teachings of the Apostle. This is particularly noticeable in the seated figures in the centre of the composition as they point and turn to discuss the virtues of Paul's message.

In the background, with its back to the Apostle, is a statue of Mars standing in front of a circular temple. On the lower left of the cartoon, nearest the viewer, are the converts Dionysius and Damaris who kneel in wonder as they are enlightened by Paul's words.



Curiously a sketch or "cartoon" by Raphael has the scene in a mirror image with Paul on the left! The Raphael "cartoons" are designs for tapestries and were commissioned from Raphael by Pope Leo X (1513-21) in 1515.

The tapestries were intended to hang in the Sistine Chapel in Rome, built by one of Leo's predecessors Pope Sixtus IV (1471-84). The Chapel was primarily intended for the use of the Pope and the Papal chapel, the body of clergy and Laity immediately surrounding him. The decoration of the chapel under Sixtus dealt largely with the theme of the Pope's authority. The tapestries continued this theme, illustrating scenes from the lives of St. Peter and St. Paul who were seen as the founders of the Christian Church, and the sources of the Pope's authority and power.

Below are some other examples of stained glass, all with a "family resemblance" to Raphael.