Pre-Raphaelite Stained Glass of Archangel Gabriel Blowing a Trumpet c.1880

Stained glass window in coloured glass, aligned to the Pre-Raphaelite movement (1848–1900), c.1880, depicting the Archangel Gabriel blowing a trumpet within a tall upright panel. The figure is shown full length with halo, flowing robes and red feathered wings, set against a lattice of small diamond quarries and framed by a narrow border of repeating foliage and geometric motifs.

Above the angel a scroll carries the inscription “Glory Be To Thee O Lord Most High”, reinforcing the association with resurrection and the sounding of the last trumpet. The trumpet is raised and the angel’s gaze follows its line, drawing the viewer’s eye diagonally through the composition from the lower body to the inscription and back to the feet grounded on a patterned ground. The overall effect is of a complete window light designed to read clearly at a distance while retaining fine linear detail at close view.

Pre-Raphaelite religious imagery favoured intense colour, precise drawing and medievalising costume, qualities that are all evident here in the modelling of the face, hands and drapery. Within late nineteenth-century stained glass, the panel sits within a broader revival of narrative church windows that combined scriptural subjects with decorative glazing schemes. In a present context the window can be preserved as an independent panel, or incorporated into an architectural setting as a vertical accent within a stairwell, hallway or dedicated lightbox display. The combination of scriptural subject, textual motto and carefully observed naturalistic features reflects core Pre-Raphaelite concerns with spiritual seriousness and close study of nature in design.