A set of four tracery designs for Albion Congregational Church, Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire

The Albion Congregational Church, designed by John Brooke (1853-1914) was a new one and therefore posed no problem for William Morris, who, because of his campaign against the indiscriminate restoration of old buildings (resulting in the creation of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings) in 1877, had vowed to execute no more windows for buildings which could be considered 'monuments of ancient art'. Designs by Burne-Jones for Morris and Co. for the east window of the chancery of the Albion Congregational Church, Stamford Street, Ashton-under-Lyne were begun in 1893. The upper tier included personified figures of the seven virtues and graces of the Christian character, the lower tiers depicted seven saints along with tracery of eighteen angels and the Moon and Stars. Sewter, loc.cit. suggests that the present drawings probably relate to the designs for the north transept, designs for which were executed in 1895. This window comprised five lights depicting ten figures arranged in two tiers again comprising figures of angels as tracery. The companion window in the south transept was begun a year later in 1896 also had five lights arranged in two tiers with tracery above. All the figures for the north and south transept windows were specially designed for this scheme by Burne-Jones in his later schematic style. He was paid £300 per window. Several related drawings for the project survive including the figure of St John (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford), a cartoon in the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts relates to St Paul and one was sold in these Rooms, 3 June 1994, lot 77. Five other cartoons for the tracery are in the Whitworth Art Gallery, University of Manchester, including three for the north window, see online catalogue raisonné for Burne-Jones. In 1896 Burne-Jones also designed single figures for the north and south transept clerestory windows, which comprised six windows each with two lights and tracery.