Facial Recognition

Horribly grey and wet today. After a very muddy walk with the spaniel I took myself off to the Church of St Peter and St Paul at Shiplake to photograph the five Medieval stained glass windows. The glass is late 15th century and came from the former abbey of Saint Bertin near Saint Omer in France. Saint Bertin was a Benedictine monastery until its closure during the French revolution. It was demolished in the 1830s and its glass sold off to a visiting vicar from Henley who subsequently gave it to his friend the vicar of Shiplake where it was re-set into the church windows by Thomas Willement. Three of the five windows include remarkable portraits each set within a circle of blue glass. They are believed to be the portraits of monks and others associated with the monastery. I took photographs of each of the portraits then assembled them together in this matrix. I think they are wonderfully expressive and would have been remarkable at the time for being in a three-quarter pose rather than the customary profile.