Christopher Whall (1849-1924)

Designer and maker of stained glass windows, and pioneer of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Christopher Whitworth Whall was the son of a clergyman and grew up in Thurning, Huntingdonshire. He studied painting at the Royal Academy Schools in London under Frederick Leighton. He designed for James Powell & Sons in the 1880s but was frustrated by the lack of supervision designers had over the execution of their windows. As a result, in the later 1880s Whall took it upon himself to learn all of the processes involved in the manufacture of stained glass, setting up his own studio and working with other smaller studios.

In the field of stained glass he had a profound effect as a practitioner, teacher (at the Central School of Arts and Crafts, and later the Royal College of Art, in London) and writer (his book Stained Glass Work, published in 1905, remains profoundly influential to this day). His pupils and assistants included many of the most talented and influential stained glass artists of the Arts and Crafts Movement, including his daughter Veronica Whall, who continued the work of his studio as Whall & Whall Ltd.

Mapping Sculpture entry
Wikipedia entry

Further reading

Peter Cormack, Arts and Crafts Stained Glass (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2015).

Peter Cormack, Arts and Crafts Stained Glass (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2015), pp. 27–47, 75–111, 149–170 and further references.

Christopher Whall, Stained Glass Work: A text book for students and workers in glass (Bristol: M & J Venables, 1999).

Peter Cormack, The Stained Glass Work of Christopher Whall 1849–1924 'Aglow with Brave Resplendent Colour' (Boston: Charles J. Connick Stained Glass Foundation and Trustees of Boston Publie Library, 1999).

Martin Harrison, Victorian Stained Glass (London: 1980), pp. 64–9.

Peter Cormack, 'Whall, Christopher Whitworth (1849–1924)' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007 (online edition)).

Search for further information about Christopher Whall on Google

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	St Christopher Window firm/studio: James Powell & Sons designer: Christopher Whall 1889 Church of St Seiriol, Penmaenmawr, Conwy north wall of the Lady Chapel
	Christ with Children firm/studio: James Powell & Sons artist: Christopher Whall 1893 Church of St Cynfarch and St Mary, Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd, Denbighshire south wall of the south nave
	St Michael and St George artist: Christopher Whall about 1914 Church of All Saints, Glasbury, Powys north wall of the nave
	War Memorial Window artist: Christopher Whall about 1917 Church of St John the Baptist, Cardiff south wall

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View this record on the Stained Glass in Wales Catalogue