Nathaniel Westlake

Summary

Nathaniel Hubert John Westlake FSA (1833–1921) was a 19th-century British artist specialising in stained glass.[1]

Nathaniel Westlake
Born
Nathaniel Hubert John Westlake

1833 (1833)
Romsey, England
Died (aged 88)
Brighton, England
Other namesN. H. J. Westlake
OccupationArtist

Career edit

Nathaniel Westlake was born in Romsey in 1833.[2][3] He began to design for the firm of Lavers & Barraud, Ecclesiastical Designers, in 1858, and became a partner ten years later, making the firm Lavers, Barraud and Westlake, of which he became sole proprietor in 1880.[4] The firm was then known as Lavers & Westlake.

A leading designer of the Gothic Revival movement, his works include The Vision of Beatrice (1864), commissioned for an exhibition of stained glass held at the South Kensington Museum (renamed the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1899).[5]

In 1896, Lavers & Westlake were commissioned to reglaze two central lights in the great hall windows at Mary Datchelor Girls' School, Camberwell. The subjects were Lady Jane Grey discourses with Roger Ascham and By Industry and Perseverance, symbolising the importance of female endeavour in higher education. Other windows included On the way to Chapel, Physical Exercise, The Kindergarten and The Classroom. The windows were removed from the school in 2010 after it was converted into a series of apartments.[6]

Westlake published under the name of "Nat Hubert John Westlake".[7] He contributed an article on mosaics to the Catholic Encyclopedia.[3]

He died in Brighton on 8 May 1921.[8]

Works edit

Stained glass edit

 
Lavers and Westlake signature from a window in Christ Church, Reading dated 1902

Paintings edit

Books edit

  • A souvenir of the exhibition of Christian art, held at Mechlin, in September, mdccclxiv, [1864] in a series of sketches, with descriptive letterpress (1866)
  • Via Crucis, the way of the Cross in fourteen stations [plates]. (1876)
  • A History of Design in Painted Glass, Volume 1 (1881)
  • A History of Design in Painted Glass. Four volumes (1891–1894)
  • An elementary history of design in mural painting principally during the Christian era (1901)
  • History of Design in Mural Painting from the Earliest Times to the Twelfth Century: From the second until the twelfth centuries AD In two volumes. (1905) J. Parker, London[19]
  • The dance: historic illustrations of dancing from 3300 B.C. to 1911 A.D., by an antiquary. (1911)

Gallery edit

Plaque edit

There is a plaque on 20 Endell Street, which was Westlake's home during the 1880s, next to the offices of Lavers and Barraud.[20]

References edit

  1. ^ Joyce Little, Stained Glass Marks and Monograms (London: National Association of Decorative and Fine Art Societies, 2002), p. 77.
  2. ^ "Westlake, Nathaniel Hubert John". Benezit Dictionary of Artists. 2011. doi:10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.B00196344. ISBN 978-0-19-977378-7. Retrieved 8 October 2021 – via Oxford Art Online.
  3. ^ a b The Catholic Encyclopedia and its Makers. The Encyclopedia Press. 1917. p. 185. Retrieved 8 October 2021 – via archive.org.
  4. ^ Gordon Campbell (ed.), Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts, vol. 1 (Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 21.
  5. ^ Victoria and Albert Museum Featured Glass Panels: The Vision of Beatrice
  6. ^ a b Martin Harrison FSA Nathaniel Westlake and the Stained Glass of Mary Datchelor Girls' School. Published by the Clothworkers' Company, The Dorset Press, Dorchester England 2010
  7. ^ Google Books link to one of his books
  8. ^ "Catholic Artist Dead". The Advocate. 28 July 1921. p. 7. Retrieved 8 October 2021 – via NewspaperArchive.
  9. ^ Nikolaus Pevsner, Isle of Wight, edited by David W. Lloyd (Yale University Press, 2006), p. 53.
  10. ^ Hawke's Bay Herald, 28 January 1890
  11. ^ Christopher Wright; Catherine May Gordon; Mary Peskett Smith (2006). British and Irish paintings in public collections: an index of British and Irish oil paintings by artists born before 1870 in public and institutional collections in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Yale University Press. pp. 864–. ISBN 978-0-300-11730-1. Retrieved 19 September 2011.
  12. ^ "The Gordon Window in Booloominbah". University of New england. Archived from the original on 6 March 2011.
  13. ^ "The Sacred Heart, Hove" (PDF). English Heritage Review of Diocesan Churches 2005. English Heritage. 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 February 2012. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
  14. ^ "Lavers & Barraud, and N. H. J. Westlake (1833-1921)". Victorian Web.
  15. ^ "The Church Windows". www.christchurchreading.org.uk. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  16. ^ Valerie Lowe, "Guidebook - The Church of St. Michael and All Angels, Ledbury" (2016)
  17. ^ Banerjee, Jacqueline (4 July 2015). "Wall Paintings in St Mary Magdalene Church, Enfield, by Nathaniel Westlake". Victorian Web.
  18. ^ "THE WAR IN THE EAST". The Standard (London, England). No. 22011. 18 January 1895. p. 5. Retrieved 1 January 2022 – via British Library Newspapers.
  19. ^ ISBN 9781130808612, 4 March 2012 reprint (Lightning Source UK) and ASIN: B001QW3UIU (1905 edition)
  20. ^ "Nathaniel Westlake (1833–1921)". The Seven Dials Trust.

External links edit

  • St Mary's Church, Great Shefford
  • The Vision of Beatrice, Victoria and Albert Museum
  • The Church at Ephesus, Cardiff Castle
  • St Barnabas, St Edward the Confessor and St Mary Magdalene of Florence, Church of St George, Reynoldston
  • Triptych, St Paulinus Church, Crayford