ANCESTORS OF CHRIST WINDOWS AT CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL

86 near life-size figures of the male ancestors of Christ once looked down on the choir and eastern extension of the medieval cathedral and priory church of Canterbury. Made of stained glass, the ancestors of Christ windows illuminated liturgical areas all year round. Dating from the 12th-century, the surviving windows from the series are among the oldest panels of stained glass in England. Canterbury Cathedral's 'Ancestors of Christ' windows from the 12th century depict the male ancestors of Jesus Christ as they were listed in the Gospel of Luke, from Adam to Christ. The Old Testament patriarchs have inspired reverence and admiration in person for hundreds of years and, in this book, readers can admire photos of them while also learning the original context, iconographic program and the windows' stylistic development. The 86 works of art were created in 1178 and not all of them remain, but the 43 still in place include images of Naasson, who was head of the tribe of Judah, and Ezekias, who was a king of Judah but fell ill when Jerusalem was besieged by the Assyrian king, to the figures of Moses and Jethro with Moses seated in a throne listening to his father-in-law urging him to appoint officers to help him rule. Most of the figures were removed in the late 18th century and transferred to either the west windows of the nave or the southwest transept window, with 17 original borders (without their figures) remaining in the clerestory. Learn about Lamech, who represents the eighth generation since Adam and was the last figure in the 'Ancestors of Christ' sequence to be attributed to the Methuselah Master. The book admires Jared, the fifth generation since Adam, who is rendered in a confident manner sitting on a golden, backless throne with wide decorative bands around his neck and at the cuffs. Noah, the ninth generation since Adam, is depicted in his window as looking up and being animated as if in conversation, an appropriate action given that God spoke to Noah and instructed him to build the ark. The brilliance of the book includes a photograph of art, from the Great West Window at the end of the cathedral's nave which is home to the Gothic window in the west wall was thought to have been created by 1400 AD, to 'The Exodus of the Israelites' found in the north choir aisle of the cathedral which depicts Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt away from the Pharaoh. Paperback, 7.5" x 10.9", colour images, 104pp.