ADVENT CALENDAR DAY 20This large stained-glass window featuring Mary holding the Christ Child is in

ADVENT CALENDAR DAY 20

This large stained-glass window featuring Mary holding the Christ Child is in the west wall of Glencairn’s Great Hall. Glencairn Museum, Bryn Athyn, PA.

This large stained-glass window featuring Mary holding the Christ Child is one of nine lancet windows in Glencairn’s Great Hall. Six of the windows, including this one, are based on medieval originals in Chartres Cathedral (in the town of Chartres, some 60 miles southwest of Paris). These windows were reproduced in the 1930s by the Bryn Athyn stained-glass studio and glassworks.  

Although based on a medieval original, Raymond Pitcairn reinterpreted the subject of this window. The original version, located in the central lancet beneath the north rose window at Chartres, depicts Saint Anne holding her daughter, the infant Mary. The Glencairn version was altered to depict Mary holding the infant Jesus. 

Every day, from December 1 through December 25, a new work of Nativity art from the Glencairn Museum collection will appear on the home page of our Advent calendar (Follow the Star: A 2021 Advent Calendar). To receive these in your newsfeed, follow our social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr).