Harry Clarke was an Irish stained-glass artist and a book illustrator.
Harry took an apprenticeship in his father’s church decoration & stained glass business where he learned about many styles of art. He also attended evening classes in Dublin’s Metropolitan College of Art and Design.
Harry travelled Europe and visited many of the great cathedrals to see their beautiful stained glass windows and he created over 130 stained glass windows himself.
Harry took an apprenticeship in his father’s church decoration & stained glass business where he learned about many styles of art. He also attended evening classes in Dublin’s Metropolitan College of Art and Design.
Harry travelled Europe and visited many of the great cathedrals to see their beautiful stained glass windows and he created over 130 stained glass windows himself.
One of his most magnificent stained glass windows is ‘The Eve of St Agnes’, which is on display in the Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin. It has 14 panels and the whole process took about a year to complete. It is a romantic tale with a happy ending for the two lovers (based on the poem ‘The Eve of St Agnes’ by John Keats).
The Eve of St Agnes by Harry Clarke (in Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin)
There are Harry Clarke windows in Co Wicklow too.
The nearest to us (as far as I know to date ie: Dec 2020), are in St Brigid’s Church, "Enerily and Kilbride”, near Arklow.
Here is one of those windows:
Jesus Blesses the Children: a window in St Brigid’s Church in "Enerily and Kilbride”, near Arklow Co Wicklow. (Gloine Stained Glass in the Church of Ireland)
Clarke windows in Bewley's Cafe on Grafton Street
(from Bewley’s Café Facebook page)
(from Bewley’s Café Facebook page)