Jeremiah

1981 – Washington National Cathedral – Nave Clerestory 

This window was the only one of Rowan’s clerestory windows that was not fabricated in the United States.  By this time Rowan knew he was pressed for time and he farmed out much of the work on this window to the studio of Carl Edwards in London.  Jewels of Light lists the fabricators as “Carl Edwards, Caroline Edwards Benyon, and E.D Crouch.”  Who did what is not clear, but on Caroline’s current web site, there is this note about the window: “Caroline only had a post card sized sketch to work from but cartooned, cut and painted the window herself and afterwards considered her apprenticeship had been completed.”  Rowan travelled to London to check on the window’s progress.  Once it was finished, Mel Greenland’s studio did the installation in the cathedral.

Iconography

In this window, the anguished prophet Jeremiah is wrapped in chains of green, symbolizing money and the unhealthy hold it has on us.  Jewels of Light tells us that “Jeremiah preached repentance and the need of reform to a rich, indifferent society in a city beneath his feet.”  Jeremiah’s faithful scribe and disciple, Baruch, is in the far-left lancet.  The story is that Baruch wrote down the first two editions of Jeremiah’s prophecies. The right lancet features the prophet Nahum, who spoke out against Ninevah, the capital of the Assyrian Empire. While it is vague, the tall center-right lancet seems full of vices.  There are dice and bottles which seem to suggest an unhealthy lifestyle that Jeremiah vainly preached against.  Across the bottom of all the lancets are more symbols of evils that prophets derided.   The top multifoil depicts an almond tree, a ray of hope in this otherwise gloomy story.

Year Completed

1981

Artists

Rowan LeCompte

Fabricator

Carl Edwards, Caroline Edwards Banyon, and E.D. Crouch

Installer

Mellville Greenland Studios

Location In Building

South Clerestory Bay 5