John The Baptist

1987 – Washington National Cathedral – Nave Clerestory 

This window is a stunning design.  A river of water flows down from the right lancet, enveloping Jesus and John and then travels over and up through the left lancet.  Even more striking, however, are the hundreds of small circles that form the background of the window.  Are these bubbles, rocks in the landscape, or just an abstract field of colors that made Rowan happy? As a modern artist, Rowan is again challenging us to react to the window without explaining himself.  

Dieter Goldkuhle fabricated the window.  If you look at the details you can see yellow circles within red circles and orange circles within yellow circles.  It is an amazing combination of details that together create areas of highlight and focus and bring life to the window.

Iconography

Jewels of Light says “The intense color surrounding the dove in the window’s multifoil reflect the majesty of God’s voice, the voice of a father proudly acknowledging his son.”  It says nothing about the intense color surrounding the rest of the window.   The blue is meant to be the River Jordan as well as all water that gives life to our planet.   Jesus is humbly kneeling before John to get baptized in the lower portions of the right lancets. In the upper portion of the center-right lancet, a crowd of worshipers is waving to John who is preaching to them from the center-left lancet.

Year Completed

1987

Artists

Rowan LeCompte 

Fabricator

Dieter Goldkuhle

Location In Building

North Clerestory Bay 8