Sheldon Window

Photo – Peter Swanson

The Sheldon Window

1957 – The Little Sanctuary, Saint Albans School, Washington, DC

This is an early large, mysterious, and dark window in this small chapel. This chapel was originally used as a storage shed for cathedral construction: The large space on the north end that this window now fills was used for bringing large items like the grand pulpit into and out of storage, and light poured in everywhere. The school’s brochure says Rowan and Irene intentionally made this window very dark but later felt it was too dark, “In 1993, LeCompte commented that at the time the Sheldon window was designed, it was the only large window in the Little Sanctuary. It therefore needed to be dark so as not to overwhelm the room. In 1993 he commented, “Now it no longer fits the bright scheme of the other windows, but you can only work with what you’ve got at the time.”

Like the other large window Rowan and Irene did for this chapel, this one has an abstract design, with lots of small pieces of glass, but its character is totally different. This one has swirling, chaotic shapes, and the crosshatching and painting have an equally energetic feel. While most of the window is abstract, close examination reveals six faces hidden in the design. Rowan and Irene are challenging us to really explore this window.

Iconography

Like the window’s hidden faces, its iconography is shrouded in mystery. Luckily, we have the school’s brochure by Allie Benson and Lynne Mitchell to guide us. In their words, “The donor, James Sheldon, was captivated by a phrase attributed to William of Wykeham, ‘Manners maketh man’ and wanted it to be the theme for the window. LeCompte was puzzled. ‘Now the question is, does that mean that people make manners or manners make people? And does ‘make’ in that sense mean encourage, promotion of, or what?’ Canon Charles Martin solved Rowan’s quandary by observing that the real meaning of the motto is, ‘Our outward manners are connected with our inner spirit.’

“In order to incorporate Wykeham’s motto into the window the Rev. Eder recalls, ‘We would have an abstract window indicating a kind of spirit–a fiery spirit of the school– represented by a swirl. Depicted in the window would be people whose outward manners represent fine, loving, noble spirits.’ William of Wykeham’s face can be seen in the lower right rectangular panel. The center rectangular panel contains the figure of Jesus Christ (upper right) and of Thomas Arnold (lower left). Arnold was an outstanding school master who had been president of Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut. His idea that chapel was the center of the school had a great influence on schools like St. Albans. He died shortly before the Sheldon window was designed. Rowan LeCompte, who created a number of windows at Trinity, is a great admirer of Thomas Arnold. In the left rectangular panel is the Reverend James B. ‘Pop’ Henderson, chaplain, teacher of mathematics and sacred studies from 1918-1950, who Rev. Eder remembers as ‘a saintly person and dearly loved.’ Henderson also coached the football, baseball and basketball teams and in Canon Martin’s words, ‘Gave much of himself to St. Albans.’ In the upper arch section, the center panel displays the face of St. Alban. Adjoining it on the right hand center section, is the face of Remson Ogilby, an alumnus of St. Albans, Class of 1935,” also portrayed by Rowan in a window at Trinity College (1948).