Dublin Stained Glass in Fishguard | Gwydr Lliw Dulyn yn Abergwaun
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The Catholic mission in Fishguard was established in the late nineteenth century to minister to Irish workers and families involved in the construction of the port, mirroring a similar mission to Catholic families in Holyhead in the mid-nineteenth century.
A temporary church was built in 1908–9, and the present Catholic church in Fishguard replaced it in 1920, after the earlier building had been destroyed by fire in 1918. Within only a few years funds were found to add imagery to the windows. The first window to be filled with coloured glass was the roundel in the east wall over the altar. The window shows a seated figure of Christ, and was made in a colourful modern style by Dom. Theodore Baily. Baily was Benedictine monk and a member of the community on Caldey Island, and this is the only known window that he made for a church on the mainland. As the artist moved away from Caldey with the community in 1928 it seems likely that it was made before this date, and after the time that he trained at the Ateliers d'Art Sacré (Studios of Sacred Art) in Paris in 1922.
The departure of Baily for England would have necessitated a search for another studio to make the next window for the church commissioned in about 1929. On this occasion the donor engaged the Dublin studio of Joshua Clarke and Sons, whose stained glass department was run by the famous Dublin artist Harry Clarke. Although the window is not his work, it displays many of his stylistic characteristics, with densely-shaded and patterned glass with rich dark colours. The window depicts St Thérèse of Lisieux, a French Carmelite nun who died in 1897 aged 24. She holds a crucifix and showers of pink roses cascade down through the windows.
A further window at the church also depicts a young nineteenth-century female French saint. The image of St Bernadette and the Virgin Mary appearing to her at Lourdes is a conventional one and was also made by the same Dublin firm around the middle of the twentieth century.
Clarke’s stained glass studio was re-established after 1930 as Harry Clarke Stained Glass Studios, although Clarke died in 1931 aged only 41 following a life of ill-health. The studio continued to make windows in a broadly similar style under the artists Richard King and William Dowling, and the window of the apparition to Bernadette at Lourdes suggests the work of Dowling. The window was commissioned by Mrs M.A. Macdonald of Goodwick in 1944 and was presumably made soon after.
A similar version of the same design can also be found on the other side of the Irish Sea at the Church of the Assumption in Wexford. Here the composition is arranged across a two-light window, with additional figures and a landscape seen in the background above Bernadette. Subtle differences can be seen in the figures and details although the window is obviously the work of the same team of designers and painters at the studio. An earlier window of 1919 at the same church in Wexford is an early work by Harry Clarke, and shows the Virgin and Child with St Adrian and St Aidan.
Cafodd yr achos Catholig yn Abergwaun ei sefydlu ar ddiwedd y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg i weinidogaethu i weithwyr a theuluoedd Gwyddelig a fu'n rhan o'r gwaith o adeiladu'r porthladd, gan adlewyrchu cenhadaeth debyg i deuluoedd Catholig yng Nghaergybi yng nghanol y bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg.
Adeiladwyd eglwys dros dro ym 1908–9, a ddisodlwyd gan yr eglwys Gatholig bresennol yn Abergwaun ym 1920, wedi i'r adeilad cynharach gael ei ddinistrio gan dân ym 1918. O fewn ychydig flynyddoedd cafwyd arian i ychwanegu delweddau at y ffenestri. Y ffenestr gyntaf i'w llenwi â gwydr lliw oedd yr un gron yn y wal ddwyreiniol dros yr allor. Mae'r ffenestr yn dangos ffigur Crist yn eistedd, ac fe'i gwnaed mewn arddull fodern liwgar gan Dom. Theodore Baily. Roedd Baily yn fynach Benedictaidd ac yn aelod o gymuned Ynys Bŷr, a dyma'r unig ffenestr hysbys a wnaeth ar gyfer eglwys ar y tir mawr. Gan fod yr artist wedi symud i ffwrdd o Ynys Bŷr gyda'r gymuned ym 1928 mae'n debyg iddo gael ei wneud cyn y dyddiad hwn, ac ar ôl yr amser y bu'n hyfforddi yn yr Ateliers d'Art Sacré (Stiwdios Celfyddyd Sanctaidd) ym Mharis ym 1922.
Byddai ymadawiad Baily am Loegr yn golygu bod angen chwilio am stiwdio arall i wneud y ffenestr nesaf i’r eglwys a gomisiynwyd tua 1929. Ar yr achlysur hwn, aeth y rhoddwr ati i gyflogi stiwdio Joshua Clarke a'i Feibion yn Nulyn, yr oedd ei adran gwydr lliw yn cael ei rhedeg gan yr artist enwog o Ddulyn Harry Clarke. Er nad ei waith ef yw'r ffenestr, mae'n dangos llawer o nodweddion ei arddull, gyda gwydr mewn lliwiau dwys a phatrymau gyda lliwiau tywyll cyfoethog. Mae'r ffenestr yn darlunio St Thérèse o Lisieux, lleian Garmelaidd Ffrengig a fu farw ym 1897 yn 24 oed. Mae’n dal croes ac mae cawodydd o rosod pinc yn rhaeadru i lawr drwy'r ffenestri.
Mae ffenestr arall yn yr eglwys hefyd yn darlunio sant Ffrengig benywaidd ifanc o'r bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg. Mae'r ddelwedd o’r Santes Bernadette a'r Forwyn Fair yn ymddangos iddi yn Lourdes yn un gonfensiynol ac fe'i gwnaed hefyd gan yr un cwmni yn Nulyn tua chanol yr ugeinfed ganrif.
Ailsefydlwyd stiwdio gwydr lliw Clarke ar ôl 1930 fel Harry Clarke Stained Glass Studios, er i Clarke farw ym 1931 yn ddim ond 41 oed yn dilyn bywyd llawn salwch. Parhaodd y stiwdio i wneud ffenestri mewn arddull eithaf tebyg o dan yr artistiaid Richard King a William Dowling, ac mae’r ffenestr sy’n dangos gweledigaeth Bernadette yn Lourdes yn awgrymu gwaith Dowling. Comisiynwyd y ffenestr gan Mrs M.A. Macdonald o Wdig ym 1944 ac mae'n debyg iddi gael ei gwneud yn fuan wedyn.
Gellir gweld fersiwn debyg o'r un dyluniad yr ochr arall i Fôr Iwerddon yn Eglwys Dyrchafael Mair yn Wexford. Yma mae'r cyfansoddiad wedi'i drefnu ar draws ffenestr dau gwarel, gyda ffigyrau ychwanegol a thirwedd i'w gweld yn y cefndir uwchben Bernadette. Gellir gweld gwahaniaethau cynnil yn y ffigurau a'r manylion er bod y ffenestr yn amlwg yn waith yr un tîm o ddylunwyr ac arlunwyr yn y stiwdio. Mae ffenestr gynharach o 1919 yn yr un eglwys yn Wexford yn waith cynnar gan Harry Clarke, ac mae'n dangos y Forwyn a'r Plentyn gyda Sant Adrian a Sant Aidan.