Phibsborough
Harry Clarke was born in Dublin in 1889. He studied
in his father’ studio and for a short time in London. His father also produced
stained glass and by 1909 Harry was working on the more creative and critical
aspects of the stained glass process and had been awarded a Scholarship in
Stained Glass. His first entry to the Board of Education National Competition
won the Gold Medal for stained glass in the National Competition three times.
In 1913, after a struggle to find work, George Harrap eventually saw potential
in Harry Clarke and hired him on the spot to provide illustrations for an
edition of Andersen’s Fairy Tales in both a trade and deluxe edition – almost
unheard of for an untested, unknown and very young illustrator. While book
illustrations paid the early bills, stained glass was in fact his career and he
continued to submi designs to competitions. One of his panels, The Baptism of
St. Patrick was selected for an exhibition in the Louvre in 1914. By 1928, he
had a total of six major books illustrated and more than 130 stained glass
windows all within 15 years. Ill-health plagued him much of the last years of
his life and he died in early 1931 at the age of 41.
This window is considered to be one of Harry
Clarke’s early masterpieces entitled ‘The Adoration of the Sacred Hand
hiredeart’ 1919 St. Peter’s Phibsborough. It is a three light window depicting
the Sacred Heart, St. Margaret Mary and St. John Eudes. It was commissioned by
the Vincentian Fathers as St. Peter’s was home to the Arch-Confraternity of the
Sacred Heart in Dublin. This window was incorporated into the design of our new
Chapel of Adoration which was opened two years ago. Exposition takes place
daily Tuesday to Saturday. Why not come along for some moments of quiet prayer
and reflect on this beautiful work of art.
Further work was carried out in St. Peter’s in 1925
when Harry Clarke created the windows in the mortuary chapel. The
Arch-Confraternity of the Sacred Heart still meet today in St. Peter’s carrying
on the tradition which inspired the work of Harry Clarke.