Stations of the Cross by Eric Gill at St Alban's Church
The fourteen Stations of the Cross at St Alban’s (installed 1938-45) in Hoptonwood stone constitute one of the last works by Eric Gill (1882-1940), sculptor, engraver, writer and type designer, and one of the outstanding craftsmen/artists of the twentieth century. There are four known sets of Stations by Gill: that at St Alban’s is the only one in an Anglican church. The others are at Westminster Cathedral (1913-18; also in Hoptonwood stone, one of Gill’s earliest major public commissions), the Church of St Cuthbert, Heaton, Bradford (1921-24; in Beer stone, after designs by Gill’s friend Father Desmond Chute), and the Church of Our Lady and St Peter, Leatherhead, Surrey (1924-5; in Caen stone).
All the sets use the same fourteen scenes standard for Stations; the other three are all sculptural bas-reliefs carved into lighter-coloured stone, whereas the elegantly incised images of the Oxford set, in effect engraved on slightly darker polished stone and coloured with red and blue (some faded over the years), allow Gill to use his brilliant graphic talents even more effectively. Gill finished his last drawing for St Alban’s three weeks before his death, and carved nine of the Stations himself; the last five Stations were completed by his workshop. Gill priced the set at £25 per image.
Gill was a colourful and controversial character; some of this can be gleaned from his Autobiography (1940), written shortly before his death, and much more can be found in the biographies by Fiona MacCarthy, Eric Gill : A Lover's Quest for Art and God (1989) or Malcolm Yorke, Eric Gill: Man of Flesh and Spirit (2000). Almost all his artistic output is now fully catalogued: see Christopher Skelton, Eric Gill: The Engravings (1990), David Peace, Eric Gill: The Inscriptions (1994) and Judith Collins, Eric Gill: The Sculpture (1998). Two of the St Alban’s Stations are well illustrated in the last-named work (in monochrome).
A note about this section of the website
The text of the commentary, including the picture captions, is taken from the limited edition portfolio compiled by Professor Stephen Harrison:
The Stations of the Cross
by Eric Gill
The Church of St Alban the Martyr
Charles Street, Oxford
Text : compiled by Stephen Harrison, using
J.Eltenton and M.Flatman, St Alban’s Church Oxford
& Eric Gill’s Stations (1989), C. and E.Hibbert,
The Encyclopedia of Oxford (1988), and other sources
Photos from http://www.ssmjchurchyard.org.uk/
and by Stephen Harrison
Produced in aid of the St Alban’s Wall Fund
© Parish of Cowley St John, Oxford, 2009
In aid of the St Alban’s Wall Fund, the parish has published a limited edition portfolio of plates of the Gill Stations, providing the first complete set of colour images of these fine works of art. The portfolio (in a specially printed colour folder) contains a brief account of St Alban’s and of Eric Gill, and plates of fourteen Stations in colour digital images. The cost is £10; the edition is limited to 200 copies, each individually numbered.
Sample copies are available for viewing at SS Mary and John and St Alban’s churches. Anyone wishing to obtain copies can also e-mail Prof. Stephen Harrison direct at Stephen.harrison@ccc.ox.ac.uk
