Sir John Soane’s Museum, London
Window Framework: Recreation of the ‘Charity’ window after Reynolds
Barley Studio recreated a nineteenth-century window for Sir John Soane’s Museum in London which was destroyed in World War II. The 1830 window, by Collins of the Strand, was based on Jervais’ and Reynolds’ famous figure of ‘Charity’ in New College Oxford, and glazed into a metal framework similar to a fanlight construction.
Following a landmine explosion in October 1940, the window was almost completely destroyed. The replica window was created and installed in 2012 as part of the multi-million pound ‘Opening up the Soane’ project to restore, refurbish and improve Sir John Soane’s Museum.
The surviving piece of the window showed that the glass was glazed into a metal framework, constructed of an inner face lead soldered on to a tinned flat steel bar down the central line to form a T section glazing bar. The lead profile, having a centred triangular ridge which is rounded at its peak, was originally painted black.
The glazing system was recreated using a 10 mm (3/8”) U-section lead with an 18 mm (3/4”) tinned brass strip soldered into the lead groove. The prepared T-section bar was then cut to length, bent to shape, put together over the cutline and joints soldered into place. The outer edges were screwed directly into the solid oak frame. Finally, an additional lead detail was attached to the front face using neutral curing black silicone, and the complete lead section painted black.
The cartoon for the replica window was created based on Reynolds’ original cartoon (held in a private collection at Somerley House, Hampshire) and an inventory sketch from the Soane archive showing the outline of the window framework. Barley Studio entrusted glasspainter Jonathan Cooke with the task of replicating Collins’ painting style, applying glass paint, enamels and stain onto large pieces of thin float glass.
Once the metal framework and oak outer frame had been installed into the original window opening, the individual painted glass pieces were dry glazed into the framework and pointed in using blackened linseed oil putty. The new window is protected by a secondary glazing layer, installed in a separate frame to the exterior, of laminated sheet, with Pilkington ActivTM Clear self-cleaning glass to the outside
