Details

Object type

stained glass heraldic panel

Title

Arms of Catherine of Aragon

Place Associated

England (place of manufacture); Northamptonshire, Fawsley Hall (place of use)

Date

circa 1510-1530

Materials

coloured glass, lead

Dimensions

original panel: 457 mm x 406 mm x 10 mm; quarries: 695 mm x 636 mm x 10 mm; framed: 470 mm x 410 mm x 12 mm 3.3 kg

Description

Stained glass heraldic panel with the arms of Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England, 1509-1533, from Fawsley Hall, Northamptonshire.

This is one of a series of 39 panels from Fawsley Hall purchased by Sir William Burrell in 1950. A much sought after acquisition, Sir William pursued the series for over a decade.

The panels can seemingly be split into two large commissions with some later additions. The first commission, of which this forms part, were likely installed at Fawsley by Sir Richard Knightley (d.1534) and his wife Jane Skenard (d.1539). They can be dated to circa 1510-1530 via the inclusion of this panel.

This panel displays the shield of Castile and León quartering Aragon and Sicily, the Spanish royal arms. The pomegranates in the side segments were the emblem of Catherine of Aragon, youngest daughter of Ferdinand II and Isabella I of Spain, and first wife of Henry VIII.

The gold castle on red ground is the emblem of the kingdom of Castile, and the red lion on white ground the emblem of León, the lands held by Isabella I. The gold and red stripes of Aragon and inset eagles of Sicily represent the lands of Ferdinand II. The marriage of the two monarchs provided a basis for the unification of Spain.

Henry VII arranged a marriage between his eldest son, Arthur, Prince of Wales, with Catherine. After Arthur’s death in 1502, Catherine married his brother, Henry VIII. Their marriage of over twenty years ended when Catherine was divorced in favour of Anne Boleyn in 1533. The inclusion of Catherine’s shield in the Fawsley Hall series probably indicates that the glass was planned, if not executed, while she was still queen.

Provenance: Ex Coll: Fawsley Hall. Acquired by Sir William Burrell via Grosvenor Thomas, 1950.

Published: William Wells, Stained and Painted Heraldic Glass, Burrell Collection, 1962, no. 145.

Linda Cannon, Stained Glass in the Burrell Collection, 1991, pp. 27-29.

Richard Marks, The Medieval Stained Glass of Northamptonshire: Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi: No.4 (Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi, Great Britain, Summary Catalogue), 1998, pp.64-71

Exhib. Cat. Gothic Art for England, V&A, 2003, pp.288-289.

Credit Line/Donor

Gifted by Sir William and Lady Burrell to the City of Glasgow, 1944

Collection

Burrell Collection: Stained Glass

ID Number

45.308

Location

Burrell Collection

Related People

Catherine Aragon subject of