Artist/Studio: Oidtmann & Co, Brüssels, 1889.
Location: St Kilda, Victoria.
Building: All Saints Anglican Church.
Memorial: Lauchlan Mackinnon and others.
Donor: Mr & Mrs. Lauchlan Charles Mackinnon (one pair not specified).
Photos dated: 3rd April 2011.
The Australasian, Melbourne, Vic, Saturday 15th June 1889, page 32.
“CHURCH DECORATION.
The windows of All Saints’ Church, St. Kilda, present an illuminated history of the more remarkable of the events of the New Testament, and apart from their instructive and decorative uses, they serve to temper and soften the otherwise strong radiance which pours through them during at least eight months of the year, and to shed that “dim religious light” which the ecclesiastical architects of the middle ages, and those under whose direction they worked, regarded as auxiliary to devotion. Of the six which have been recently added, all of them executed by the firm of Oidtmann and Co., of Brussels, four have been placed in the north aisle, and the incidents they portray are the Visitation; Christ holding discourse with Mary, while Martha is busy in the background with the household affairs; the Annunciation, with the dove descending on the head of the Virgin; and Christ surrounded by little children. In the opposite aisle are two memorial windows, one of which has been placed there as a tribute of affection to the late Mr. Lauchlan Mackinnon, one of the proprietors of The Argus, by Mr. and Mrs. L. C. Mackinnon. The subject of the first is St. John in Patmos, to whom one of the seven angels, with a golden reed in his hand, is showing the vision of the new Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven. The second represents the raising of Lazarus, in the presence of Mary and Martha, and one of the disciples. Each composition is simple in arrangement, skilful in drawing, and rich in colour; and the artist has succeeded in communicating to the faces a refined religious sentiment in harmony with the spiritual subjects he has been called upon to treat. The figures occupy a sort of panel, surrounded by a jeweled border, the rest of the windows being filled in with a combination of geometrical designs and of flowers conventionally treated, the general effect being one of sober brilliancy.”
Scottish born Lauchlane Mackinon migrated to Van Diemen’s Land in 1838 and then moved to Sydney where he followed pastoral pursuits. By 1848 he was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council and circa 1852 partnered Edward Wilson as proprietor of “The Argus” newspaper until retiring to England in 1868. His cousin, Lauchlan Charles Mackinnon (knighted in 1916), took over as his successor in ‘The Argus’. Lauchlan Charles McKinnon and his second wife, Lady Emily (nee Bundock) are credited with the donation of one of the two light stained glass windows in All Saints Anglican Church in St Kilda to the memory of his cousin. Exactly which of the Oidtmann stained glass windows they donated is not known but all are shown in the image slideshow.
Also see earlier Van Der Poorten, Brussels, stained glass erected in All Saints c.1881: 26-07-1881: All Saints, St Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Stained Glass Australia 