Window 23: The Prodigal Son
The twenty-third window in the Creation and the New Creation series of windows at the church of Saints Leonard and Fergus, Dundee.
Window 23: The Prodigal Son.
Window 23: The Prodigal Son is the penultimate window of this series. Like the parable windows before it, it belongs to the theme of Jesus’s Ministry (forthcoming) which circles the windows. In this window we are beginning to see the signs of Winter in the Celtic-style background latticework pattern as the bold oranges and reds of Autumn begin to give way to the cool blues and greys of Winter, in readiness for the end of this series of windows to continue across the doorway to the beginning.
The parable of the Prodigal Son appears in Luke 15.11-32. There, Jesus tells a story of the younger of two sons who demands that his father give him his inheritance but then squanders it all on ‘dissolute living’. A famine took place throughout the country and to try and earn some money, he went to work for a pig farmer and was sent into the fields to feed the pigs. There, at his lowest point, he decided to return home and seek his father’s forgiveness. While he was still a distance from home, his father spotted him and, filled with compassion, ran to him, put his arms around him and kissed him. He ordered a celebration for the return of his son, saying ‘this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ The older son resents this forgiveness because he had always worked loyally for his father and never disobeyed him.
The story illustrates God’s unconditional love for all people. No matter how far someone strays from God, that person is welcomed back if they choose to return. The older son’s reaction further reminds us that God’s love is for all, not just for the seemingly faithful.
In Window 6: The Temptation, the location for Jesus’s Temptation is a stylised Dundee, rather than the more traditional Judean Desert. The Prodigal Son window is similar in that the parable is also illustrated with a stylised Dundee, only this time looking from a different direction. This
view is from Law Hill, looking out across the River Tay, with Dundee in the foreground. It shows several Dundee landmarks such as church spires and the main parish church, Steeple Church (‘the Temple’ to the people of Dundee), which also features in the Temptation window.
It is worth noting that while Dad created a highly stylised view of Dundee, it is also of its time. Since the making of these windows,
The two bridges over the River Tay, symbolic of the Prodigal Son leaving home and then returning.
The Prodigal Son's lowest point after squandering his inheritance was when he fed pigs to earn some money.
Dundee has experienced a significant amount of urban regeneration and as a consequence, it now looks quite different. What are still there however, are the two Tay bridges, one road and one rail, which together form the focus of this scene. They are symbolic of leaving home and returning, like the Prodigal Son in the parable. They look like two welcoming arms, representative of the father’s embrace. In the far distance and only just visible in the top righthand corner of the scene, is a third bridge, the Forth Bridge over the Firth of Forth.
Right at the bottom of the window are three pigs, indicative of the time the younger son spent feeding the pigs after he had squandered his inheritance and was starving. Jesus was a Jewish man, and in that context, feeding pigs is highly symbolic as pigs are regarded as unclean in Jewish law. So, feeding the pigs would have been an extremely humiliating state for a Jewish man to have found himself in, emphasising how he had reached the lowest of the low.
This was a turning point for the young man; it prompted his repentance and his return to his father. The feast that was laid on for him on his return is given a contemporary treatment and is illustrated towards the top of the main window. The original drawing for this joyous occasion was done by Ester when she was nine years old, her design is shown here. Dad had asked Ester to draw it for him because he felt she would bring a freshness and boldness to it that he couldn’t. He still feels that he lost some of her spontaneity when he adapted her original drawing for glass. One of the main adaptations was the inclusion of the jovial Fr McInally at the head of the table. He also added a server, cutting a joint of Scottish venison in place of the fatted calf of the original parable. On the wall is a mounted deer’s head looking down in dismay or disgust – take your pick.
The feast laid on to celebrate the return of the Prodigal Son, this time in Dundee with Fr McInally at the head of the table.
The transom showing Halley's comet and the robotic spacecraft Giotto.
Taking pride of place on the table is a Dundee cake, a traditional Scottish fruit cake decorated with almonds, linking this window to Window 9: The Almond Tree. In honour of Fr McInally, the bottle of wine on the table is Châteauneuf-du-Pape. As previously mentioned, Dad collaborated with Clive Sinclair on this project. At one of their first meetings with the priest over a good meal, McInally said, ‘We’ll have the Châteauneuf-du-Pape as it’s a religious occasion’. Ever the humourist.
In the transom is Halley’s Comet and the European robotic spacecraft called Giotto that succeeded in approaching Halley’s nucleus on the 13th March 1986. In orbiting the sun every 75-76 years, the comet gives the impression of going and coming back, so is symbolic of the Prodigal Son’s return. This is the third space reference in the windows, after Window 11: The Sun and Planets, and the Galileo space probe in Window 20: The Sower. As we have seen with the inclusion of the space probe Galileo, its presence here helps date the
Close up of Halley's comet and Giotto to show their detail.
windows. The whole transom is shown here to show off its lovely rich colours and the close up of the comet and Giotto shows their incredible detail. The comet has been acid etched.
Finally, a little above the pigs at the bottom of the window is a honeybee leaving home with two large suitcases. This little bee connects to two of the bees in Window 19: Adam and Eve who are doing the same. Whereas the pair in Window 19 are still close to home – the traditional straw skep – the bee in the current window has travelled a long way from home, just like the Prodigal Son.
