Window 6: The Temptation.
Window 6: The Temptation
The sixth window in the Creation and the New Creation series of windows at the church of
Saints Leonard and Fergus, Dundee.
As we have seen, Window 5: Baptism features the sacrament of Baptism, which connects the person to Jesus, who was, himself, baptised. Immediately after his baptism in the river Jordan by John the Baptist, Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit where, after fasting for 40 days, he was tempted by the devil. This story is the main theme of Window 6: The Temptation.
Whereas Window 5 contains a number of watery themes, in the current window we see the transition onto land. This shift brings together the third day of Creation, on which dry land was created (see The Days of Creation theme), with Jesus’s temptation in the wilderness, often thought of as a desert. In the gradation of colours in the latticework background we also see Winter continue to give way to Spring as greens begin to dominate blues.
At the bottom of the window, amphibious life emerges from the water, represented by a little frog, sitting on a mound of dry land. Surrounding the frog are ferns, early plant forms that enjoy damp, shady earth. The first flower of this series of windows makes an appearance here: the Star of Bethlehem. Dad wasn’t interested in doing a nativity scene in these windows, but wanted to make some reference to Jesus’s birth. Because he wanted to link Jesus’s temptation in the wilderness with the creation of dry land, and because stained glass windows, as a rule, are read from the bottom up, he decided to represent the Nativity by the Star of Bethlehem flower below, and therefore before, the Temptation scene. This beautiful white flower has six
A frog sitting on a mound of earth, ferns and Star of Bethlehem flower, all representing dry land created on the third day of Creation.
petals, forming a six-pointed star. In Christian legend this flower is said to be descended from the actual Star of Bethlehem (which has six points) that appeared in the sky in the East, which guided the wise men to Jesus’s birth.
Moving up the window we arrive at a highly detailed, finely painted portrayal of Dundee as the location for the biblical Temptation story instead of a more traditional Judean desert. In the bible story, Jesus is led into the wilderness by the Spirit where he fasted for forty days. When he was famished, the devil approached him and challenged him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ After Jesus rebuked him, the devil tried to tempt him a second time by taking him to the pinnacle of the temple, saying, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, “He will command his
The Temptation, showing Scottish landmarks: The Sidlaw Hills, Law Hill and Steeple Church in Dundee.
angels concerning you,” and “On their hands they will bear you up.”’ Jesus admonished the devil who tried to tempt him one more time. The devil ‘took Jesus to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world’ and said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’ Jesus told him, ‘Away with you, Satan! For it is written, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”’ (see Matthew 4.1-11.)
Originally, Dad planned to create three small roundels in this window to depict the three things with which the devil tempted Jesus. As previously mentioned, he asked Fr McInally to suggest ways of giving a Scottish flavour to themes in the windows and here, the priest had the idea that these elements could be notable landmarks of Dundee. First, he suggested that the Sidlaw Hills – a range of mountains in the counties of Perthshire and Angus, visible from the city – could stand in for the wilderness into which the Spirit led Jesus. The tower of Steeple Church, located in the heart of Dundee, could represent the pinnacle of the temple from which the devil asks Jesus to throw himself. The ‘very high mountain’ from where Jesus could see ‘all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour’ would be well represented by Law Hill, which is situated in the centre of Dundee. Dundee Law, as it is more formally known, offers a 360° view of the city, over Fife, across the Tay, and to the Sidlaws.
Dad loved Fr McInally’s idea, but didn’t want to paint these features in three roundels. But then, inspiration struck when he came across a medieval illumination of the Temptation of Christ from a book of hours called Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (1402-1416) He decided to assemble Fr McInally’s suggested components in a manner following this highly detailed illumination. The first impression the medieval illumination gives is of verticality; there are many pinnacles, turrets, towers and steeples in the scene and Jesus himself is standing atop a steep and pointy rock. To create this effect, Dad exaggerated the vertical features of his Dundee scene such as the tower, turrets and medieval architecture of Steeple Church itself, and made a feature of other vertical elements in Dundee such as the radio transmitters on the Sidlaw Hills; Cox's Stack (the jute mill chimney); the town cross in front of the church; the war memorial on Dundee Law; the traffic lights, Belisha beacons and tower blocks.
In creating this stylised contemporary scene, Dad had unwittingly emphasised the theme of communication; note the radio transmitters and satellite dishes on the Sidlaw Hills, the telephone box and post box in the foreground, and the inanimate signallers of the Belisha beacons and traffic lights. It was the sharp and intelligent Fr McInally who, with delight, drew his attention to the communication theme in this painted scene of Dundee; good communication being something the priest was passionate about. Later, after the windows
had been fitted, someone familiar with seeing the figure of Jesus in scenes of the Temptation asked Dad where Jesus was. Dad hinted that perhaps he was the figure in the telephone box, and sure enough, if you look closely enough, you can see the suggestion of a figure in there, perhaps spreading the Word in the 1980s way; today he would be on a smart phone!
There are a few other little amusing details in this Dundee scene. In the carpark behind the church tower you can see the yellow van of Dad’s mate who fitted the polycarbonate guards on the windows after they were installed. In the foreground, by the town cross, is a car parked on double yellow lines. Viewed up close, you can just about make out the number plate on the car. It is, in fact, Dad’s car … has it been parked there deliberately to tempt a passing traffic warden? And notice the unlocked bicycle, propped up against a nearby wall – a bit of a temptation to some, perhaps? Sometimes it's really clear that Dad got totally carried away with this job. Notice the two clock faces on the church tower. Using a 24 hour clock, you can see that the first clock face reads 19.00 hours and the second reads 08.05 hours. These times are a cryptic way of indicating the year the windows were installed: 1985. This is the second reference to the year of installation in the windows, the first being the numbers on the grains of incense in the Paschal candle of Window 2: The Resurrection.
In the bible story, the devil did not succeed in tempting Jesus. Fr McInally hadn’t wanted Dad’s portrayal of the Temptation narrative to include any demonic presence because his focus was always on the good side of humanity. However, he was delighted that Dad had painted a little medieval style devil that has been sent spinning out of the Temptation scene. It can be seen in one of the diamonds near the top of the main window.
In the transom is another reference to temptation. A fisherman, fishing in the silvery River Tay, is trying (and succeeding) to tempt a salmon out of the water, linking this window back to the bottom of Window 5: Baptism which has two leaping salmon, swimming up the river. Dad used white glass flashed with blue and acid etched to create the clouds and the sparkling water to great effect.
Fisherman, fishing for salmon in the silvery River Tay in the transom.
Below is a small gallery of details from the main painted image of Dundee as the setting for the Temptation. 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, Dundee has experienced a significant amount of urban regeneration and as a consequence, some of the features shown here no longer exist.
Click on the images to enlarge.
