A Photo a Week Challenge: The Devil is in the Details

No sign of the Devil in the details of this stained glass window but a couple of mysteries…… There are three sheep but only two wear bells. Christ stands between them but to the left there is a foot that is clearly not his (follow the line of his leg beneath his gown). It is possible that these are allegorical references to the Whyte family with one of the children returning belatedly to the fold though who is standing behind Christ I have no idea. It certainly isn’t the Devil – that’s a foot, not a cloven hoof! The window is in St. Serf’s church, Dunning and was made by Ballantine and Gardiner in Edinburgh. Reputedly these were top of the range glass makers so it must have cost a pretty penny back in 1899!

Catch up with Nancy’s A Photo a Week Challenge Here.

8 responses to “A Photo a Week Challenge: The Devil is in the Details”

Debra

September 3, 2018 at 10:19 pm

This is a stained glass beauty, Martin. You have a keen eye and I can assure you I would never have identified these details! You’ve made me want to know more, however. 🙂

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1. 2e0mca
  
  September 4, 2018 at 5:57 am
  
  Hi Debra – I do love to pose the occasional bit of intrigue 😉 I also forgot to mention Christ’s hand on his staff – notice how one of the fingers also points at the sheep without a bell? 🙂
  
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Sarah

September 6, 2018 at 8:54 am

Beautiful stained glass art! But I’m not so sure of the foot – it could be that the artist simple made a mistake there, have a look at Renaissance paintings, they often show too long hands, necks or feet and sometimes at off angles too😁

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1. Sarah
  
  September 6, 2018 at 8:55 am
  
  Oops! That was supposed to be “odd” not “off”!
  
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2. 2e0mca
  
  September 6, 2018 at 3:22 pm
  
  Possibly – did you notice the fingers on the crook – one seems to be pointing at the odd sheep too 🙂
  
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  1. Sarah
    
    September 6, 2018 at 6:03 pm
    
    It does!!
nancy merrill

September 6, 2018 at 3:30 pm

Beautiful work of art. It would be interesting to learn the history of the window and some of its less obvious symbolism. Wonderful photo. Thanks for joining the challenge!

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1. 2e0mca
  
  September 6, 2018 at 3:57 pm
  
  NP Nancy 🙂 The little things I mentioned were as told to me during our visit by the Historic Scotland representative.
  
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