Healing Window

Location: Trinity Cathedral, south transept aisle, east window
The Wilbur H. Burnham Studios

The scene in this window depicts Jesus healing a blind man, a subject that appears several places in the gospels. In Mark 10: 46-52, the blind man is called Bartimaeus and is said to be a beggar and son of Timaeus. The account in Luke 18:35-43 is very similar, but the man’s name, parentage, and occupation are not specified. Matthew 20:29-34 tells of the healing of two unnamed blind men. The Gospel of John (Chapter 9) contains a comparatively long account of the healing of a man born blind and the refusal of some people to believe it. Nevertheless, it is perhaps Mark 8: 22-26 that provided the main inspiration for this scene (the blind man at Bethsaida), because of the window’s depiction of Jesus healing through touch.

Burnham wrote to Emerson on February 24, 1938:

In the Healing window my design is now ready for the figure subject, and I am wondering if you have any specific incident that you would like to portray to symbolize Healing.

Emerson's reply on March 2, 1938 was as follows:

I think the Healing Miracle that I like the best is the Blind Man receiving his sight. It seems to me that that is more symbolic of Christianity than any one of the other miracles. I think it would work out in a design very well indeed.

Then, on April 21, 1938 Burnham wrote to Emerson:

Under separate cover I am mailing you today the design for the Healing window. It harmonizes nicely with the other designs, and I hope that it will please you and the donor.

On April 26, Burnham went on to say:

I assume that the Healing window design arrived safely, and I sincerely hope that you and the donor like it and will ask me to proceed with the making of it in glass.

In this design, Jesus is shown interacting with the blind man. He is not the impassive figure depicted in the Teaching Window. Like that window, the figures in the Healing Window take up most of the space. In this vertical composition, Jesus has the thin, elongated figure typical of Gothic and Byzantine figurative painting and stained glass. He is shown as reaching out with his left hand to touch the eyes of the blind man, who is kneeling before him. Behind the kneeling figure are two well-dressed men watching Jesus as he performs this miracle. The one in front holds his hands together as in prayer.

The colors used in this window were discussed by the Dean and the artist. Emerson wrote the following to Burnham on April 28, 1938:

Last night I took your cartoon for the Healing Window in to discuss with Mrs. King. She like the design very much, as I do, but we are both troubled by the brick red in the figure standing immediately behind the blind man. It may be that you are using the color to tie the whole thing in, but it's not a very happy color to my mind or to hers. We are not saying no to it, but would like to know just why you picked that particular color. It has an orange brown tone that is a little difficult.

The next day (April 29, 1938), in a letter to Burnham in regard to the Emmaus window, Emerson writes:

Which leads me to ask you again to study the color scheme in the Healing window. I wasn't too happy with that set up as compared with this window (Emmaus) and the Blessing window...

Burnham responded on May 3, 1938:

Thank you for your letters of April 28 and 29. I am glad that you and Mrs. King like the design for the Healing window, except for the brick red in the figure standing behind the blind man. The more I see this design, the more I agree with you both that is (sic) is not the most pleasing color to have used. The left-hand side of the design, as I see it now, is composed of too many warm colors. I am confident that if I change the brick red to a very light blue, it will enhance the color composition tremendously. If you will leave the matter to me, I am sure that the color arrangement will work out to our mutual satisfaction.

Apparently, both Emerson and the donor, Mrs. King, were satisfied with Burnham’s solution, because no letters of complaint followed.

The blind man is wearing a kilt or loin cloth colored burnt-orange. His body is barely covered by the off-white stole that curves up from his waist from right to left , This same color and curve carries through Jesus’ outstretched left arm. Jesus wears an undergarment of this color with a cloak of bright red and a lining of "a very light blue." This color is then picked up on the left in the robe of the man standing directly behind the blind man. It is assumed that this is the "very light blue" that Burnham promised the dean and the donor and that it was satisfactory.

The man in the light blue garment wears a bright yellow head covering. It is dramatic in its conjunction with both the light blue glass and the brilliant, intense blue background that Burnham has used in all the windows. The yellow and the bright blue are made even more alive by the red robe and cap of the second onlooker, who peers from behind the other figure. The yellow is bounced across to the "gold" jewels on Jesus' nimbus. The yellow is picked up again on the border of Jesus' cloak, which helps unite the figures within the composition The diagonals formed by the knees, legs, arms, and hands also tie the whole scene together. Again the figures are elongated and exaggerated, but there is not a complaint from Emerson.

The blind man is kneeling on a green surface which is probably meant to be some kind of vegetation. Behind this green area is a blue border perhaps representing water, possibly because "... he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam...He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing (John 9:6-7)." The blind man holds a walking stick in this left hand. This stick divides up the center of the space, so that Jesus takes up the right hand side and the other figures the left.

Above the phrase "restored and saw every man clearly," Burnham has placed an architectural feature dividing the foreground from the background. Three rounded arches divide the space and a church composed of three sections crowns the arches in the center of the window. This symbolism perhaps indicates that the church is a healing ministry. In the apex is a hand turned down in a blessing, perhaps God blessing the people. In the ventilator is a Latin cross, a right-angle cross whose lowest limb, or leg, is longer than the other three. It was upon this type of cross that Jesus was crucified.

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The Center for Sacred Landmarks Monograph Series