Forgiving Window

Location: Trinity Cathedral, north nave aisle, fourth window from east
The Wilbur H. Burnham Studios

Known as the Forgiving Window, this particular design generated discussion between Emerson and Burnham as how to illustrate its theme. In a letter dated May 12, 1938, Emerson writes:

Yesterday I secured the promise of the Forgiving window which I wish you would draw as soon as possible. Before you draw it, tell me what subjects you have in mind for it. I am trying to think the matter through myself.

The next time this subject comes up in the correspondence between the artist and the Dean is on July 5, 1938. Burnham writes:

...I think that a good subject for the Forgiving window would the Woman with the Alabaster Box. In my opinion it would compose much better than the Paralytic, or the subject in which Peter asks the Lord, "How shall a man forgive?" If you agree with me, I will go ahead and complete the Forgiving Window sketch, and will follow it up as quickly as possible with the Sermon on the Mount sketch.

This idea pleased the Dean and he wrote back on July 6, 1938:

Your letter just came in. I think the Woman with the Alabaster Box will make a fine subject for the Forgiving Window.

The account of the woman with the alabaster box appears in three Gospels, but it is Luke's story (7:37-48) that deals with forgiveness:

And behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee...spake within himself, saying, This man if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner...And he [Jesus] turned to the woman and said unto Simon [the Pharisee], Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them....Thou gavest me no kiss, but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint; but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven; ...And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.

The woman is kneeling in the center of the scene lifting up the box to Jesus, who is to the left. The Pharisee is on the right. They are placed behind a table set out with food. Jesus is looking down at the woman and has his right hand raised slightly, while he holds his left down in a gesture of acceptance, as she looks up at him and offers the ointment.

The strong diagonal line formed by her left thigh is reversed by the diagonal defined by Jesus' left hand and arm. Balancing these elements is the Pharisee to the right of the scene. The faces of the woman and the Pharisee are in profile and are directed toward Jesus. This composition forms an inverted triangle.

By October 1938, Burnham had completed the sketches for both the Teaching Window and the Healing Window. Emerson wrote to him on October 12th:

In the other window I did not at first notice the box which the woman held. That story is usually called “The Story of the Woman with The Alabaster Box”. I think you must get a different color in that box. It looks black to me. If it were an opalescent coloring would it come too near the color of the cloth on the table? You will know best, at any rate. I like that window extremely well. I think it has great possibilities.

On October 14, 1938, Burnham replied:

We talked about the Alabaster Box when you were in Boston. It does look black in the sketch and is a mistake. Be assured that I shall make it look like alabaster in the window.

Emerson must have been pleased with the result. The box looks like alabaster and is large and elegant, with cross hatches to resemble incising on the sides and the curved lid. The design of the box resembles a coffin or a sarcophagus.

The woman holding the box is depicted as kneeling on an elegant rug, shown two-dimensionally, a device used in Gothic and Byzantium art to show perspective. On the rug are elegant containers in mauve and gold, blue-green, and red with a silk-like cloth draped over one of them. The rug, the containers, and the gold goblets on the table are all used to signify that this is the house of a very wealthy man, who could well afford to provide ointment to rub on Jesus’ feet.

Again, Burnham shows his penchant for playing one color off against another. The brilliant blue background is cut across by the dark orange of the rug. The woman's dress is a light, but still bright, blue with a contrasting yellowish belt and a green stole.

The horizontal of the rug across the bottom of the window is repeated in the decorative border of the tablecloth and broadly picked up again in the wide table top, again shown two-dimensionally. The hanging folds of the tablecloth, however, soften the effect of this horizontal plane.

Jesus is clothed in a bright red robe with an off-white, greenish cloak, which is pinned with a gold and blue buckle. The belt is green, the complement of red. In a basket on the table in front of Jesus is intense green fruit, which vibrates next to the red of the robe. The Pharisee's robes are muted and subtle compared to the garments of the other two figures.

Columns place this scene indoors, and above this architectural feature again Burnham shows us the facade of a church with a cross on top, perhaps reminding the viewer that Jesus becomes the Christ, the corner stone of the Church.

On the ventilator is a sheaf of wheat. Wheat used in Christian art symbolizes the bread of the Eucharist used in Holy Communion. In the apex of the window is the figure of a fish, possibly representing a dolphin. In Christian art, the dolphin is portrayed more frequently than any other aquatic creature. Because it is sometimes identified with the whale in the story of Jonah, it becomes a prefiguration of Christ's death and resurrection.

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The Center for Sacred Landmarks Monograph Series