Introduction to the Transept Aisle Windows

The three windows that adorn the south transept aisle all depict scenes in the life of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. Blue, a color traditionally associated with Mary, predominates in these windows. It is the color of heaven and heavenly love, and thus blue signifies Mary as Queen of Heaven. The east (left) and west (right) windows of this aisle have similar decorative bands of white leaves and red crosses, while the central window shows a slight variation: instead of small red crosses, there are red quatrefoils, possibly representing roses. This may reflect the fact that Mary is often referred to as a "rose without thorns," (i.e., she is sinless). These related borders tie all three windows together, as do the designs over the figures. These designs of vines, branches, and leaves are woven through the backgrounds like arabesques.

These three transept windows were actually the last ones to be designed and put in place. Their similar borders help tie them together as a unit. These borders differ from those of the other twelve aisle-level Burnham windows, which are predominantly red. Here, Burnham has lightened the whole effect with white and gold. The border of the window portraying Mary, Jesus, and John the Baptist, referred to in the correspondence as the “Madonna window,” was originally designed differently, as this excerpt from the December 12, 1939 letter from Emerson to Burnham indicates.

The last of the windows has gone in today and it was the Madonna window. This last batch were all lovely. The three windows in the transept go very well together, but there is one thing I want you to do whenever you can. I want to take out the dark red in the border of the Madonna window and make it that same lacey golden work that you have got in the borders of the other two. Do you know I wish we had the same border which you have put into the St. Ann and the Visitation windows in every window of the series, but I particularly want you to take the red out of the Madonna window and put in that same gold. I think it will do just what that window needs, now that I see it in place.

Later in the letter Emerson adds:

Speaking of the Madona (sic) window again, Kellermann said it would be no particular chore to put those pieces in since you have the pattern right there and could send them on.

By February Burnham had agreed to the requested changes for the Madonna window. In a letter to Emerson dated February 7, 1940, he writes:

The new border pieces for the Madonna window have been painted, and I shall send them to Mr. Kellermann some time this week. In order to make the changes, the window will have to be removed, the borders taken apart, and then the pieces put in place. It is quite a job, but if you will feel better satisfied having the borders in all three windows alike, I am, of course, pleased to do it for you.

The discussion continues with the Dean answering on February 9, 1940:

I am disappointed not to see you. I think there are bits of things that need to be done to the windows and I could point them out to you better if you were here. The Madonna window, for instance, is so much darker here than it was in your studio. The red pieces in the border dull it a great deal and I am still not happy about the robe in the little St. John figure.

You say the Madonna window has got to come out when they change those bits in the border. Are you sure? I think Kellerman (sic) thought he could split the leads and slip the pieces in and out.

The figural compositions of all three windows in this aisle have similar elements. The standing figures and the kneeling figures, placed on the left side of the scenes, are all facing the same direction. The two flanking windows are also tied together through the use of the halos: the kneeling figures with red and the standing figures with yellow.

Opposite these three windows representing scenes from the life of Mary are three post-resurrection scenes. Thus, the three windows in the south transept aisle and the three in the north aisle essentially form two triptychs, one dedicated to representing events in the life of Mary and the other representing events in the life of Jesus.

Burnham created separate moods for the north and south transept aisle windows. In the three that feature the young Mary, there is a sense of lightness and femininity that is not evident in the opposite transept, or, for that matter, any other window produced by Burnham for the cathedral. This effect is in part created by the borders having a predominance of white glass and the absence of the red lozenges or rectangles. It is this lightness - created through the use of white and gold glass - that Emerson would have preferred for all the borders. Nevertheless, it is not only the colors of the borders that gives the south transept its sense of femininity, it is also the nature of the figures. In this transept, the women are portrayed in their role of mothers or mothers-to-be, rather than figures who have endured sorrow and gaze in amazement at an empty tomb.

Go to the transept aisle windows:

• Saint Anne and the Virgin
• Infancy of Jesus and John the Baptist
• The Visitation
• The Three Marys
• The Road to Emmaus
• Faith Window

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