Margaret Agnes Rope (20 June 18826 December 1953) was a British
stained glass artist in the
Arts and Crafts movement tradition active in the first four decades of the 20th century. Her work is notable for the intensity and skill of the painting and the religious fervour underpinning it. She should not be confused with her cousin, Margaret Edith Rope (known professionally as
M. E. Aldrich Rope), another British stained glass artist in the same tradition, active from 1910 until the mid-1960s, with whom she cooperated on some windows.
Biography
The two Margaret Ropes were first cousins, granddaughters of George Rope of Grove Farm,
Blaxhall,
Suffolk (1814-1912) and his wife Anne (née Pope) (1821-1882). The elder Margaret Rope, Margaret Agnes Rope, was the second child of Henry John Rope, M.D (1847-1899) and Agnes Maud (née Burd: 1857- 1948). "Marga" was her nickname. She was born on 20 June 1882 and christened Margaret Agnes at
St Mary's Church, Shrewsbury
St Mary's Church is a redundant Anglican church in St Mary's Place, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches C ...
on 7 July. Her elder brother was
Henry Edward George Rope. It was an
Anglican family but, soon after her husband's early death in 1899, her mother converted to
Roman Catholicism (along with 5 of her 6 children). She brought her children up in some degree of poverty, exacerbated by her father's will, which denied money to any descendant "in religion". Of the children, two became
nun
A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
s (herself and Monica) and one a priest (Fr. Harry Rope). Two other siblings were Irene Vaughan, a botanist, and Squadron Leader Michael Rope, an aeronautical engineer, who died in the
R101
R101 was one of a pair of British rigid airships completed in 1929 as part of a British government programme to develop civil airships capable of service on long-distance routes within the British Empire. It was designed and built by an Air Mi ...
airship disaster. Only one, Denys, a doctor of medicine, continued as an Anglican, following his father.
She was educated at home until she went in 1900 to the
Birmingham Municipal School of Art
The Birmingham School of Art was a municipal art school based in the centre of Birmingham, England. Although the organisation was absorbed by Birmingham Polytechnic in 1971 and is now part of Birmingham City University's Faculty of Arts, Design a ...
. Studies included enamelling and lettering. From 1901, she studied stained glass under Henry Payne. She had an illustrious career at the school including a number of scholarships, plus many awards in the National Competition for Schools of Art. In 1909, she left the school and worked from home (The Priory, Shrewsbury) especially on the large west window of
Shrewsbury Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of Our Lady Help of Christians and Saint Peter of Alcantara, commonly known as Shrewsbury Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Shrewsbury, England. It is the seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Shrewsbury and mothe ...
, the first of seven she did there. From 1911, she worked (sometimes with her cousin
M. E. Aldrich Rope and other artists such as
Joseph Edward Nuttgens
Joseph Edward (Eddie) Nuttgens (1892 – 1982), in Germany spelt Nüttgens, was a stained glass designer in England who worked mainly on church windows.
Early life
Nuttgens was born in Aachen, the eldest child of six born to a German tailor ...
) at
The Glass House (Fulham)
The Glass House building was a "purpose-built stained-glass studio and workshop" for stained glass artists in Fulham, London. Having gone into partnership in 1897, Mary Lowndes and Alfred Drury had The Glass House built in 1906 for use by indepe ...
until 1923 when, on 14 September, she became a
Carmelite nun, Sister Margaret of the Mother of God. As a nun, she was first at
Woodbridge, Suffolk
Woodbridge is a port and market town in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. It is up the River Deben from the sea. It lies north-east of Ipswich and forms part of the wider Ipswich built-up area. The town is close to some major a ...
, later at
Rushmere, Ipswich
Rushmere is an area and former civil parish in Suffolk, England and lies adjacent to the town of Ipswich, in the Borough of Ipswich, Ipswich district. In 1901 the parish had a population of 601.
In 1894 the parish of Rushmere St Andrew was cre ...
, and, after the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, at
Quidenham Hall, Norfolk. At Woodbridge, she was able to continue her work, sending glass to and fro by train to the Glass House in Fulham for cutting, firing and leading up. This continued until 1939. After the war and the move to Quidenham, she was not well enough to do more than help with the designs for the windows for the monastery church, which were made by her cousin. She died on 6 December 1953 aged 71.
Although she is buried at Quidenham, a memorial window to her can be found at the Church of the Holy Family and St Michael at
Kesgrave
Kesgrave is a town in the English county of Suffolk on the eastern edge of Ipswich. Kesgrave forms part of the wider Ipswich Built-up area.
History
The area was recorded as ''Gressgrava'' in the Domesday Book, by the late 15th century its nam ...
, near Ipswich, itself a memorial to her brother Michael Rope. This memorial was a window adapted by her cousin from an incomplete work of hers. Her archive was held at the
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BM&AG) is a museum and art gallery in Birmingham, England. It has a collection of international importance covering fine art, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, natural history, archaeology, ethnography, local ...
but has since been transferred.
She is reputed to have been a strong character, smoking and motorbike-riding being among her pastimes before she took her vows. Her stained glass work also shows strength of character as well as artistry in design and execution of a high order. Much of her best work is typified by strong colours, jewelled intensity and consummate glass painting skills. The sense of individual personality that shines from many of the faces she portrayed is powerful.
Works
Apart from student pieces on secular themes, her artistic output was exclusively for churches, nearly all Roman Catholic. Common themes of her windows were the Catholic English Martyrs, the Annunciation and the lives of the Saints. In a shorter career than her cousin, only 30-odd years, she inevitably produced fewer windows - around 60. The most notable examples are listed below with locations and some illustrations. First are windows in the United Kingdom, followed by those in other countries, in alphabetical order of county or country. Inaccessible windows have been omitted. Asterisks indicate windows of particular importance.
Exhibition
A major exhibition of Rope's work, under the title ''Heavenly Lights'', opened at
Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery
Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery was founded in 1835 as the Museum of the Shropshire and North Wales Natural History and Antiquarian Society Society in Dogpole, Shrewsbury, England. In 1853 the collections were moved to Vaughan's Mansion on Col ...
in September 2016. In August 2019 the museum unveiled a new stained glass window created by local artist Nathalie Hildegarde Liege inspired by the exhibition.
Gallery
File:Swineherd.jpg, Detail from the Prodigal Son window, St Mary's, Lanark: six episodes from the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Here he "fain would fill his belly with the husks that the swine did eat"
File:English_martyrs_Oxton.jpg, English Martyrs window at Holy Name, Oxton, Birkenhead
File:Oxton P1030508.JPG, SS Elizabeth, Mary & John the Baptist at Holy Name, Oxton, Birkenhead
File:St George Clifton Hampden.jpg, St George and the Dragon, St Michael's, Clifton Hampden
Clifton Hampden is a village and civil parish on the north bank of the River Thames, just over east of Abingdon in Oxfordshire. Since 1932 the civil parish has included the village of Burcot, east of Clifton Hampden. The 2011 Census record ...
, Oxfordshire
File:Llandovery memorial window Martgaret Rope.jpg, Memorial window to her sister's two children, Our Lady's, Llandovery, Dyfed, Wales
File:Great West Window Shrewsbury Cathedral.jpg, The Great West Window in Shrewsbury Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of Our Lady Help of Christians and Saint Peter of Alcantara, commonly known as Shrewsbury Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Shrewsbury, England. It is the seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Shrewsbury and mothe ...
, her first major commission, 1910
File:Shrewsbury Cathedral (37121758344).jpg, Detail of the west window in Shrewsbury Cathedral depicting the martyrdom of Saint Winefride
File:S Peter Newport Shropshire.jpg, Detail of the Saint Peter window at SS Peter & Paul, Newport, Shropshire
References
Further reading
*''Building News'', 29 January 1909, Vol 96, p. 178
*''Studio Year-book of Decorative Art'' 1909 p. 69
*''By Hammer and Hand: The Arts and Crafts Movement in Birmingham'', ed. Alan Crawford, Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery 1984, pp. 125–6
*"Margaret Agnes Rope (1883-1953): A new perspective on a unique stained glass artist", by Marian Crenshaw Austin, MA thesis in Stained Glass Conservation and Heritage Management, University of York, England, 2010
*http://www.stthomas-woodbridge.co.uk/History/Preamble.htm
etrieved on April 14, 2015 Section:"The Carmelite Convent"
*Peter Cormack, ''Arts and Crafts Stained Glass'' Yale University Press, August 2015,
*Arthur Rope, ''Margaret Rope of Shrewsbury'' Pangapilot Publications, March 2016,
*''Shrewsbury Catholic Voice'', Issue 5, Easter 2012, pp. 7–9:"The Marvellous Margaret Rope"
*''Shrewsbury Today'', issue 2, 15 July 2014, pp. 2–3
*http://www.arthur.rope.clara.net
etrieved on May 28, 2015*http://www.suffolkpainters.co.uk/index.cgi?choice=painter&pid=551
etrieved on April 14, 2015*https://www.flickr.com/groups/margarets/pool
etrieved on May 12, 2015*http://www.stainedglassrecords.org/F.asp?FId=1008&CId=0
etrieved on May 12, 2015*http://www.artbiogs.co.uk/1/artists/rope-margaret-agnes
etrieved on April 4, 2015
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rope, Margaret
English stained glass artists and manufacturers
Artists from Shrewsbury
Arts and Crafts movement artists
1882 births
1953 deaths
Carmelite nuns
20th-century English Roman Catholic nuns