“EXTRAORDINARILY accomplished” sketches by a Jersey-born artist, which were the basis for many of the Island’s stained-glass windows, could be a draw for the tourism sector, according to the team restoring them.
Paper conservator Lisa Oxenden-Wray is currently preparing the Henry Thomas Bosdet artworks for a series of exhibitions, the first of which is to be held in St Martin’s Parish Church.
More exhibitions are planned next year for St Aubin on the Hill and St Mary’s Church.
The “cartoons” – large sketches on paper guiding the stained-glass artist in creating large windows – measure up to 8½ft, though the largest will be represented by copies due to the difficulty of framing the artwork and lack of display space.
Frederick Benest, the chair of the Glass Rainbow Trust, a charity set up to celebrate the life and work of Bosdet, said: “They [the drawings] were part of the creative process, but they are wonderful works of art in their own right.
“The cartoons are extraordinarily accomplished works of art.”
Mrs Oxenden-Wray added: “For Jersey to have this in their collection is quite something. If we were to display them, we would get more visitors coming to Jersey to see them.”
One of the artist’s cartoons is on show at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
Mr Benest said: “If it’s good enough for the V&A, it’s good enough for Jersey.”
Bosdet had an illustrious artistic and commercial career at the start of the 20th century, designing stained-glass windows around the world including in St Helena and Barbados – as well as designing pieces for a number of Island churches.
Mrs Oxenden-Wray spent two months restoring the first six panels, working four to five hours a day erasing dirt and repairing tears.
The sketches have been in storage since they were bequeathed to the Société Jersiaise and later passed on to Jersey Archive.
Mrs Oxenden-Wray said: “They’re about 120 years old and they’ve got 120 years’ worth of dirt on them.” She added that she was also repairing tears, some of which had worsened throughout the past century.
She was brought onto the project by the Glass Rainbow Trust and Jersey Heritage.
The idea for the exhibitions came from former Jurat Paul Nicolle, a member of the trust, with funding provided by the Jersey Community Foundation.
The first of the displays will be held at St Martin’s Parish Church from Tuesday 5 to Sunday 10 December.
