Espying Heaven

'Perhaps the best response to Kempe's critics, and the best tribute we can pay to him now, is to take our cue from those who knew him and worked for him, and see what it is he was teaching. This is exactly where Espying Heaven is most helpful, allowing us to 'read' the details in his windows as well as to appreciate the artistry involved. Both books are beautifully produced.' - Jacqueline Banerjee, Associate Editor of The Victorian Web, February 20th, 2019 there is no question about the debt which all lovers of stained glass owe to Adrian Barlow for this volume and [Kempe: The Life, Art and Legacy of Charles Eamer Kempe] Whether the Kempe style appeals to you or not, once you have read this study you will never look casually at a Kempe window again.... Beyong question it is a book to buy and treasure. Barry A Orford, New Directions, March 2020 clearly wrtten, exhaustively researched, strong on descriptive and biographical detail, generously illustrated, and with a very useful gazetteer locating most of Kempe's oeuvre, at GBP25 it is also exceptionally good value. Graham Howes,Theology 122 (4) [Barlow] provides his readers with a deeper understanding of a central figure of british stained glass Vidimus 132, 2020 Barlow's exceptionally lucid biographical and thematic commentary not only embrace the entire corpus of the Kempe Studio; they may even reactivate, for our own time, the powerful immediacy that such work would have had for many Victorians Graham Howes, Theology 2020, Vol.123, pp 380-382 The book does undoubtedly have a significant value for its illustrations, which provide a fairly comprehensive visual record of stylistic and iconographic developments (or sometimes the lack of them) in the Kempe studio's oeuvre from 1868, when the enterprise began, until its closure in 1934. This is a valuable study, admirably well-researches and presented. It is also (which is rarer) an enjoyable read.