St. Gobnait Drawing a Plague Line (Detail) Kort

The Irish, it is said, are born storytellers. Harry Clarke (1889-1931) was no exception. He told two in the 1914 preliminary drawing for the St. Gobnait stained-glass window--one above, the other below-- her full-length portrait. The scenes are prime examples of episodic narrative art. Narrative can be defined as storytelling with words; narrative art is storytelling with pictures. Episodic narrative art encapsulates an entire story in a single image. + In this detail from the small arched space above the saint’s head, Clarke recounts the measures St. Gobnait undertook to protect her townspeople from a plague. Eyes raised to heaven, St. Gobnait is shown drawing a line and a cross in the dirt with the end of her wooden crosier, the symbol of her office as abbess. It was believed at the time that by doing so, she could create a sacred space that was a plague-free zone. Standlng beyond the plague line are three people already ravaged by disease. + Both Clarke’s preliminary sketch and the finished window are highly representative of the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement (1886-1925) that sought a return to medieval handcraftsmanship and designs celebrating traditional Irish motifs drawn from legend and history. Image Credit: Detail of a stained glass window design of St. Gobnait in pencil, pen and inks, and watercolor on board for Honan Chapel, University College, Cork, Ireland, by Harry Clarke, 1914, Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York, Public Domain. + St. Gobnait’s Feast: February 11