Born in Marylebone in 1827, John Richard Clayton was an important maker of stained glass in the latter half of the nineteenth century. A contemporary and friend of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood with a passion for gothic architecture, Clayton began his artistic formation at seventeen with an apprenticeship with Theodore Phyffers who assisted Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin on the sculptural decorations.
While producing drawings for G. G. Scott in the mid-1850s, Clayton was encouraged to work with Alfred Bell, and the firm of Clayton & Bell was formed in 1855, going on to become one of the most preeminent stained-glass manufacturers and church decorators in England.
While their work was primarily ecclesiastical, the firm also had secular clients and their operation grew so large that by the mid-1860s they employed three hundred employees in their Regent Street workshop.
Their stained glass, such as the three present panels, represent excellent examples of the Gothic revival for which the company was highly acclaimed and sought after.
Lyon & Turnbull’s Decorative Arts & Design specialists are renowned for both their knowledge and their sales of artworks conducted from London and Edinburgh and via our live online auctions. Our specialists are experts not only on design from 1860 to the present, but also on current market conditions, an essential combination to any successful auction.
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