Christ with Sheaves of Wheat

Opaque glass mosaic, designed by William Blake Richmond, executed by Messrs Powell of Whitefriars, completed by 1904



The arches at the western end of the quire aisles are the first ceiling mosaics that visitors encounter upon entering the quire. Richmond has chosen parables of Jesus as introductory themes here. At the far, eastern end of the aisles they are complemented by two mosaics offering comparisons to Christianity taken from classical mythology: Orpheus and Demeter. While this image can be read as a blessing of the harvest, it can also be related to the New Testament Parables of the Sower, and the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares.



Brief description: Christ is depicted as a young, dark-haired man with a beard and halo, dressed in a light blue tunic, seated on a blue hill, with two sheaves of wheat on his lap, his right raised in blessing, against a golden background in an oval reserve, framed in blue and gold; the roundel is set in a square with representations of grapes and a vine against a golden background, with an outer frame of scrolling foliage in gold against a blue background; this mosaic panel is the centre of a vaulted arch leading from the crossing to the Minor Canons’ Aisle which is also decorated in mosaic in red and gold, using various ornaments first used in ancient mosaics



Related quotes: The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares in Matthew 13:24-30: “’The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the householder came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then has it weeds? He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this. The servants said to him, ‘Then, do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No; lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest; and at the harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’” (NRSV)