Image:Tomwindo.png

Thomas Becket (from a window of Canterbury cathedral)

This is in fact not a medieval representation of Thomas Becket but a fabrication by Samuel Caldwell Jr, dating from 1919. It is part of window nVII in the Trinity Chapel Ambulatory of en:Canterbury Cathedral, most, if not all of which, dates to 1949, designed in a convincingly medieval style by Calwell Jr. The panel is made up from some fragments of medieval glass and much modern glass painted and acid-etched to look ancient. While the head is a medieval piece dating to the late 12th or early 13th century, its provenance is unclear and it is highly unlikely that it shows Thomas Becket.

Caldwell Jr was Canterbury Cathedral's stained glass restorer during the first half of the 20th century. He had at his disposal a large number of fragments of medieval glass, and he used those in several places (e.g. the North Oculus window in the northern transept of Canterbury Cathedral) to fill gaps in the medieval windows, or - as in the panel above - to fabricate convincing fakes.

Source: Caviness, M. The Windows of Christ Church Cathedral Canterbury, London 1981, p175

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Originally from en.wikipedia; description page is (was) here