The Unhappy Judas (1912 Panel)
National Museum, Collins Barracks, Dublin 1. Window: 2, Number of Lights 1, Date 1912 Map
The Unhappy Judas was created by Harry while he was still a student at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art. The panel won Harry his third successive medal at the South Kensington examinations in London in 1913. It also won first prize in the Royal Dublin Society’s Art Industries Exhibition in 1913.
The panel consists of the top two thirds of a lancet window. It contains four borders filled with gloriously coloured pieces of glass. The top section depicts eight angels who surround Judas’ spirit as it enters heaven.
The main panels depict an angel who holds the noose that Judas used to hang himself. The rope encircles Judas’ face. He is dressed in a yellow robe that is decorated with the thirty pieces of silver that he received for betraying Jesus.
The Unhappy Judas was purchased by the National Museum before it went on auction at Christy’s on May 8th 2008 (Kelly: May 9th 2009). The panel had been in private hands before its purchase.
Photos by © Michael Cullen (for prints/sales www.irishimages.org) - Text © by Lucy Costigan
Kelly, F, Museum Beats the Bidders with Deal for Stained Glass, The Irish Independent, May 8th 2009