A Child's Great Freedom

A Child’s Great Freedom Commentary by Naomi Billingsley Bible Passage ‘Peace’ is one of four windows in the south transept at Canterbury Cathedral by the Hungarian Jewish artist Ervin Bossányi (1891–1975). They replaced temporary, clear windows that had been installed following damage during the Second World War. The design is a symbolic conception, not an illustration of the biblical narrative of the children being brought to Jesus, though it mirrors elements of this story. Four children gather close to a Christ figure, who blesses them (see Matthew 19:14–15; Mark 10:14–16). Below, a family enjoys the state of peace, and an angel hands an apple to the child in its mother’s arms. Above, the signs of Alpha and Omega, representing beginning and end, suggest the enduring continuity of this vision. Children were important to Bossányi and appear throughout his work. He delighted in and shared a child-like, innocent view of the world (Fouquet 1979: 8). Bossányi wanted the Canterbury windows to ‘have the child’s great freedom, freshness & courage but also the wise man’s knowledge & awareness of limitations, humbleness’ (Bossányi 1953). The four children represent different races, and the design symbolizes communion among nations. It is a vision of unity, love, and hope in the decades after the Second World War. Bossányi himself had been forced to emigrate from Germany to England in 1934, following the rise of the Nazi party, perhaps lending an autobiographical resonance to the theme of this work. This is a vision of a Kingdom of Heaven that embraces and unites all children—and all who receive it like a child (see Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17).