Hutton sketches return to Coventry Cathedral

The images together make up a tryptic of one of the flying angels

Sketches that led to the creation of a centrepiece at Coventry Cathedral have been acquired by the venue after a fundraising appeal.

Engraver John Hutton took 10 years to carve 66 figures into the 70ft (21m) high glass West Screen, which was completed in time for the new cathedral's 1962 consecration.

The Friends of Coventry Cathedral group raised £1,500 to secure the drawings Mr Hutton made before committing to glass.

They were bought ahead of an auction.

"They are just amazing, I was lost for words when I first saw them," said cathedral archivist Dianne Morris.

The West Screen links the old cathedral with the new

Ms Morris said she had been approached by a woman who had been left the engraver's sketches in a will. They will be transported to Coventry in the next few weeks.

The drawings were in Italy, said Ms Morris, who explained the woman's uncle had been a contemporary and colleague of Mr Hutton, although it was unclear whether the material had originally been acquired by purchase or as a gift.

The archivist added she had travelled to the seller's house where the sketches were "propped up in the dining room against a wall".

"As I walked through the door I just felt like all my Christmases had come together," she said.

"To see them 'in the flesh', and to know the history of them - I was just gobsmacked, I was speechless for a minute or two."

The screen was designed and hand engraved by John Hutton over the course of 10 years

The sketches consist of three 7ft by 3ft (2.1m by 1m) images which together make up a tryptic of one of the flying angels depicted on the glass screen.

"I didn't know anything on this scale existed," Ms Morris said.

"I have been down to the V&A Museum who have a good collection of Hutton drawings but nothing on this scale.

"It's exciting for me but it's just incredible for the cathedral."

The sketches were used to template the image on to the glass ahead of carving, said Martin Williams, chairman of the Friends of Coventry Cathedral.

"We launched an appeal and the Friends responded willingly," he said. "I've more than met the target."

"When [the drawings arrive] it means we'll be able to see what conservation measures need to be taken, and if it needs reframing we'll be able to afford it."

Cathedral archivist Dianne Morris said she had been left lost for words.

Mr Williams said he was "amazed" when he first saw pictures of the sketches.

"It demonstrates the way in which John Hutton worked in ways that are not easy to understand," he said.

"How does someone engrave on an empty pane of glass? Well he does it with a lot of thought and planning."

The cathedral owns a smaller Hutton sketch, and was gifted another, by Mr Hutton's granddaughter, of an angel - a work destroyed during a robbery.

It is hoped the sketches will form part of a future exhibition at the cathedral.