Clutterbuck was born in
London on 3 September 1806, the son of Edmund and Susannah Clutterbuck, and baptised at Christ Church, Newgate Street, on 28 September 1806.[1]
In the national
census of England, June, 1841. the family was living at Maryland Point,
Stratford,
Essex, and he was described as an artist, with his wife Hannah and three of their children: Helen (Helen Susannah Clutterbuck), Robert (afterwards the Rev. Robert Hawley Clutterbuck), and Charles (Charles Edmund Clutterbuck).[2]
In the census of March 1851, Clutterbuck is more fully described as an "Artist on painted glass, employing two men, five boys and one girl." Living with him were his wife, Hannah, and five children: Helen, Robert, Charles, Hannah (Hannah Charlotte Clutterbuck), and Hugh (Hugh Jones Clutterbuck).[3]
By 1861, Clutterbuck and his wife were at living at No. 4, Frances Place, in the parish of All Saints,
West Ham. He and his son Charles Edmund Clutterbuck, are described as stained glass painters.[4]
Clutterbuck died at Maryland Point on 5 December 1861.[5]
Work
Charles Clutterbuck was a painter of miniatures, who exhibited his works at the
Royal Academy.[6][7]
He began working in stained glass in the 1830s, with the commission for his earliest known window, at St Digain's Church, Llangernyw, Conwy, being 1830.[8]
His son, Charles Edmund Clutterbuck(1839–1883) carried on the business until 1882.
Style
Clutterbuck employed the techniques used by 18th century stained glass artists, rather than those imitating Mediaeval stained glass favoured by
Gothic revival studios. This involved painting on sections of glass that were comparatively large, using a matrix of ground glass, and then annealing the surface in a kiln. This process was sometimes not entirely successful, with the details of some windows such as those at St Anne's, Limehouse, suffering losses over the years.[12]
Clutterbuck's windows are Classical depictions of Biblical narratives, with dynamic action and dramatic characterisation.[13]
^W.P.W. Phillimore (ed.) (1894), Gloucestershire Notes and Queries: An Illustrated Quarterly (vol. 5), p. 511.
^Census Returns of England and Wales, 1841. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1841.
^Census Returns of England and Wales, 1851. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1851.
^Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1861.
^Principal Probate Registry. Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England. London, England