St Wilfrid and St John Berchmans, 1927
Harry Clarke was an Irish artist working in the Arts and Crafts tradition. His intricate jewelled technique, however, he developed himself. Early in his career Clarke was a book-illustrator, strongly influenced by Beardsley. Although his greatest stained glass work is found in Ireland, his contacts with the Arts and Crafts Movement secured him a number of major English commissions.
By 1930 Clarke's health was failing and he died at the relatively young age of 42, his death, it is said, hastened by breathing the fumes of acid used for the etching of his stained glass.