This paper examines the history of one of the most important schemes of eighteenth-century painted glass in England: the east window of Ely Cathedral by the Dublin-born James Pearson. Although it was never completed, remains of this window have been preserved in the cathedral and in the bishop's palace. The Ely work remains Pearson's earliest recorded and most substantial commission, and a reassessment is made of its significance in his long career as a glass-painter. Changes in the proposed iconography are studied in the light of contemporary attitudes to imagery and the place of the painted glass scheme is analysed in the complex and controversial restoration history of Ely Cathedral. The paper demonstrates that eighteenth-century painted glass played an important role in the adaptation of cathedrals to contemporary liturgical requirements: at Ely, it largely determined the placing and layout of the new choir.
