The symbol of the self-sacrificing pelican bird is one well-known to Christian artists down the centuries – but, as usual, when Margaret Rope uses it, she puts her own spin on it.

The millennia-old legend, adopted by Christianity, was that in times of famine the female pelican would tear open her breast, and feed her young with her own blood – and thus she became a symbol for Jesus’ sacrifice, as He atoned for the sins of the world. The pelican’s sacrifice reflects the Passion of Christ – and the image has become known formally as the ‘Pelican in her Piety‘.

Lanark

Marga’s most well-known pelican is the one in Lanark RC Church (see pic below). Fittingly, her pelican is set in tracery, above a light showing the events of Easter (Passion) Week and the Crucifixion.
Interestingly she gives her pelican a halo and – doubly unusual – she gives it an orange-coloured halo. (Having said that, Marga’s use of orange is quite striking).

A fellow enthusiast for Marga’s work, Ms R Moody, writes in her comments on Margaret’s pelican in Lanark Church: “…a halo is unusual in itself – the pelican in art doesn’t usually have a regular halo. Concerning haloes, it either has none or a tripartite one.”

Poignantly, as Ms Moody further writes, the pelican symbol opened up in the nineteenth century to come to mean ‘sacrifice-for-others’ generally, and so is often seen on war memorials remembering soldiers ‘who died that others may live’.

And, though there is no direct reference to the conflict, this Lanark window was installed in 1915, right in the middle of World War One.

Vibrancy

In fact, the year 1915, when Margaret was 33 years old, was in a period when Marga was at her creative best.
Unsurprisingly then, this particular pelican scene in Lanark has a thrilling vibrancy to it (especially when the light comes shining through it). Marga gives us a variation of shining colours: putting a green nest and a bright blue stream into the mix, as well as the orange halo and scarlet blood.

The shape behind the pelican has not been definitely identified – is it a rising sun? However, the shapes in the air – those that could be pointed leaves – are probably flames of fire, as they resemble other flames by Marga elsewhere.
Why flames should be there though at all is another puzzle. (All suggestions welcome!)

Curiously, Marga’s other pelican (in Clapham Church, 1930s) is rather dull and doesn’t bear a second glance…

Ornithology

A last observation: Marga likes to be exact in her depictions even to the extent in this scene of showing the chicks as they really would have been – rather unattractive!
She has also resisted the urge to give the pelican a long, swan-like neck, even though other artists do do just that. Margaret was very keen on birds and would likely have disapproved strongly of anything so anatomically incorrect – though that fact didn’t stop Burne-Jones…! (see below).

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