Editing Eric Gill (section)

===Westminster Cathedral 1914–1918===
[[File:Westminster Cathedral, Stations of the Cross XIII.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Westminster Cathedral]], Stations of the Cross XIII]]
In 1913, after Gill and his wife became Catholics, they moved to Hopkin's Crank at [[Ditchling Common]], two miles north of Ditchling village.<ref name="ODNB" /> There Gill worked primarily for Catholic clients, such as his 1914 commission for the 14 [[Stations of the Cross]] in [[Westminster Cathedral]].<ref name="ODNB" /><ref name="PRogers">{{cite web|url=http://www.westminstercathedral.org.uk/tour_stations.php|title=Stations of the Cross|author=Patrick Rogers|year=2005|website=Westminster Cathedral|access-date=20 January 2022|archive-date=20 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120215654/http://www.westminstercathedral.org.uk/tour_stations.php|url-status=dead}}</ref> Gill was a surprising choice for the commission as he had only recently become a Catholic and had been a sculptor for only three years.<ref name="PDoyle">{{cite book |title=Westminster Cathedral 1895–1995 |author=Peter Doyle |publisher=Geoffrey Chapman |year=1995 |isbn=0225666847}}</ref> He was prepared to do the work more quickly and for a lower fee than more established sculptors would.<ref name="PDoyle"/> Gill modelled both the Christ figure in panel ten and a soldier in the second panel on himself.<ref name="PRogers"/> The Stations were not universally well received when they were erected, with criticism of their simple appearance and how starkly they contrasted with the rest of the cathedral interior.<ref name="PDoyle"/> A minority, which eventually included [[Nikolaus Pevsner]], praised their uncluttered design and unsentimental treatment of the subject.<ref name="PDoyle"/> They are now considered among Gill's most accomplished large-scale works.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|125}} Gill submitted proposals for decorations and works in other parts of the Cathedral building and eventually his design for the Chapel of Saint George and the English Martyrs was commissioned.<ref name="PDoyle"/>

Gill had been granted exemption from military service while working on the Stations of the Cross and when they were finished spent three months, from September 1918, as a driver at an [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] camp in Dorset before returning to Ditchling.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|138}}