stained glass

 

in general, windows made of colored glass. To a large extent, the name is a misnomer, for staining is only one of the methods of coloring employed, and the best medieval glass made little use of it.

Background

Colored glass as window decoration is of great antiquity in East Asia. Muslim designers fitted small pieces of it into intricate window traceries of stone, wood, or plaster, and this type of window mosaic is still in use. Colored glass was used in windows of Christian churches as early as the 5th cent., and pictorial glass as early as the 10th cent.

Medieval Stained Glass

With the development of medieval architecture, stained glass assumed a unique structural and symbolic importance. As the Romanesque massiveness of the wall was eliminated, the use of glass was expanded. It was integrated with the lofty vertical elements of Gothic architecture, thus providing greater illumination. Symbolically, it was regarded as a manifestation of divine light. In these transparent mosaics, biblical history and church dogmas were portrayed with great effectiveness. Resplendent in its material and spiritual richness, stained glass became one of the most beautiful forms of medieval artistic expression.

The early glaziers followed a sketched cartoon for their window design. They used a red-hot iron for cutting the glass to the required pieces, afterward firing in the kiln those that had received painted lines and shadings. The pieces were then fitted into the channeled lead strips, the leads soldered together at junction points, and the whole installed in a bracing framework of iron called the armature. The lead strips were adjusted to the articulation of the design and formed an integral part of it. The coloring of glass was achieved in the melting pot, where metallic oxides were fused with the glass. The metallic ores, although at first crude and limited, ultimately produced admirable color variations. The glass, available only in small pieces, gave thereby a jewellike quality to the colors. The pieces, by their uneven surfaces and varying thicknesses, gave the advantage of irregular and scintillating refractions of light.

Only fragments remain of glass from the 11th cent. The period of greatest achievement in the art extended from 1150 to 1250. Some examples from the 12th cent. can be seen in the windows of Saint-Denis (Paris), Chartres, and Le Mans in France, as well as at Canterbury and at York Minster in England. The windows of this period were characterized by rich dark colors, single figures, and scrollwork. A recurrent design, that of the Jesse tree, continued in use until the 16th cent.

By the beginning of the 13th cent. figures were abundantly used in scenes, being enclosed in geometrical medallions, such as circles, lozenges, or quatrefoils. A window was composed of many of these medallions. Color became more detailed and varied, and the prevailing scheme of red, blue, green, and purple, with small amounts of white, created tense and vibrant harmonies. In France the cathedral at Chartres is an unrivaled treasury of 13th-century glass; Sainte-Chapelle, Paris, is a triumph of architecture in which the walls present an illusion of being made entirely of fragile, exquisite stained glass. In England there are outstanding windows at York, Lincoln, and Salisbury. In the 14th cent. as medieval glass-making waned, medallion compositions were replaced by a single figure framed in canopied shrines. Many windows showed clear areas designed in grisaille.

See also rose window.

Later Stained Glass

In the 15th cent. glass artists achieved a silvery tone by the use of large proportions of white glass, and their figures of saints and apostles were surmounted by elaborate canopies. With improved glassmaking many of the assets of medieval stained glass (small, jewellike pieces of varying thicknesses) vanished. By the 16th cent. the material was smoother and in larger pieces; toward the middle of this century the use of enamel paints permitted the designs to be entirely painted on the glass and then fired. During the 16th cent. stained glass designers emulated the purely pictorial effects of Renaissance oil painting, with complicated perspectives, large scale, and realistic detail.

Stained Glass in the Modern World

Nineteenth-century romanticism and the Gothic revival brought fresh study and emulation of stained glass as well as of other medieval arts. The arts and crafts movement under William Morris was especially productive. A great contribution to American stained glass was made by John La Farge and Louis Comfort Tiffany. In modern art the medium has been used with great effectiveness by Rouault, Matisse, and Chagall.

Bibliography

See E. L. Armitage, Stained Glass: History, Technology and Practice (1959); J. Baker, English Stained Glass (1960); E. von Witzleben, Stained Glass in French Cathedrals (1968).

The term stained glass refers either to the material of coloured glass or to the art and craft of working with it. Throughout its thousand-year history the term "stained glass" was applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches, cathedrals and other significant buildings. Although traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensional structures and sculpture.

Modern vernacular usage has often extended the term "stained glass" to include domestic leadlight and objets d'art created from lead came and copper foil glasswork such as exemplified in the famous lamps of Faberge. See separate articles.

As a material the term stained glass generally refers to glass that has been coloured by adding metallic salts during its manufacture. The coloured glass is crafted into stained glass windows in which small pieces of glass are arranged to form patterns or pictures, held together (traditionally) by strips of lead and supported by a rigid frame. Painted details and yellow stain are often used to enhance the design. The term stained glass is also applied to windows in which all the colours have been painted onto the glass and then annealed in a furnace.

Stained glass, as an art and a craft, requires the artistic skill to conceive the design, and the engineering skills necessary to assemble the decorative piece, traditionally a window, so that it is capable of supporting its own weight and surviving the elements. Many large windows have withstood the test of time and remained substantially intact since the late Middle Ages. In Western Europe they constitute the major form of pictorial art to have survived. In this context, the purpose of a stained glass window is not to allow those within a building to see out or even primarily to admit light but rather to control it. For this reason stained glass windows have been described as 'illuminated wall decorations'.

The design of a window may be non-figurative or figurative. It may incorporate narratives drawn from the Bible, history or literature, or represent saints or patrons. It may have symbolic motifs, in particular armorial. Windows within a building may be thematic, for example: within a church - episodes from the life of Christ; within a parliament building - shields of the constituencies; within a college hall - figures representing the arts and sciences.

Manufacture

Glass production

From the 10th or 11th century, when stained glass began to flourish as an art, glass factories were set up where there was a ready supply of silica, the essential product of glass manufacture. Glass was usually coloured by adding metallic oxides to the glass while in a molten state in a clay pot over a furnace. Glass coloured in this way was known as pot metal. Copper oxides were added to produce green, cobalt for blue, and gold was added to produce red glass.

Cylinder glass This glass was then collected from the pot into a molten globule and blown, being continually manipulated until it formed a large cylindrical bottle shape of even diameter and wall-thickness. It was then cut open, laid flat and annealed to make it stable. This is the type of glass most commonly used for ancient stained glass windows.

Crown glass This glass was partly blown into a hollow vessel, then put onto a revolving table which could be rapidly spun like a potter's wheel. The centrifugal force caused the molten material to flattened and spread outwards. It could then be cut into small sheets. This glass could be made coloured and used for stained glass windows, but is typically associated with small paned windows of 16th and 17th century houses. The concentric, curving ripples are characteristic of this process. The center of each piece of glass received less force during the spinning, and thus produced was a thicker piece. These were sometimes used for the special effect created by their lumpy, refractive quality. They are known as bull's eyes and are feature of late 19th century domestic lead lighting and are sometimes used with cathedral glass or quarry glass in church windows of that date.

Table glass This glass was produced by tipping the molten glass onto a metal table and sometimes rolling it. The glass thus produced was heavily textured by the reaction of the glass with the cold metal. Glass of this appearance is commercially produced and widely used today, under the name of cathedral glass, although it was not the type of glass favoured for stained glass in ancient cathedrals. It has been much used for lead lighting in churches in the 20th century.

Flashed glass Red pot metal glass was often undesirably dark in colour and prohibitively expensive. The method developed to produce red glass was called flashing. In this procedure, a semi-molten cylinder of colourless glass was dipped into a pot of red glass so that the red glass formed a thin coating. The laminated glass thus formed was cut, flattened and heat annealed.

There were a number of advantages to this technique. It allowed a variety in the depth of red, ranging from very dark and almost opaque, through ruby red to pale and sometimes streaky red that was often used for thin border pieces. The other advantage was that the red of double-layered glass could be engraved or abraded to show colourless glass underneath. In the late Medieval glass this method was often employed to add rich patterns to the robes of Saints. The other advantage, much exploited by late Victorian and early 20th century artists, was that sheets could be flashed in which the depth of colour varied across the sheet. Some stained glass studios, notably Lavers and Barraud, made extensive use of large segments of irregularly flashed glass in robes and draperies.

There still exist a number of glass factories, notably in Germany, USA, England, France, Poland and Russia which continue to produce high quality glass by traditional methods primarily for the restoration of ancient windows. Modern stained glass windows often use machine made glass, slab glass, which as its name suggests is very thick, and so-called cathedral glass which is sometimes heavily textured.

Creating stained glass windows

• The first stage in the production of a window is to make, or acquire from the architect or owners of the building, an accurate template of the window opening that the glass was to fit.

• The subject matter of the window is determined to suit the location, a particular theme, or the whim of the patron. A small design called a Vidimus is prepared which can be shown to the patron.

• A traditional narrative window has panels which relate a story. A figurative window could have rows of saints or dignitories. Scriptural texts or mottoes are sometimes included and perhaps the names of the patrons or the person as whose memorial the window is dedicated. In a window of a traditional type, it is usually at the discretion of the designer to fill the surrounding areas with borders, floral motifs and canopies.

• A full sized cartoon is drawn for every "light" (opening) of the window. A small church window might typically be of two lights, with some simple tracery lights above. A large window might have four or five lights. The east or west window of a large cathedral might have seven lights in three tiers with elaborate tracery. In Medieval times the cartoon was drawn straight onto a whitewashed table, which was then used for cutting, painting and assembling the window.

• The designer must take into account the design, the structure of the window, the nature and size of the glass available and his own preferred technique. The cartoon is then be divided into a patchwork as a template for each small glass piece. The exact position of the lead which holds the glass in place is part of the calculated visual effect.

• Each piece of glass is selected for the desired colour and cut to match a section of the template. An exact fit is ensured by grozing the edges with a tool which can nibble off small pieces.

• Details of faces, hair and hands can be painted onto the inner surface of the glass in a special glass paint which contains finely ground lead or copper filings, ground glass, gum arabic and a medium such as wine, vinegar or (traditionally) urine. The art of painting details became increasingly elaborate and reached its height in the early 20th century.

• Once the window is cut and painted, the pieces are assembled by slotting them into H-sectioned lead cames. The joints are then all soldered together and the glass pieces are stopped from rattling and the window made weatherproof by forcing a soft oily cement or mastic between the glass and the cames.

• Traditionally, when the windows were inserted into the window spaces, iron rods were put across at various points, to support the weight of the window, which was tied to the rods by copper wire. Some very large early Gothic windows are divided into sections by heavy metal frames called ferramenta. This method of support was also favoured for large, usually painted, windows of the Baroque period.

• From 1300 onwards, artists started using silver stain which was made with silver nitrate. It gave a yellow effect ranging from pale lemon to deep orange. It was usually painted onto the outside of a piece of glass, then fired to make it permanent. This yellow was particularly useful for enhancing borders, canopies and haloes, and turning blue glass into green glass for green grass.

• By about 1450 a stain known as Cousin's rose was used to enhance flesh tones.

• In the 1500s a range of glass stains were introduced, most of them coloured by ground glass particles. They were a form of enamel. Painting on glass with these stains was initially used for small heraldic designs and other details. By the 1600s a style of stained glass had evolved that was no longer dependent upon the skilful cutting of coloured glass into sections. Scenes were painted onto glass panels of square format, like tiles. The colours were annealed to the glass and the pieces were assembled into metal frames.

• In modern windows, copper foil is now sometimes used instead of lead. For further technical details, see Lead came and copper foil glasswork.

Technical details

Large late 12th-c. window in Canterbury Cathedral with recently restored early 13th-c. glass showing details of metal supporting frame

Detail of same window from Canterbury Cathedral, 13th c., showing Thomas Becket

Window in Canterbury Cathedral showing the pot metal and painted glass, lead H-sectioned cames, modern steel rods and copper wire attachments

European panel, 1564, with typical painted details, extensive silver stain, Cousin's rose on the face, and flashed ruby glass with abraded white motif

History

Origins

Coloured glass has been produced since ancient times. Both the Egyptians and the Romans excelled at the manufacture of small coloured glass objects. The British Museum holds two of the finest Roman pieces, the Lycurgus Cup, which is a murky mustard colour but glows purple-red to transmitted light, and the Portland vase which is midnight blue, with a carved white overlay.

In early Christian churches of the 4th and 5th centuries there are many remaining windows which are filled with ornate patterns of thinly-sliced alabaster set into wooden frames, giving a stained-glass like effect. Similar effects were achieved with greater elaboration using coloured glass rather than stone by Muslim architects in Southwest Asia. In the 8th century, the Arab chemist Jabir ibn Hayyan (Geber) scientifically described 46 original recipes for producing coloured glass in Kitab al-Durra al-Maknuna (The Book of the Hidden Pearl), in addition to 12 recipes inserted by al-Marrakishi in a later edition of the book. Jabir also described the production of high quality coloured glass cut into artificial gemstones.^[1]

A perfume flask from 100 BCE-200 CE

The Portland Vase, a rare example of Roman flashed glass

Alabaster window from St. Peter's Basilica, Rome, 16th c.

Stained glass in the Nasir al-Mulk mosque in Shiraz, Iran

Medieval glass

Stained glass, as an art form, reached its height in the Middle Ages. In the Romanesque and Early Gothic period, from about 950 CE to 1240 CE, the untraceried windows demanded large expanses of glass which of necessity were supported by robust iron frames, such as may be seen at Chartres Cathedral and at the eastern end of Canterbury Cathedral. As Gothic architecture developed into a more ornate form, windows grew larger, affording greater illumination to the interiors, but were divided into sections by vertical shafts and tracery of stone. The elaboration of form reached its height of complexity in the Flamboyant style in Europe and windows grew still larger with the development of the Perpendicular style in England.

Integrated with the lofty verticals of Gothic cathedrals and parish churches, the glass designs became more daring. The circular form, or rose window developed in France from relatively simple windows with pierced openings through slabs of thin stone to wheel windows, as exemplified by that in the West front of Chartres Cathedral, and ultimately to designs of enormous complexity, the tracery being drafted from hundreds of different points, such as those at Sainte-Chapelle, Paris and the "Bishop's Eye" at Lincoln Cathedral.

Daniel from Augsburg Cathedral, early 12th c. One of the oldest examples in situ.

Windows from Chartres Cathedral, 13th c.

The Poor Man's Bible window at Canterbury Cathedral, 13th c.

The rose window from Sainte-Chapelle, 15th c.

Destruction and continuation

At the Reformation, in England large numbers of these windows were smashed and replaced with plain glass. The Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII and the injunctions of Oliver Cromwell against 'abused images' (the object of veneration) resulted in the loss of thousands of windows. Few remain undamaged; of them the windows in the private chapel at Hengrave Hall in Suffolk are among the finest. With the latter wave of destruction the traditional methods of working with stained glass died and were not to be rediscovered in England until the early 19th century. For more details

In Europe, however, stained glass continued to be produced in the Classical style which is widely represented in Germany, Belgium and Holland, despite the rise of Protestantism. In France much glass of this period was produced at the Limoges factory, and at Murano in Italy, where stained glass and faceted lead crystal are often coupled together in the same window. Ultimately, in France the French Revolution brought about the neglect or destruction of many windows.

Post-Reformation window in Speyer Cathedral, Germany

Les Andelys, Normandy, 16th century

Ghent Cathedral, Belgium, 16th century

Cologne Cathedral, window using painterly technique

Revival

Main article: Stained glass - British glass, 1811-1918

The Catholic revival in England, gaining force in the early 19th century, with its renewed interest in the mediaeval church brought a revival of church building in the Gothic style, claimed by John Ruskin to be "the true Catholic style". The architectural movement was led by Augustus Welby Pugin. Many new churches were planted in large towns and many old churches were restored. This brought about a great demand for the revival of the art of stained glass window making.

Hardman of Birmingham

Because of the technical requirements, stained glass making was generally on an industrial scale. Firms such as Hardman & Co. of Birmingham and Clayton and Bell of London employed artists who were never known outside their particular trade but who filled English churches with their glass. Initially most of Hardman's designs were by A.W.N. Pugin and were installed in buildings of which he was the architect, but on his death in 1852, his nephew John Hardman Powell (1828-1895) took over. A keen Catholic, Powell's work appealed to Anglo-Catholic tastes but he also had a commercial eye and exhibited his works at the Philadelphia Exhibition of 1873. After that the firm did a good deal of work in the United States of America.

Famous manufacturers of the mid-19th century

St. Andrew's, Sydney, Hardman of Birmingham, 1861-67, typical in its elegance, the skillful arrangement of figures and the narrational quality.

Peterborough Cathedral, Morris & Co. The asymmetry, the tertiary colours and idiosyncratic designs are typically William Morris.

St Mary's Chilham, William Wailes. This window has the bright pastel colour, wealth of inventive ornament and stereotypical gestures of windows by this firm.

Peterborough Cathedral, Clayton and Bell. A magnificent narrative window with elegant forms and colour which is both brilliant and subtle in its combinations.

William Morris

Among the foremost designers were the Pre-Raphaelites, William Morris (1834-1898) and Edward Burne-Jones (1833-1898). While Burne-Jones was best known as a painter, William Morris's studios created designs for architectural and interior decorating of many sorts including paintings, furniture, tiles and textiles. As part of Morris's enterprise, he set up his own glass works, producing glass to his own and Burne-Jones designs.

Clayton and Bell, and Kempe

Clayton and Bell's output was considerable and it was said that most English churches had one of their windows and many had nothing else. Among their designers was Charles Eamer Kempe (1837–1907) who set up his own workshop in 1869. His designs were lighter than that of his former employers: it was he who designed all the windows for the chapel of Selwyn College, Cambridge. He is credited with having produced over 3,000 windows. His cousin Walter Tower took over the business — adding a Tower to the Wheatsheaf emblem used by Kempe — and which continued until 1934.

Gallery of 19th and early 20th century windows, displaying four very different styles.

Alexander Gibbs' work is typified by the gentle-faced figures in gaudy clothes of somewhat discordant colour, with a wealth of ornate and colourful detail.

Heaton, Butler and Bayne window, showing this firm's liking for tertiary colours, large areas of flashed glass and solid, naturalistic figures.

Burlison and Grylls window. The pale elaborate canopies, detailed paintwork, dark robes and magnificent leading-up are characteristic.

This 1918 panel epitomises the Edwardian obsession with technical virtuosity, displaying red and purple flashing, elaborate brocade, yellow stain and accomplished draughtsmanship.

Ward and Hughes, William Wailes

Another important firm was Ward and Hughes which, though it had begun by following the Gothic style changed direction in the 1870s towards a style influenced by the Aesthetic Movement. The firm remained operational until the late 1920s. Yet another was William Wailes (1808-1881) whose firm produced the West window of Gloucester cathedral. Wailes himself was a business man, not a designer but used designers such as Joseph Baguley (1834-1915) who eventually set up his own firm.

Tiffany and La Farge

Notable American practitioners include John La Farge (1835-1910) who invented opalescent glass and for which he received a US patent February 24, 1880, and Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933), who received several patents for variations of the same opalescent process in November of the same year and is believed to have invented the copper foil method as an alternative to lead, and used it extensively in windows, lamps and other decorations.

Window by Tiffany with distinctive opalescent glass, asymmetric design and casual combination of flashed, painted and pot metal glass within the formal framework of supporting bars

St. Walburge, Lorraine designer Gabriel Loire, mid-20th c., combines traditional pot metal and leading with modern design, achieving an overall appearance that acknowledges the Medieval origins.

The Good Shepherd window at Port Sunlight, 1949. A migrant from Hungary, Ervin Bossanyi became famous for two large windows in Canterbury Cathedral.

Late 20th-c. window in the crypt of the Abbey of St Denis. The skilful adaptation of ancient tradition and modern style in a World Heritage Site. Fair use image

Twentieth century

Many the 19th century firms failed in the twentieth century. The Gothic movement had been superseded by newer styles. A revival occurred because of the desire to restore the thousands of church windows throughout Europe, destroyed as a result of bombing during the World War II. German artists led the way. Notable artists include Ervin Bossanyi, Ludwig Schaffrath, Johannes Shreiter, Douglas Strachan, Judith Schaechter and many others who transformed an ancient art form into a contemporary art form.

Thus while there is a deal of often mundane representational work, much of which is not made by its designers but industrially produced, there have been notable examples of symbolic work of which the west windows of Manchester cathedral in England by Tony Hollaway are some of the finest.

In France one may retain the work of Jean René Bazaine at Saint Séverin and the Loire Studio of Gabriel Loire at Chartres.

Today there are a few academic establishments that teach the traditional skills. One of those establishments is Florida State University's Master Craftsman Program who recently completed the world's largest secular stained-glass windows installed in Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium. More info at Master Craftsman Program

Buckfast Abbey, Devon, England. 8 metres (26 ft) wide. Designed by the monks. 20th C.

Franciscan Church, Kraków, designer Stanisław Wyspiański

Secular glass, Montreal metro, Canada, by Marcelle Ferron

Christinae church, Alingsås, Diocese of Skara, Sweden. Tree of life.

Buildings incorporating stained glass windows

Churches and Cathedrals

Stained glass windows were commonly used in churches for decorative and informative purposes. Many windows are donated to churches by members of the congregation as memorials of loved ones. For more information on the use of stained glass to depict religious subjects, see Poor Man's Bible

• Churches
• Cathedrals
• Chapels

• Important examples
  • Cathedral of Chartres, in France- 11th-13th century glass
  • Canterbury Cathedral, in England- 12th-15th century plus 19th-20th century glass
  • York Minster, in England- 11th-15th century glass
  • Sainte-Chapelle, in Paris, 13th-14th century glass
  • Florence Cathedral, Italy, 15th century glass designed by Uccello, Donatello and Ghiberti
  • St. Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney, Australia- early complete cycle of 19th century glass, Hardman of Birmingham.
  • Coventry Cathedral, England, mid 20th century glass by various designers

Houses

Stained glass windows in houses were particularly popular in Victorian era and many domestic examples survive. In their simplest form they typically depict birds and flowers in small panels, often surrounded with machine-made cathedral glass, which, despite what the name suggests, is pale-coloured and textured. Some large homes have splendid examples of secular pictorial glass.

• See
  • Art glass
  • Beveled glass
  • Cathedral glass

• Ecole de Nancy
• Prairie style homes
• The houses of Frank Lloyd Wright
• Stained glass lamp / Lampshades
• Tiffany lamp

Public and commercial use of stained glass

Town halls and other public buildings often incorporate stained glass or leadlighting.

• Public houses — In Britain, traditional pubs make extensive use of stained glass and leaded lights to create a comfortable atmosphere and retain privacy.
• Sculpture

Gallery of windows

The story of the Magi from Canterbury Cathedral, 13th c.	Il Duomo, Florence, an ancient window	Stained glass inside Saint Pierre (Caen)	Arezzo, Italy, a Renaissance window in the untraceried circular shape or ocula favoured in Italy
Rose window in Strasbourg Cathedral, 13th c.	Dramburg Church, a good example of heraldic glass	St Germain des Pres, Paris, glass in a Renaissance church	Altenberger, a colourless window in the style known as Grisaille with a small heraldic motif
West window of Lincoln Cathedral, ancient window, 19th century. glass	Calke Abbey, Derbyshire, 19th century window	Yale University, the Education window by Tiffany	The Mucha windows in Saint Vitus Cathedral in Prague.
Paris, dome of the Printemps Tea Room. pic Stephen Lea	Ins, Switzerland, modern figurative glass	Abstract stained glass, Beth El Congregation near Washington, DC by David Ascalon	Meiningen Catholic Church, 20th century glass

Details

Chapel of Eyneburg, Belgium

Detail from The Worship of the Shepherds window at Trinity Church, Boston, designed by Edward Burne-Jones and executed by Morris & Co., 1882

References

• Elizabeth Morris, Stained and Decorative Glass, Doubleday, ISBN 0-86824-324-8
• Sarah Brown, Stained Glass- an Illustrated History, Bracken Books, ISBN 1-85891-157-5

See also

Expanding this article

• Stained glass - British glass, 1811-1918
• Stained glass artists

Technical

Other related articles

External links

• Preservation of Stained Glass
• Church Stained Glass Window Database, covering ~2800 churches in the southeast of England
• The Stained Glass Museum (Ely, England)
• Vidimus, an on-line magazine devoted to medieval stained glass.
• Sacred Stained Glass. Glass. Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved on 2007-06-16.

Donate to Wikimedia