history of stained glass/what is stained glass

7/28/2019 History of Stained Glass/What is Stained Glass

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WHAT IS STAINED GLASS?

There is a mystery to glass: It is a form of matter

with gas, liquid and solid state properties. Glass is

most like a super-cooled liquid. It captures light

and glows from within. It is a jewel like substance

made from the most ordinary materials: sandtransformed by fire. Before recorded history, man

learned to make glass and color it by adding

metallic salts and oxides. These minerals within

the glass capture specific portions from the

spectrum of white light allowing the human eye to

see various colors. Gold produces stunning

cranberry, cobalt makes blues; silver creates

shades of yellow and gold while copper makes

greens and brick red.

TECHNIQUES AND CONSTRUCTION

Techniques of stained

glass window construction were described by the

monk Theophilus who wrote a how to for

craftsmen about 1100 AD. It describes methods

little changed over 900 years: "if you want to

assemble simple windows, first mark out the

dimensions of their length and breadth on a

wooden board, then draw scroll work or anything

else that pleases you, and select colors that are

to be put in. Cut the glass and fit the pieces

together with the grozing iron. Enclose them with

lead camesand solder on both sides. Surround it

with a wooden frame strengthened with nails and

set it up in the place where you wish."THE GOTHIC AGE

The Gothic age produced the great cathedrals of

Europe and brought a full flowering of stained

glass windows. Churches became taller and

lighter, walls thinned and stained glass was used

to fill the increasingly larger openings in them.

Stained glass became the sun filled world outside.

Abbot Suger of the Abbey of St. Denis rebuilt his

church in what is one of the first examples of the

Gothic style. He brought in craftsmen to make the

glass and kept a journal of what was done. He

truly believed that the presence of beautiful

objects would lift mens' souls closer to GodStained glass windows are often viewed as

translucent pictures. Gothic stained glass

windows are a complex mosaic of bits of colored

glass joined with lead into an intricate pattern

illustrating biblical stories and saints lives. Viewed

from the ground, they appear not as a picture but

as a network of black lines and colored light.

Medieval man experienced a window more than

he read it. It made the church that special, sacred

dwelling place of an all powerful God.

We see medieval craftsmen

were more interested in illustrating an idea than

creating natural or realistic images. Rich, jewel

colors played off milky, dull neutrals. Paint work

was often crude and unsophisticated: A dark

brown enamel, called grisaille, was matted to the

glass surface to delineate features, not to control

the transmission of light.

Stained glass artists became glass painters as the

form became closer and closer to panel painting.

Lead lines that were once accepted as a

necessary and decorative element became

structural evils to be camouflaged by the design.

THE RENAISSANCEThe Renaissance brought the art of stained glass

into a 300 year period where windows were white

glass heavily painted. They lost all their previous

glory and it seemed the original symbolism and

innate beauty of stained glass was forgotten.

In the 15th century, the apex of high Gothic, the

way stained glass was viewed changed. It became


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more a picture and less an atmosphere. Paler

colors admitted more light and figures were

larger, often filling the entire window. Paint work

became more sophisticated, more like easel

painting. The rediscovery of silver stain allowed

the artist to realistically depict yellow hair andgolden garments.

In this period, stained glass became a fashionable

addition to residences , public buildings and

churches. Heraldic glass showing detailed shields

and coats of arms on simple, transparent

backgrounds was common. Much of what stained

glass was became forgotten. The 18th century

saw the removal of many medieval stained glass

windows. They were destroyed as hopelessly old

fashioned and replaced by painted glass.

19TH CENTURY /RISE OF TIFFANY STYLE

England in the mid 1800s

saw a revival of interest in Gothic architecture.

Several amateur art historians and scientists

rediscovered the medieval glass techniques.

Pieces of glass were tested and their color secrets

unlocked.

Glass studios in England made their versions of

medieval windows for Gothic Revival buildings.

The Bolton Brothers, English immigrants,

established one of the first stained glass studios

in America. These Gothic style windows enhanced

churches and simple ornamental windows and

painted figural windows were the norm until thedevelopment of a distinctive American style.

John LaFarge and Louis Comfort Tiffany were two

American painters who began experimenting with

glass. Contemporaries, but working

independently, they were trying to develop glass

that possessed a wide range of visual effects

without painting. They soon became competitors.

LaFarge developed and copyrighted opalescent

glass in 1879. Tiffany popularized it and his name

became synonymous with opalescent glass and

the American glass movement. LaFarge and

Tiffany used intricate cuts and richly colored

glasses within in detailed, flowing designs.Plating, or layering glass layers, achieved depth

and texture. Both made windows for private

homes as well as churches.

The process of using thin strips of copper as a

substitute for lead came allowed for intricate

sections within windows. Tiffany adapted the

technique to construct lampshades and

capitalized on the new innovation of electric

lighting. Tiffanys customers were wealthy, turn of

the century families including the Vanderbilts' and

Astors. The Tiffany style prompted many imitators

and opalescent windows and shades remained

popular through the turn of the century.

20TH CENTURY AND BEYOND

Tastes

changed after WWI. A revival of archeological

accuracy in architecture called for new gothic

glass windows for the NeoGothic churches.

LaFarge had died in 1910, interest in opalescent

glass waned and Tiffany remained its last

defendant until his death in 1933 and the

subsequent bankruptcy of his studios. New

craftsmen such as William Willet, Rambusch,

Charles Connick and Nicolai DAscenzo, made

windows for churches across America.

Except for church windows, stained glass

remained in decline until the post WWII era. The

abstract and expressionist movement in painting

influenced a new group of artists to explore

artistic expression in the medium of glass.

Contemporary church windows may in some ways

be closer to those of the early Gothic period. Not


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easy to identify scenes, they again create a pure

atmosphere of light and color, inspiring a

contemplative attitude through the transformation

of the ordinary into the mystical.

Stained glass,

or more appropriate art glass, is all around us

today. An explosion of interest toward the end of

the 20th century has given rise to many new and

imaginative forms of this art. The rise of the

individual artist, new technologies and the

growing interest in stained glass as a hobby craft

have all lead to what is being called A a new

golden age in glass. New homes are frequently

embellished with spectacular beveled glassentryways, stained glass bathroom windows and

Tiffany style lampshades. Decorative panels are

purchased just to hang in a sunny window.

Marvelous hot formed glass pieces adorn tables,

walls, shelves and fill windows. New artists are

combining, creating, and developing unique new

forms and styles every day.

history of stained glass/what is stained glass

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