| PLATE | ||
| 1. | The Ascension Window, Le Mans. Possibly eleventhcentury | [Frontispiece] |
| FACING PAGE | ||
| 2. | Part of Crucifixion Window, Poitiers. Late twelfthcentury | [8] |
| 3. | Methuselah, Canterbury, originally in choir clerestory.Twelfth century | [16] |
| 4. | "Noë in Archa," from the north choir aisle, Canterbury.Twelfth century | [24] |
| 5. | The Entombment, from the east window, Canterbury.Twelfth or early thirteenth century | [32] |
| 6. | Scroll-work, from the east window, Canterbury.Twelfth or early thirteenth century | [40] |
| 7. | Border, from the Trinity Chapel, Canterbury. Twelfthor early thirteenth century | [44] |
| 8. | Border and Mosaic Diaper, from the Trinity Chapel,Canterbury. Thirteenth century | [48] |
| 9. | Western Lancets and Rose, Chartres Cathedral.Twelfth and thirteenth centuries | [56] |
| 10. | The Big Angel, from the clerestory of the apse,Chartres Cathedral. Thirteenth century | [60] |
| 11. | David, from the clerestory of the apse, ChartresCathedral. Thirteenth century | [64] |
| 12. | Amaury de Montfort, from the choir clerestory,Chartres Cathedral. Thirteenth century | [72] |
| 13. | The Flight into Egypt, from the south aisle, ChartresCathedral. Thirteenth century | [76] |
| 14. | Work of Clement of Chartres in Rouen Cathedral.Late thirteenth century | [80] |
| 15. | The Flight into Egypt, Poitiers. Late thirteenthcentury | [88] |
| 16. | Heraldic Panel, from the clerestory of the nave,York Minster. Early fourteenth century | [92] |
| 17. | Details from windows in the north aisle of nave,York Minster. Fourteenth century | [96] |
| 18. | Border and Shields, from Peter de Dene window,north aisle of nave, York Minster, with detailsfrom window in south aisle and sketch of clerestorywindow. Fourteenth century | [104] |
| 19. | St. Margaret, west window of north aisle of nave,York Minster. Fourteenth century | [108] |
| 20. | St. Stephen, from south aisle of nave, York Minster.Fourteenth century | [112] |
| 21. | The Nativity, upper part of east window of northaisle, All Saints', North Street, York. Fourteenthcentury | [120] |
| 22. | St. John, from east window of south aisle, St. Martin's,Micklegate, York. Fourteenth century | [124] |
| 23. | St. Barnabas, from clerestory of nave of St. Pierre,Chartres. Early fourteenth century | [128] |
| 24. | St. Luke, from choir clerestory of St. Ouen, Rouen.Fourteenth century | [136] |
| 25. | Window with Life of St. Gervais, from south choiraisle, St. Ouen, Rouen. Fourteenth century | [140] |
| 26. | Grisaille pattern and boss from Plate 25 | [144] |
| 27. | Bosses, from Plate 25 | [148] |
| 28. | Borders, from Plate 25 | [152] |
| 29. | Details, from Plate 25 | [160] |
| 30. | Angels in canopy work of Plate 25 | [164] |
| 31. | The Annunciation, from St. Ouen, Rouen. Fourteenthcentury | [168] |
| 32. | Window in St. Bartholomew's Chapel, St. Ouen,Rouen. Fourteenth century | [176] |
| 33. | Details, from St. Ouen, Rouen. Fourteenth century | [180] |
| 34. | Canopy, from All Saints', North Street, York.Fifteenth century | [184] |
| 35. | Canopy, from All Saints', North Street, York.Fifteenth century | [192] |
| 36. | Nicholas Blackburn and his wife, from east windowof All Saints', North Street, York. Fifteenthcentury | [196] |
| 37. | Priest, from "Acts of Mercy" window, All Saints',North Street, York. Fifteenth century | [200] |
| 38. | Kneeling Donors, from "Acts of Mercy" window,All Saints', North Street, York. Fifteenthcentury | [208] |
| 39. | Figure, from "Visiting the Prisoners," in "Acts ofMercy" window, All Saints', North Street, York.Fifteenth century | [212] |
| 40. | Small Figures in White and Stain, from All Saints',North Street, York. Fifteenth century | [216] |
| 41. | Heads, from All Saints', North Street, York.Fifteenth century | [220] |
| 42. | Head, from St. Michael's, Spurriergate, York.Fifteenth century | [224] |
| 43. | Head, from St. Michael's, Spurriergate, York.Fifteenth century | [228] |
| 44. | Head of an Archbishop, Canterbury. Fifteenthcentury | [232] |
| 45. | Head of Patriarch, from window in south aisle ofnave, St. Patrice, Rouen. Fifteenth century | [236] |
| 46. | Head of St. Catherine, from window above altar innorth-west corner of St. Vincent's, Rouen.Fifteenth century | [240] |
| 47. | Drapery from sleeve of Virgin, from west end of St.Vincent's, Rouen. Fifteenth century | [244] |
| 48. | Angel's Head, from Great Rose Window in northtransept of St. Ouen's, Rouen. Fifteenth century | [248] |
| 49. | Angel's Head, from Great Rose Window in northtransept of St. Ouen's, Rouen. Fifteenth century | [256] |
| 50. | The Prophets Joel, Zephaniah, Amos, and Hosea,from the north aisle of the nave, Fairford. Latefifteenth century | [260] |
I
THE MAKING OF A WINDOW
I
THE MAKING OF A WINDOW
The making of stained-glass windows is one of the arts which belong wholly to the Christian Era. Its traditions do not extend back beyond the great times of Gothic architecture, and it is to the work of those times that the student must turn, as the student of sculpture and architecture turns to that of the ancient world, to learn the basic principles of the art.
In the Middle Ages stained glass formed an important part, but still only a part, of that interior colour decoration without which no church was considered complete; but in spite of its fragile nature it has on the whole survived the attacks of time, the fury of the Puritan, the apathy and neglect of the eighteenth century, and the sinister energies of the nineteenth-century restorer better than the painting which once adorned the walls and woodwork, and for this reason has come to be considered in these days as peculiarly appropriate to churches. So much so, indeed, that whereas I have sometimes found in country parishes a certain amount of opposition to any attempt to revive wall-painting as savouring of popery, no such feeling seems to exist with regard to coloured windows.
The process.
Stained glass is not one of the arts in which the method of production reveals itself at the first glance. Indeed, so few people when looking at a stained-glass window, whether a gorgeous and solemn one of the thirteenth or fifteenth century, or a crude and vulgar one of the nineteenth, realize the long and laborious process by which the result, good or bad, has been obtained, that a short description of that process as finally perfected some five hundred years ago may not be out of place here.
One hears it so often spoken of as "painted glass"—Mr. Westlake calls his book A History of Design in Painted Glass—that it is not surprising that there should be a good deal of misconception on the point. It must be clearly understood then that the colour effects which are the glory of the art are not directly produced by painting at all, but by the window being built up of a multitude of small pieces of white and coloured glass—glass, that is, coloured in the making, and of which the artist must choose the exact shades he needs, cut them out to shape, and fit them together to form his design, using a separate piece for every colour or shade of colour.
In twelfth and thirteenth century windows many of these pieces are only half an inch wide and from one to two inches long, and few are bigger than the palm of one's hand; so the reader can amuse himself, if he wishes, in trying to calculate the number of pieces in one of the huge windows of this date in the Cathedral of Canterbury, York, or Chartres, and the labour involved in this, the initial stage of the process.