Glass painters are allowed to-day a freer hand than formerly. They are no longer exclusively engaged upon ecclesiastical work; domestic glass is an important industry; and a workman once comparatively exempt from pedantic control is not so easily restrained from self-expression. Moreover, the recognition of the artistic position of craftsmen in general makes it possible for a man to devote himself to glass without sinking to the rank of a mechanic; and artists begin to realize the scope glass offers them. What they lack as yet is experience in their craft, and perhaps due workmanlike respect for traditional ways of workmanship. When the old methods come to be superseded it will be only by new ones evolved out of them. At present the conditions of glass painting remain very much what they were. The supreme beauty of glass is still in the purity, the brilliancy, the translucency of its colour. To make the most of this the designer must be master of his trade. The test of window design is, now as ever, that it should have nothing to lose and everything to gain by execution in stained glass.
Bibliography.—Theophilus, Arts of the Middle Ages (London, 1847); Charles Winston, An Inquiry into the Difference of Style observable in Ancient Glass Painting, especially in England (Oxford, 1847), and Memoirs illustrative of the Art of Glass Painting (London, 1865); N. H. J. Westlake, A History of Design in Painted Glass (4 vols., London, 1881-1894); L. F. Day, Windows, A Book about Stained and Painted Glass (London, 1909), and Stained Glass (London, 1903); A. W. Franks, A Book of Ornamental Glazing Quarries (London, 1849); A Booke of Sundry Draughtes, principaly serving for Glasiers (London, 1615, reproduced 1900); F. G. Joyce, The Fairford Windows (coloured plates) (London, 1870); Divers Works of Early Masters in Ecclesiastical Decoration, edited by John Weale (2 vols., London, 1846); Ferdinand de Lasteyrie, Histoire de la peinture sur verre d’après ses monuments en France (2 vols., Paris, 1852), and Quelques mots sur la théorie de la peinture sur verre (Paris, 1853); L. Magne, Œuvre des peintres verriers français (2 vols., Paris, 1885); Viollet le Duc, “Vitrail,” vol. ix. of the Dictionnaire raisonné de l’architecture (Paris, 1868); O. Merson, “Les Vitraux,” Bibliothèque de l’enseignement des beaux-arts (Paris, 1895); E. Levy and J. B. Capronnier, Histoire de la peinture sur verre (coloured plates) (Brussels, 1860); Ottin, Le Vitrail, son histoire à travers les âges (Paris); Pierre le Vieil, L’Art de la peinture sur verre et de la vitrerie (Paris, 1774); C. Cahier and A. Martin, Vitraux peints de Bourges du XIIIe siècle (2 vols., Paris, 1841-1844); S. Clement and A. Guitard, Vitraux du XIIIe siècle de la cathédrale de Bourges (Bourges, 1900): M. A. Gessert, Geschichte der Glasmalerei in Deutschland und den Niederlanden, Frankreich, England, &c., von ihrem Ursprung bis auf die neueste Zeit (Tübingen and Stuttgart, 1839; also an English translation, London, 1851); F. Geiges, Der alte Fensterschmuck des Freiburger Münsters, 5 parts (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1902, &c.); A. Hafner, Chefs-d’œuvre de la peinture suisse sur verre (Berlin).
(L. F. D.)
GLASSBRENNER, ADOLF (1810-1876), German humorist and satirist, was born at Berlin on the 27th of March 1810. After being for a short time in a merchant’s office, he took to journalism, and in 1831 edited Don Quixote, a periodical which was suppressed in 1833 owing to its revolutionary tendencies. He next, under the pseudonym Adolf Brennglas, published a series of pictures of Berlin life, under the titles Berlin wie es ist und—trinkt (30 parts, with illustrations, 1833-1849), and Buntes Berlin (14 parts, with illustrations, Berlin, 1837-1858), and thus became the founder of a popular satirical literature associated with modern Berlin. In 1840 he married the actress Adele Peroni (1813-1895), and removed in the following year to Neustrelitz, where his wife had obtained an engagement at the Grand ducal theatre. In 1848 Glassbrenner entered the political arena and became the leader of the democratic party in Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Expelled from that country in 1850, he settled in Hamburg, where he remained until 1858; and then he became editor of the Montagszeitung in Berlin, where he died on the 25th of September 1876.
Among Glassbrenner’s other humorous and satirical writings may be mentioned: Leben und Treiben der feinen Welt (1834); Bilder und Träume aus Wien (2 vols., 1836); Gedichte (1851, 5th ed. 1870); the comic epics, Neuer Reineke Fuchs (1846, 4th ed. 1870) and Die verkehrte Welt (1857, 6th ed. 1873); also Berliner Volksleben (3 vols., illustrated; Leipzig, 1847-1851). Glassbrenner has published some charming books for children, notably Lachende Kinder (14th ed., 1884), and Sprechende Tiere (20th ed., Hamburg, 1899).
See R. Schmidt-Cabanis, “Adolf Glassbrenner,” in Unsere Zeit (1881).
GLASS CLOTH, a textile material, the name of which indicates the use for which it was originally intended. The cloths are in general woven with the plain weave, and the fabric may be all white, striped or cheeked with red, blue or other coloured threads; the checked cloths are the most common. The real article should be all linen, but a large quantity is made with cotton warp and tow weft, and in some cases they are composed entirely of cotton. The short fibres of the cheaper kind are easily detached from the cloth, and hence they are not so satisfactory for the purpose for which they are intended.