GLASS 



247 



unless the white* are tone<l in the material itself 

 they will always IM- inharmonious and cold. 



It in necessary in addition to state hrieily what 

 the van. -i P~ MI coloured glass proper for the purpose 

 are. First comes pot-metal, in which the colour is 

 an integral part of the glass ; iln-n Hoshed-glans, 

 when- tin- colour forms a coloured skin to a white 

 Ixxly ; * and lastly a transparent \ellovv stain (de- 

 duced from silver), which attacks the silica, and 

 t Ims forms a part of the glass, is much used to 

 colour pni lions of the pot -metal, for ornaments on 

 dressc>, hair, (lowers, and the like. 



This art of mosaic window gloss is especially 

 an art of the middle ages ; there is no essential 

 difference between its processes as now carried on 

 and those of the 12th century ; any departure from 

 the medieval method of production in i hi- art will 

 only lead us a- tray. It may he added that its true 

 home was northern Kuroiie during the middle ages, 

 as the importance of tlie wall-pictures in Italy 

 made its fullest development less necessary to the 

 huildings in that country, and accordingly the 

 Italians did not understand its principles so well 

 as the artists of France and England, and had not 

 the full measure of unerring instinct which the 

 latter had. And besides, as Gothic architecture 

 lasted longer with us and the French, there was 

 more opportunity for the development of the later 

 styles here, since the neoclassic architecture had 

 scarcely a place for stained glass. 



The 12th century begins the real history of the 

 art. The windows of that date that are left us are 

 very deep and rich in colour, red and blue being the 

 prevailing tints. They are mostly figure designs, 

 disposed in ornamental frames, and are admirably 

 designed for their purpose; the painting is very 

 simple, nothing but a little washed shading sup- 

 porting the traced lines; the figures are usually 

 small, except in the case of windows far removed 

 from the eye, as in some of the windows at St Denis 

 near Paris. The beautiful windows in the choir 

 aisles at Canterbury Cathedral are usually referred 

 to the 12th century, but if they belong to it they 

 must be of its later years. 



There was a slow development of the glass all 

 through the earlier years of the 13th century, and 

 a great deal more work is left us of that period ; a 

 great deal of the glazing of the early pointed archi- 

 tecture was of mere geometrical work. The igno- 

 rant architect, Wyatt, who gutted Salisbury Cathe- 

 dral in 1790, found most of the windows so glazed, 

 and destroyed the glazing except for a few frag- 

 ments. The window of the north transept at York 

 Minster, now called the ' Five Sisters, is a well- 

 known example of this beautiful work. 



The 14th or end of the 13th century invented a 

 very beautiful kind of glazing especially suitable 

 to the large traceried windows then coining into 

 vogue ; in this style bands of very richly coloured 

 figure-glass, usually framed in canopies, run across 

 the lights, and are supported by ingenious fret- 

 glazing in white, on which elegant running patterns 

 are freely drawn, and this grisaille (as it is called) 

 is connected with the richer-coloured bands by 

 means of borders, and with medallions, little gem- 

 like pieces all carefully patterned ; the whole pro- 

 ducing an effect of singular elegance and richness, 

 and admitting plenty of light. The nave aisles of 

 York Minster and Merton College Chapel at 

 Oxford may be cited as giving us very perfect 

 specimens of this glazing, which may l>e said to 

 be the highest point reached by the art. 



With the change to the Perpendicular style in 

 the 15th century came a corresponding change in 



* Flashed -glass is mostly used for the beautiful 'ruby gla 

 deduced from copper, tlie, making of which was revived by 

 Messrs Powell of WiutoMus, in London, with the help of Mr 

 Winston about the year 1863. 



stained glass, though, of course, that change wan 

 very gradual. The glass now had a tendency to 

 lifcume luiler in colour; a great part of the great 

 tracerieu windows of the Htyle wan oftenest made 

 up of elaborate canopies, in which white touched 

 with yellow stain played a great part. Some very 

 Iwautiful windows of i hi- date are almost entirely 

 carried out in silvery whites and yellow stains. 

 The shading of the figures and drapery, &c. wan 

 much more elal>orate ; the stippling and hatching 

 aliovr mentioned was common, ewpecially in the 

 later part of the style ; but the luminous quality 

 of the shadows was generally well maintained. In 

 spite of the ravages of the Puritans )>oth of the 

 Reformation and of the Cromwellian episodes, ex- 

 amples of stained glass, usually very fragmentary, 

 are common throughout England. The antechapel 

 at New College, Oxford, the great east window of 

 Gloucester cathedral, many windows in the choir 

 of York Minster, and manv of the parish churches 

 in that city, notably All Saints, North Street, are 

 splendid examples of the work of this period. 



In the 16th century the art was on the wane : it 

 became heavier in shading, less beautiful in colour, 

 and aimed too much at pictorial effect. As a 

 reasonable art stained glass can hardly I"- said 

 to have existed after about 1540 ; a few pieces of 

 rather prettv and fanciful gla/ing and a little 

 heraldic work are in the Elizabethan period all 

 that represent the splendid art which adorned 

 such buildings as York Minster and Canterbury 

 Cathedral. The windows of Fairford Church, in 

 Gloucestershire, form a very interesting collection 

 of the work of the earlier part of the century. 

 King's College Chapel at Cambridge is almost 

 entirely glazed with picture-work of this period. It 

 has suffered much from reglazing, and is now very 

 hard to read ; nor could the art in it have ever been 

 of a very high order. 



With the ruin of Gothic architecture stained 

 glass was swept away entirely ; and indeed it 

 perished sooner and more completely than any of 

 the other subsidiary arts, doubtless because its 

 successful practice depends more on the instinc- 

 tive understanding of the true principles of decora- 

 tive art than any other of the arts connected with 

 architecture. 



The art of glass-painting has been revived with 

 the eclectic revival of Gothic architecture, which 

 is such a curious feature of our epoch, and has 

 shared to the full in the difficulties which an 

 eclectic style must of necessity meet with. Still 

 it must be understood that glass-painting is no 

 ' lost art ' in the sense of its processes being for- 

 gotten : whatever the deficiencies of the modern 

 art may be, they are the result of the lack of feel- 

 ing for decoration, rather than of difficulties as to 

 material, workshop receipts, and the like. The 

 very praiseworthy studies of Mr Winston and his 

 collaboration with Messrs Powell of Whitefriars in 

 the manufacture of window-glass fit for the pur- 

 pose made it possible for us many years ago to 

 produce good stained-glass windows if our artistic 

 powers did not fail us, or rather if they could be 

 turned into the right direction ; if the designers 

 could understand that they should not attempt to 

 design pictures but rather pieces of ornamental 

 glazing which, while decorating the buildings of 

 which they formed a part, should also tell stories in 

 a simple straightforward manner. 



This they have in a great measure learned to 

 understand', and the public also are Iteginning to 

 see that the picture-window of the semi-enamel 

 style (as represented cliielly bv the elaborate 

 futilities produced by the Munich manufactories) 

 cannot form, as a window should do, a part of the 

 architecture of the building. On the other hand, 

 there has been (unavoidably doubtless) too much 



