History of Stained Glass - 1
The origins of the first stained glass windows probably came from jewellery making, cloisonné
and mosaic during the Egyptian and Roman times.
Stained glass windows as we know them seemed to arise when substantial church building
began and by the 10th century, depictions of Christ and biblical scenes were found in French
and German churches and decorative designs found in England.
Stained Glass is a jewel like substance made from the most ordinary materials: sand
transformed by fire. Before recorded history, man learned to make glass and colour 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 colours. Gold
produces stunning cranberry, cobalt makes blues; silver creates yellows and golds while
copper makes greens and brick red.
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 colours that are to be put in. Cut the glass and fit the pieces together with the
grozing iron. Enclose them with lead cames..... and solder on both sides. Surround it with a
wooden frame strengthened with mails and set it up in the place where you wish."
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
men's’ souls closer to God.
Stained glass windows are often viewed as translucent pictures. Gothic stained glass
windows are a complex mosaic of bits of coloured 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 coloured light. Medieval man experienced a
window more than he read it.
Medieval craftsmen were more interested in illustrating and idea than creating natural or
realistic images. Rich, jewel colours 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.
In the 15th century, the high point of Gothic, the way stained glass was viewed changed. It
became more a picture and less an atmosphere. Paler colours 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 and golden garments.
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 Renaissance (14th – 16th century)
brought the art of stained glass into a 300 year period where windows were made of white
glass and heavily painted. They lost all their previous glory and it seemed the original
symbolism and innate beauty of stained glass was 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. England in the mid
1800’s saw a revival of interest in Gothic architecture. Several amateur art historians and
scientists rediscovered the medieval glass techniques.
Glass studios in England made their versions of medieval windows for Gothic Revival
buildings. The Bolton Brothers, English immigrants, established on 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 the development 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 coloured 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. Tiffany’s 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.
Tastes changed after WWI. A revival of archaeological 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
his studios finally went bankrupt.
Except for church windows, stained glass remained in decline until after WWII. The abstract
and expressionist movement in painting influenced a new group of artists to explore artistic
expression in the medium of glass.
Contemporary church window may in some ways be closer to those of the early Gothic
period. Not 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 now all around us today. An explosion of
interest in the last 30 years has give 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 new golden age in glass. New homes are
frequently embellished with spectacular bevelled glass entryways, stained glass bathroom
windows and Tiffany style lampshades. Decorative panels are purchased just to hang in a
sunny window. Marvellous 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.