Stained glass of the middle ages in England and FranceArnold, Hugh
History
Stained glass of the middle ages in England and France
Arnold, Hugh
Art, Medieval; Glass painting and staining -- England; Glass painting and staining -- France
I agree with Mr. Westlake in finding the work of more than one hand in
the windows. Two there are certainly, and possibly four. The east
window is certainly by a different, and, I think, an older hand than
the west, and the windows of the north aisle, though they may be by
the same hand as the west windows, are certainly by a different one to
the Apostles opposite them, which are the poorest windows in the
church. I think the differences are greater than could be accounted
for by any development that might take place in the same man's style
during the execution of the windows. The west windows are the work of
a different temperament to the east windows. The forms are fuller,
stronger, and more rounded, and show a much stronger sense for the
decorative placing of a line.
There is no record to tell us who these men were, and there has been
much discussion as to whether they were Englishmen or Flemings. Indeed
the wildest theories have been advanced as to the origin of the
windows. They have been attributed to Dürer, without the slightest
internal or external evidence except the presence of an A which does
not resemble his signature. Another story which, though not heard of,
I believe, till the eighteenth century, has obtained wide credence, is
that they were captured at sea, bound for Rome, by Edward Tame, and
the church built to contain them; but the most casual examination of
the windows ought to convince any one that they were made for the
church and not the church for them.[19]
As to the question of the English or Flemish authorship of the
windows, it is true that Flemish details crop up here and there both
in architecture and the costumes; but this is not surprising, for the
style, new then to England, was largely based on Flemish art, and on
the other hand the English characteristics are in excess of the
Flemish.
[Sidenote: Barnard Flower.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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