Stained glass of the middle ages in England and France — John Shaqi
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
The arched form of the top of the background shows how it once fitted
a clerestory light, though doubtless with a border, and the space
above has been filled with scroll work of, I think, the same date,
which may have come from some of the medallion windows in the choir
aisles.
The two medallion windows in the north choir aisle formed part, as we
know from an old MS. still in existence, of a series of twelve dealing
with the life and parables of our Lord.
In style they very closely resemble the St. Denis work, perhaps a
little further developed. Some of the medallions, indeed, are almost
identical with those at St. Denis, notably that of the Magi on
horseback following the star. The figures are tall and dignified, and
both for drawing and decorative placing are far better than much work
of the succeeding century. The Calling of Nathaniel is a particularly
good panel.
The westernmost of the two windows still retains the early arrangement
found at Chartres, the iron-work consisting simply of straight bars
dividing it into a series of regular squares, which are filled
alternately with circular and square medallions.
[Illustration: PLATE X
THE BIG ANGEL, FROM THE CLERESTORY OF THE APSE, CHARTRES CATHEDRAL
Thirteenth Century]
The other one of the two has bent iron-work of a very simple design,
consisting simply of four circles connected by straight bars, thus
marking the transition from one form to another; which is another
reason for dating these windows between the west windows of Chartres,
where the iron-work is all straight, and those at Sens, where it is
nearly all bent. The small scale-sketch in the corner of Plate
IV. shows the arrangement of the iron-work and the medallions. The
panel of Noah in the Ark is from one of the semicircles on the left
side of the window. The spaces between the medallions are filled up
with beautiful foliated scroll work, on a ruby ground of the same
character as that round the head of Methuselah.
The arrangement of their subjects is so interesting, forming one of
the first and most complete examples of a "type and antitype" window,
that I shall describe it in some detail.
In each of these two windows the upper two-thirds, or thereabouts, of
the glass is in its original position, while the lower panels, smashed
by the pike of "Blue Dick," who seems at this point to have got tired
of going up his ladder, have been filled with subjects from other
windows of the series.
Down the centre run the subjects from the life of Christ, while on
each side are the "types" or subjects from the Old Testament which
illustrate it. Thus the westernmost of the two, once the second of the
series, begins at the top with the Magi following the star, while on
one side is Balaam, with the words of his prophecy, "There shall come
a star out of Jacob, etc.," and on the other Isaiah, with the words,
"The Gentiles shall come to Thy light, and kings to the brightness of
Thy rising."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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