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 am less certain about the St. Eustace window. Its general effect is
very different from the others, being flatter and less sparkling; but
this may be due to the work of a restorer. The figures, however, do
not fit and decorate the medallions as well as in the other windows or
in those at Canterbury; in many cases part of a figure has to project
into the border.[9] The medallions themselves, too, are of rather
awkward shapes, and the design of the iron-work not very restful. The
scroll work, however, is very like that in the east window at
Canterbury--so like that one can hardly doubt their common origin. It
may be that here, too, the artist has used some one else's figure
designs, less successfully than in the Good Samaritan window.
There is a Life of St. Eustace at Chartres in which the scenes bear a
general resemblance to those at Sens, but decorate their spaces much
better.
To sum up, I think that these windows at Sens, with the possible
exception of the Life of St. Eustace, are the work of the same artist
as the Jordan Fitzeisulf window and the east window in "Becket's
Crown" at Canterbury; that in the Good Samaritan window he was using
the cartoons of his master, who designed the windows in Canterbury
choir, of which two, as we have seen, remain. He may have come from
Canterbury at the time of the interdict in King John's reign
(1208-1213), when all work there must have been suspended, and not
returned, leaving another to finish the work after the interdict was
removed. It would be a very probable date for the Sens work, but in
the absence of the destroyed windows at Canterbury it is pure
conjecture.
[Illustration: PLATE XVI
HERALDIC PANEL, FROM THE CLERESTORY OF THE NAVE, YORK MINSTER
Early Fourteenth Century]
[Sidenote: Chartres.]
Meanwhile, ever since the fire in 1194, the people of Chartres,
careless of their personal losses, had been working in a flame of
enthusiasm and devotion at the rebuilding of their Cathedral. Every
one, nobles, merchants, craftsmen, and peasants, gave what they could.
Some gave money, some materials, some provisions for the workmen.
Those who had nothing else gave their labour, even harnessing
themselves to carts to drag stone for the building. Heaven itself
seemed to lend its aid, for it is said that Our Lady worked many
miracles of healing at her shrine at Chartres, which soon became a
thirteenth century Lourdes, to which pilgrims came from all countries,
leaving offerings of money or jewels.
Finally, in 1210 the main part of the building seems to have been
finished. "Entirely rebuilt in hewn stone," says William le Breton
some years later, "the Cathedral of Chartres has nothing to fear from
temporal fire from now till the day of judgment, and will save from
eternal fire the many Christians who by their alms have contributed to
its reconstruction."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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