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
On the other hand, the work of Clement of Chartres in Rouen Cathedral,
which is as late as 1290-1295, is as good as anything that was done in
the thirteenth century. Besides a great many broken remains of
thirteenth century work in the nave, there are five complete windows
in the ambulatory of the apse. Two of these between them illustrate
the story of Joseph, and are particularly beautiful. One of them
(Plate XIV.) is signed by Clement of Chartres, and the other is
obviously by the same hand. I should hesitate, however, to say
positively that the other three are his work too, but I think two of
them may be. Of these, one contains in its lowest section the story of
the Good Samaritan, with other subjects above which I have not
identified, and the other--a very good one--the story of St. Julian,
which is a parallel to that of Oedipus except that, being Christian,
it ends with atonement and forgiveness.
The fifth window illustrates the Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension
of Christ. It is hardly as good as the others, and is very red and hot
in general colour. The filling in, of yellow suns on a blue ground, is
very unlike any other thirteenth century work. On the whole this
window seems to me to show a certain restlessness, indicative of the
change of style that was so soon to follow. The redness, however, may
perhaps be intentional, as being appropriate to the subject, for of
the three twelfth century windows in the west end of Chartres
Cathedral, the one which illustrates the Passion is far redder than
the others.
The iron-work of these windows shows a return to the straight-bar
system, but the relation of the medallions to the iron-work is, as may
be seen by the illustration, wholly different to what it was in the
twelfth century. By the end of the thirteenth century the bent
iron-work has wholly disappeared.
Before leaving the Early Period I must touch upon another of its
developments, namely, the grisaille window.
[Sidenote: Grisaille windows.]
Side by side with the richly coloured windows which we have been
considering, there had grown up during the thirteenth century a style
of window in which a wholly different effect was aimed at. These are
what are called grisaille windows, in which the bulk of the glass is
white, only studded here and there with jewels of colour and with,
perhaps, a coloured border, the surface of the white glass being
variegated and ornamented with delicate patterns in painted line work.
The effect of this in old glass is very beautiful,--there are few
things lovelier than "the Five Sisters" at York,--but all modern
attempts to imitate it have been hopeless failures, looking like so
much transparent paper. Perhaps our modern white glass is too clear
and hard-looking, or the difference may be merely that between the
work of those who are artists and those who are not.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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