Stained Glass Tours in EnglandSherrill, Charles Hitchcock
History
Stained Glass Tours in England
Sherrill, Charles Hitchcock
Cathedrals -- England; England -- Description and travel; Glass painting and staining -- England
Even if the vast Minster were not one of the world's greatest
treasure-houses of glass, the many smaller churches of York would
provide ample grounds for its being included in this book of tours. So
numerous are these churches that, in several instances, there are found
to be more than one dedicated to the same saint, and therefore the
pilgrim will do well to note carefully the name of street or gate placed
after that of the saint's to indicate which one is intended. The most
interesting of these modest shrines is All Saints' (or, as it is
sometimes called, All Hallows'), in North Street. It alone is well worth
a visit to York. Not only is its Decorated glass in excellent repair and
in satisfactory quantity, but it evidences such careful attention to the
little touches which make a window successful that one concludes the
best artists must have been employed in its manufacture. For example,
the canopies in the eastern embrasure of the north aisle have pedestals
beneath them, a most unusual feature at that early date. Furthermore,
the scenes from the life of the Virgin are depicted in a very careful
manner, not only appearing in the three lancets below, but in the three
major lights of the traceries above, although not there surrounded by
canopies as below. Older than this window, but also typically Decorated,
is that at the east end of the south aisle. The brassy tint is more
noticeable in the canopies which run in two bands across its three
lancets, and the canopies themselves are cruder in drawing than those
just described, but are excellently illustrative of their period. These
two windows are assisted in their service of beauty by the fact that the
embrasures about them are not burdened with modern mistakes, but were
glazed during the Perpendicular period. Reference will be made to this
later glass further on (_see_ p. 188); although much more famous than
its earlier neighbours, it is not a whit more satisfactory. These two
sets contrive to set each other off in admirable fashion, and together
they effect a delightful illumination for this interesting church.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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