Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2003 23:14:31 -0400
Subject: [SCA-AS] Links: Stained Glass
Greetings!
Of all the things that have been left behind for us to admire from the Middle
Ages and Renaissance, Stained Glass Windows happen to be the most colorful
and enlightening. From design elements, to techniques, to scenes of everyday
life, by looking at these windows, you are seeing actual artifacts beautifully
and painstakingly created by the medieval hand. So join me on a tour of stained
glass windows from varying parts of Europe, and learn a little about how medieval
and renaissance people viewed life through rose colored windows.....
As always, please pass this list along to those who would enjoy reading it.
Cheers
Aoife
Dame Aoife Finn of Ynos Mon
Canton of Riveoruge
Barony of the Endless Hills
Kingdom of Aethelmearc
Medieval stained glass windows
from Esslingen am Neckar (Germany)
http://home.bawue.de/~wmwerner/essling/english/glas01.html
(Site Excerpt) Over 400 stained glass panes dating to the 13th and 14th centuries
have been preserved in three churches in Esslingen. Practically all the themes
found in the sculptural repertoire of the great French Cathedrals of this
time are represented, including the Virtues and Vices. Even the everyday life
of the citizens of Esslingen is reflected, in scenes from the Life of Mary.
How were stained glass windows made?
http://home.bawue.de/~wmwerner/essling/english/glas02.html
(Site Excerpt) The only colours available in the Middle Ages were saffron-yellow,
purplish-red, green, blue and copper-red. Miniatures often
provided the models for the stained glass windows. One cut the small coloured
glass panes to size and then painted them with black solder/flux?
(Schwarzlot), a mixture of iron and copper powder. After 1300 silver solder/flux?
(Silberlot) was also available, which allowed for a new range
of colours, for example light yellow and reddish-yellow. The colours were
melted onto the glass.
Medieval Stained Glass
http://www.ariadne.org/studio/michelli/sgmedieval.html
A List of links of images with brief descriptions
Stained Glass Techniques
http://www.ariadne.org/studio/michelli/sgtechniques.html
(Site Excerpt) The big challenge with stained glass is to find a way to get
the brightest range of colours with the fewest pieces. You can just mosaic
the pieces together, but that will produce an awful lot of black leading.
Below, I have presented the techniques in chronological order of
development, so that you can see the range of possibilities widening.
Renaissance and Baroque Stained Glass
http://www.ariadne.org/studio/michelli/sgrenbar.html
A list of links with images
Infoplease: Medieval Stained Glass (Warning: Lots of Pop-ups)
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/ent/A0861293.html
(Site Excerpt) With the development of medieval architecture, stained glass
assumed a unique structural and symbolic importance. As the Romanesque massiveness
of the wall was eliminated, the use of glass was expanded. It was integrated
with the lofty vertical elements of Gothic architecture, thus providing greater
illumination. Symbolically, it was regarded as amanifestation of divine light.
In these transparent mosaics, biblical history and church dogmas were portrayed
with great effectiveness. Resplendent in its material and spiritual richness,
stained glass became one of the most beautiful forms of medieval artistic
expression.
In the womb of the rose: Medieval Stained Glass
http://wombrose.sunderland.ac.uk/glass.html
(Site Excerpt) The Rose windows of Northern Europe, like the North rose from
Chartres Cathedral above, are mandalas on a grand scale using the craft of
glass with its orchestration of Light to an effect unparalleled in any other
tradition. Light as a metaphor for transcendent reality was perceived as both
as a transmitted material reality (lux) and standing for the illumination
of the love of God (lumens) This concept was given form in thewindows of European
cathedrals during the middle ages.
Digitization of the Survey of Medieval Stained Glass (Acrobat reader required)
http://heds.herts.ac.uk/conf/ta.pdf
Though this paper is copy-protected, it is an excellent resource: a study
that aims to catalog the medieval stained glass---all of it--up to the year
1540.
Medieval World Links
Stained Glass
http://www.geocities.com/MedievalWorld/LinksStainedGlass.html
A comprehensive list of sites
Newyorkcarver.com's virtual cathedral project: Chapter 2. Stained Glass:
Painting With Light
http://www.newyorkcarver.com/stainedglass.htm
(Site Excerpt) So with the aid of the pointed arch and the flying buttress,
cathedral walls were strengthened to such a degree that spaces could be cut
away for larger window casements - and thereby meet the terms of Gothic's
prime directive: MORE light. The high reaches of Gothic construction came
when the architect, stonecutter, ironworker and glazier pooled their skills
to create the luminous rose windows of the era.... From the outside, the bland
stone tracery gave no clue to the shimmering light inside as shown, at left,
in the original drawing for the West Rose Window at Chartres. At right, the
interior, transformed.
Medieval Stained Glass
http://www.thornewoodcastle.com/glass.htm
An excellent series of up-close images form various windows
Stained Glass | A Brief History
http://www.thestorefinder.com/glass/library/history.html
(Site Excerpt) The origins of the first stained glass windows are lost in
history. The technique probably came from jewelry making, cloisonné and mosaics.
Stained glass windows as we know them, seemed to arise when substantial church
building began. By the 10th century, depictions of Christ and biblical scenes
were found in French and German churches and decorative designs found in England.
Stained Glass in Medieval Europe
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/glas/hd_glas.htm
(A comprehensive list of thumbnails. Site Excerpt:) Most of what is known
about medieval stained-glass making comes from a twelfth-century German monk
who called himself Theophilus. An artist and metalworker himself, Theophilus
described in his text, On Diverse Arts, how he carefully studied glaziers
and glass painters at work in order to provide detailed directions for creating
windows of "inestimable beauty."
Monastery Stained Glass
Northamptonshire (A Dealer)
http://www.monasterystainedglass.btinternet.co.uk/
Click on the Sections of Avilable Panels link.
About stained glass
http://www.hibbert-assembly.org.uk/stainedglass/aboutstain.htm
(Site Excerpt) The means of colouring glass was understood in the early years
of the Common Era. The earliest stained glass in Europe has been found at
Jarrow at the monastery where Bede lived, prayed, taught and wrote. It dates
from the seventh century and some of the fragments have been pieced together
to form a roundel which has been placed in a window of the Saxon church which
forms the chancel of the present church of St Peter and St Paul at the monastic
site.