Holiday, Henry - Stained Glassas as an Art [1896]

8/7/2019 Holiday, Henry - Stained Glassas as an Art [1896]

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1EEQS TIMES, VKWAY. 'JAmiKKY 15, 1897:Stained Glass as an Art (Macmillan). x

For an artist to confide to the public themotives and methods of his work is a somewhatunusual occurrence, but when he is a man oforiginality like Mr. Henry Holiday, and has foryears followed his own path without turningaside to seek for popularity, such an apologia iswelcome, and the more so that its personal cha-racter is a happy accident due not to the author'sself-conceit but to his modesty. For the book is,as it professes to be, an essay on the art ofstained glass ; but as such it needed illustrations,and these Mr. Holiday found he could only takefrom his own work, for there only could hespeak with confidence of the objects aimedat, or of the means adopted to attain them.Any other course would ha\'e involved adverse.criticism and possible misinterpretation of thework of fellow-artists. The purpose of this essayis to draw attention to the vast difl'erence thatexists between the mere mechanical reproductionof the styles and tricksof medieval glasspainters,lifeless iterations of thoughts long dead, and theoriginal work of a true artist, with ideas andsentiments of his own which are neoessariljrreflected in his work, and to bring out the im-portance to the craft of glass painting of itsbeing regarded as an art, not as a trade. It isthe application to glass painting of the spiritwhich has produced the Arts and Crafts Exhi-bition. Far too much of the modern glass hasbeen designed by clerks working in anystyle required, and in that style merely re-producing the mannerisms of the originaldraughtsmen. The fault has not been peculiarto glass painting, it may be seen in all depart-ments of ecclesiastical architectm-e, and wasperhaps an inevitable result of the Gothic re-vival. Now, however, that we have seen theeffect of this formal imitation of ancient work,and have discovered that a dead copy of a 13thcentury church is no more interesting than anItalian villa constructed according to the rules ofVitruvius, there has been for some time past aneffort on the part of architects and craftsmen toinfuse a modern spirit into their work, and to re-garel the ancient buildings as examples to bestudied as the basis only of their modem work.And the present volume is likely to be naefnl ineducating public opinion, and so bringing abouta greater sympathy between artists and theirclients. For an appreciative public opiuionisalmost a necessary condition of the productionof works of art.With most of Mr. Holiday's views probablyfew artists would disagree. He points out that

the principal beauty of glass is due to itsbrilliance, and that therefore this quality shouldbe the guiding principle in its treatment.

I

Shadows and lines other than these necessary todefine the forms should be introduced mainly

! with the object of enhancing the apparent bright-ness of the lighter parts, and so increasing theI beauty of the glass. No attempt at realismshould be made, since this is bound to result infailure. The heavy leads and the sharp contrastsof colour between adjoining pieces of glass arelike nothing in nature, and if chiaroscuro isintroduced it involves large masses of heavyshadow which are clearly inappropriate to awindow intended to admit light. Besides, every(passing cloud will alter the illumination,I so that the picture can only be properlyIseen against a uniform sky. The true prin-

1 ciple is to keep the subject (as in a bas-[ relief) as nearly as possible upon one plane,to group the figures for decorative rather thanpictorial effect, and to shade each object sepa-

; rately so as to bringout its form without

atteillptlhg to work out the relative lights andshadows as they would appear in actual fact orin an oil painting. But subject to these restric-tions the drawing should be made as perfect aspossible, as any copying of Gothic errors ofanatomy would be an obvious anachronism. Thecomposition should be inspired by modem ideas,and the style should be such as results from thenatural expression of the artist's thoughts andtastes.So far we may all agree with Mr. Holiday,but perhaps the most interesting feature in thebook is an omission which goes far to explainwhy liis glass, with all its beauty of formand colour and sentiment, still often failsto please. " Beginning with design," he writes," the first all-important consideration for theglass-painter to keep in mind is that he has todecorate a window." This is his second duty ;his first (so strangely overlooked) is to decoratethe building. When glass-painting was a livingart, the window was regarded as part of the walland was ornamented in the same sort of way as apiece of wall might have been ornamented, theonly difference being that the one was trans-parent, the other opaque. In early times theentire window was filled with a geometricalpattern enclosing figure subjects in a series ofcircles or quatrefoils. Later the figures stoodalone, absolutely without background, or theywere enclosed in elaborate architecturalcompositions. And the drawing is gene-rally restful and sculpturesque. The eyepasses naturally from wall to window andon again to wall without being necessarily ar-rested by the glass. Indeed, the best glass isperhaps the least conspicuous. But Mr. Holiday'sglass asserts itself at once as something apartfrom the building. His couplet in SalisburyCathedral is beautiful, but it is not an ornamentto the building. You may look at the glass andenjoy it, j'ou may look at the architecture andadmire that ; but there is no pleasure to be gotfrom looking at the architecture and glass at thesame time. And the same is true of the westwindow of St. Saviour's, Southwark. Vaguely,it is clear, Mr. Holiday feels this, for he dwellsat length on the necessity of every artist beingtrue to his own style, urging that different styles,so long as they are honest, always harmonizetogether, while to copy the pre-existing styleof the building always results in failure.Though there is much truth in this it isnot the whole truth._ The nase oi We^minster Abbey is a copy of the choir and a 1splendid success, while the mixture of Normanand Decorated work in the nave of St. Albans is

|almost grotesque. The truth seems to be thatthe artist should think lirst of the building audonly secondly of his own art. The real trouble,however, comes from the fact that Mr. Holiday'sstyle is not architectural. The rounded formsand rapid motion in which he delights require astrong setting of architectural or at least geo-metrical borders to make them harmonize iviththe rigid lines of a stone building, and suchborders he rarely introduces. But the plates atthe end of the volume show how the most modemglass may be given the true architecturalcharacter. Mr. Richmond's windows at St.taul's are comparatively siaiple esamples, sincethey consist almost wholly of geometrical orna-ment, but Sir Edward Burne-Jones's Birming-ham windows are masterpieces of design. Thesubjects occupy the entire space : but the verti-cal and horizontal lines are so strongly marked,the figures so stiiHy yet grandly drawn, that thecomposition looks almost as if it would stand byitself, and needs no adventitious aids to make itharmonize with the surrounding architecture.


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STAINED GLASS AS AN ART

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1 11^

Stained Glass as an c^rt

BY

HENRY HOLIDAYWITH

A COLOURED REPRODUCTION OF THE DRAWING FOR ' THE CREATION 'TWENTY COLLOTYPES, AND MANY ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT

FROM DESIGNS BY SIR EDWARD BURNE - JONESW. B. RICHMOND, R.A., AND THE AUTHOR

?LontionMACMILLAN AND CO., LimitedNEW YORK : THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

All rii(kts. reserved


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Oyfo&HORACE HART, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY


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PREFACETHIS essay will, it may be hoped, sufficiently

explain itself without introductory remarks,but a few words are wanted about the

illustrations.In the first place I desire to express my sincere

and cordial thanks to my friends Sir Edward Burne-Jones and Mr. William Blake Richmond, for theircourtesy in allowing me to reproduce some of theirdesigns, and thus to give specimens of the best workin stained glass of the nineteenth century. In thenext place I must explain why the direct illustrationsof my text are taken from my own work only.

Considerations of convenience and of good tastedetermined me to take this course. I am quiteconvinced of a general accord between my brotherartists and myself as to the main principles laiddown in this treatise, but it is more than probablethat we may differ on minor points j and I mightfind myself quoting some features in their designsin illustration of an argument of my own, with whichthey might not wholly agree j I might read some-thing into their work which was not really in theirintention.


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VI VrefaceOn the other hand, there are some Iq-w mattersabout which we do not absolutely agree, and by

employing my friends' designs in direct illustrationof my principles, I might appear to be guilty of aninconsistency, miless I adopted the objectionablealternative of calling attention to the points inquestion for the purpose of adverse criticism.

But the consideration of convenience alone wouldalmost have compelled me to make the decision.Obviously my own designs, whatever their demerits,express my own ideas, and will accord with my text,for the illustration of which alone they are intro-duced j and they were all at hand. If I wanted anexample of any point, 1 knew where to find it, andcould get the drawing out and have it photographed.As I proceeded with my work, I found any othercourse would have been impracticable.Of my friends' designs let me say that if theyindicate any views slightly differing from my own,the difference is not such as to affect my admirationof them. I have selected them as instances ofbeautiful design and workmanship, and as such Icommend them to my readers if they desire to seeto how high a level the beauty of stained glasscan reach. HENRY HOLIDAY.Oak-tree House,

Branch Hill,Hampstead,

Dec. 185)^.


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CONTENTSPAGEIntroductory ...... i

Attitude of the average amateur towards Stained Glass, p. i ;his general uncertainty on the subject ; his belief that stainedglass should be rather mediaeval, 2 ; prevailing conditions adverseto the Technical Arts ; element of manufacture and profitrevival of stained glass under trade auspices, 3 ; the artistomitted ; the cheap and nasty ; consequent general desecrationof churches ; the amateur left without any artistic standardnearly all commercial stained glass designed by unknownemployes, 4 ; with a few exceptions commercial stained glassmerely kept up to the average public taste ; pictures good andbad the work of the artists ; employes of stiiined glass firms alltrained to a business standard, 5 ; this essay intended to removesome of the amateur's difficulties, 6.

PART IMaterial and Technique ....

(a) Material ; colour of glass ; flashed glass, p. 7 ; excellenceof modern coloured glass ; streaky pot, 8 ; yellow stain ; enamelcolours; lead, 9 ; iron; shading pigment, 10 ; (^) Technique ;stained glass without lines and shadows lacks dignity andinterest, 1 1 ; difference between art proper and a technical artoccasion offered by northern civilization for stained glasswindows; antiquity of stained glass, 12; splendid colour themost striking characteristic of stained glass ; unfit for repre-senting natural effects, 1 3 ; perversity of modem decorator inseeking the unfit ; hopelessness of imitating the subtle effects of


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viii Contentsnature with pieces of coloured glass and lead, 1 4 ; ineffective-ness of such imitation if it were possible; mistake of using widerange of light and dark in glass for the imitation of naturalchiaroscuro, 15; failure of an attempt to obtain a better imita-tion of nature in glass by elimination of leads, 1 6 ; fatal defectsof the method, 1 7 ; necessity of showing that realism is im-possible in glass before opening inquiry into technique, 1 9(f) Description of Processes ; the design ; figure studiescartoons, 19; selection of glass, 20; cut-line drawing; cuttingthe glass ; outlines ; first fire, 2 1 ; setting out the glass for thepainter; shading, 22 ; methods of shading ; the ' matt ' method,23; second fire; second shading; third fire; corrections andyellow stain, 24; stipple-shading; glazing; cementing, 25;binding; recapitulation, 26; eighteen processes generally requiredfor any piece of stained glass, 27.

PART IIArtistic Possibilities inherent in Stained

Glass from the point of view ofTechnique......

Form ; unlimited capacities of glass for expression of formconsequent absurdity of deliberate inaccuracy in drawing thefigure, p. 2 8 ; form at least as impoitant as colour in glassstudy of Chartres Window; geometrical iron-work, 29; ad-mirable design of window as a whole : in detail ; action ofthe figures clearly shown through draperies, 30 ; necessity ofemphasising the essential rather than the accidental formsanalogy between Stained Glass and Bas-relief; colour in bothpurely decorative, not imitative ; importance of form conse-quently enhanced in both, 31 ; consequent necessity of insistingon the noblest forms ; this principle observed in the thirteenthcentury, 3 3 ; contrast between this and sham thirteenth-centuryglass produced by trade ; form indispensable in glass ; colourmay be omitted ; treatment of form in glass, 3 5 ; two great

PAGE


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Contents ix

Chapter i.Design . , . .

First duty of glass-painter to decorate a window, not to ignoreits architectural forms ; rapid decadence of stained glass incinque-cento due to neglect of this principle, p. 45 ; cinque-cento glass at King's College, Cambridge, splendid work, butshowing early stage of the disease; treatment of wide-openspace without mullions ; strong iron-work necessary ; desirabilityof emphasising this by leading lines in design, 46 ; examplesof design founded on iron-work, 47 ; example of windowdivided into subjects by iron-work, 49 ; example of subjectframed in iron-work with border, 50; special treatment of iron-work in large circular window'Theology'; analysis of treat-ment, 51 ; Theology and Science, 53 ; advantage of decorative

PAGEprinciijles; distinctive character of material and situation andpurpose of work ; transparency distinctive character of glassincrease of brilliancy by use of lines and shadows ; differenttreatment of light and dark glass, 36 ; black lines on light glassin early glass omitted later in favour of delicate films of shadow;advantage of matt in light glass and stipple in deep colours,38 ; Venetian window in Duomo at Florence ; few lines andtransparent shadows ; great beauty and brilliancy of windowsfrom Florence and Chartres, with no attempt to imiuite nature,39; use of diapers for giving texture and glitter to glass, 40use of flashed glass bitten and stained ; ' plating ' to obtaindifferent colours, 41.

PART IIIThe Artistic Possibilities of Stained Glass,

considered in relation to the situa-TION AND Purpose of the Work . . 43

4f


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X ContentsPAGE

over pictorial art in presentation of 'Ideas,' 54; treatment ofwindows with muUions; limitations in decorative art as in poetrysupply motives, 5 5 ; design for several lights must be dividedand related as the architecture is divided and related ; examplesof simplest kind of division, 56; in such cases harmony of colourmore exacting than that of form ; colour in complicated windowsof early periods very symmetrical, 57 ; treatment of lights ofdifferent heights; one subject extending over two or more lights,59 ; example of subject in two lights ; the mullion must notbe felt to be an interruption, 60 ; extreme case of carryinga feature in a design across three lights, 61 ; example in fivelights, with two subjects and a single figure ; complicatedexample of one subject in ten lights, 62 ; tracery, 64 ; caseof one theme divided into many subjects, extending over sevenlights, 65; analysis of design, 66; impossibility of consideringcomposition apart from its motive ; desirability where there aremany figures of having more than one scale, and preferably notmore than two, 67 ; importance of knitting long series togetherwith horizontal features ; distinction between centre and sidelights, 68 ; colour in this window ; distinction between upper,lower, and middle bands, and between centre and sides ; pre-valence of primary colours in upper band ; of quieter coloursin lower band, disposed with approximate symmetry, 69; beautyof blue glass ; difficulty of treating blue ; example with importanttracery ; small precis of design to show the motive of the leadinglines, 70 ; pointing to the dominant idea, ' Peace on earth,goodwill toward men ' ; slowness of mankind to learn thislesson, politically, 7 1 ; or socially ; signs that a better spirin isgrowing up and will prevail, 72; growing horror at the wicked-ness of war ; earnest desire to find a better foundation for ourindustrial system, than selfish personal gain, 73 ; the tmest artcannot be separated from the best aspirations of man, 74.

Chapter 2.Light and Shade . . . . . 7S

Light and shade may enhance the interest of details, or thedecorative beauty of the whole ; these two considerations must


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Contents xiPAGE

always go together, p. 75 ; light and shade as means ofexpressing modelling ; possibilities of light and shade unlimitedin glass ; but limits to their use very important ; extreme degreesof liglit and shade seldom sought by painters, 76 ; plausiblecontention that capacity for depth without blackness should beutilized for effects of chiaroscuro ; objection that this would leadto false expectation and put spectator on wrong track, 77 ; wherethen is the line to be drawn ? a principle wanted, not anarbitrary line ; suggestion of natural forms by light and shadeinevitable ; absolute importance of treating these to enhancedecorative beauty of the glass ; unimportance of the amount oflight and shade if this principle be observed, 78 ; no realismin any form of early art ; incipient realism in glass of fourteenthand fifteenth centuries ; fine examples in New College, Oxford,79 ; vulgar realism in the same chapel ; Sir Joshua Reynolds'swindow in the same chapel ; curious instance of refined designwith wholly false aim, 80 ; proof of total decay of decorativesense ; sufficiency of the above principle for an artist ; necessityof further definition for an outsider ; distinction between decora-tive and pictorial light and shade, 81 ; analogy between stainedglass and bas-relief in light and shade ; both deal with a singleplane ; beauty of modelling possible in both with very simplelight and shade, 82 ; Panathenaic frieze from the Parthenonperfection of execution in detail, and of decorative beauty, 83 ;different planes implied, not represented ; possibility of greatfreedom of treatment when the principle is well graspedexamples of strict adherence to the precept, 84; west window,St. Saviour's, 86 ; Cavendish Window, St. Margaret's, West-minster, 88 ; Wordsworth window, Rydal ; examples of freertreatment, 90 ; suggestion without realization ; symbolic use offamiliar effects ; security from error found in single-minded aim,92 ; assimilation of principle an emancipation ; rales a bondage ;example of symbolic accordance with nature, 93 ; pool ofBethesda, Romsey Abbey, 94; 'Charity,' Philadelphia, 95;Paul at Athens, Forfar ; treatment of perspective ; Marriage atCana, South Audley Street, 97 ; necessity of the same freedomabout light and shade as about colour and perspective ; treat-ment of light and shade at various periods ; simplicity retainedin glass when chiaroscuro was fully developed in pictorial art.


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xii ContentsPAGE

98 ; Fairford glass ; Lichfield ; considerable degree ofnaturalism with true decorative feeling, 99 ; general conclusionabout light and shade, 1 00 ; expression of tone by deepercolour of glass, lOl.

Chapter 3.Style . . . . . . . .102

Mediasvalism ; the Gothic revival, p. 1 02 ; good intention of therevivalists ; tasteless development of the revival ; first resultantcrime ; wholesale destructive ' restorations ' ; probable view ofmedijevalists as regards glass ; trade conception of nditieti inart, 103; difficulty of abolishing an ingrained superstition;quaintness of early glass genuine ; all early artists gave theirown best; impossibility of any other course to an artist, 104;production by trade of that for which there is a marketabsurdity of attempting to imitate a noble ait by trainingapprentices to a few tricks of trade ; appalling rubbish in thecathedrals supplied by trade, 105 ; the tricks better done now ;comicalities of sham medieval glass, 106; calamitous effectof this ignorance increased by durability of material ; difficultyof removing stained glass, however disgraceful ; systematic dis-figurement of cathedrals, 1 07 ; mimiciy of old work, no aitat all ; paying to be tricked ; ' look as good as old ' ; violins andstained glass, 1 08 ; exceptions to the general rule about com-mercial glass ; responsibility of educated public for the evil, 109 ;ceaseless demand of educated public for shop-art ; division oflabour in commercial art incompatible with real ait, 1 1 o ; apanel of stained glass in a commercial house done in fragmentsby different employes ; consequent lack of interest to all, 1 1 1.

Style, Architectural . . . .112True influence of style of building upon style of deco-ration ; false influence ; abnegation by artist of his own styleand temporary adoption of some obsolete style ; immoralityof such hollow pretence ; impossibility of actual temporaryadoption of a style ; impossibility to an artist of working in


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Contents xiiiPAGE

any style but his own, p. 113; adaptation of design, not changeof style, true solution ; dancing among half a dozen stylesonly known to the trade ; universal practice of great artiststo work in their own style ; mediaeval and Renaissance Italy,114; a nightmare ! same rale holds good to-day ; permanenceof personal predilections of particular artists, 115; difficultyof giving rales for adaptation of design to spaces, 116.

Style in relation to Ornament . . 117Style in ornament, p. 117; complexity of problem ; differenceof point of view between painting and architecture, 118; impos-sibility of arguing from architecture to figures ; question as towhether ornament should ally itself with the architecture or thefigures in a window, 119; natural tendency to associate parts ofwindow with each other rather than with stonework ; incon-gruity of mixed styles in one window ; example of thisancient practice ; genuineness of each man's own style, irre-spective of style of building ; maintenance of rule even in archi-tectural additions, 1 20; general conclusions about ornament,121; derivation of ornament from natural forms ; foliageornamental treatment of foliage at different periods ; applicationof same rule to ornament as to figures, 122; adaptation ofdesign not changing of style, 123 ; decline of decorative sensein late civilizations ; prevalence of ornamental treatment even inpictorial work of early times ; tendency of late ornament tobecome realistic ; Raphael's arabesques ; nineteenth-centuryornament before Morris, 124; depth of its vulgarity, 125;tendency to resuscitate old forms at times of revival, 126;development of characteristic style not lapid ; gradual appearanceof such style at present time ; foliage in early Italian ornament,127; Ducal Palace, Venice; Duomo, Florence; examplesof similar ornament in glass, 128.

Style IN RELATION TO Archeology . .130Costume, &c., in stained glass ; custom in early work of repre-senting all people in costume of artist's own time ; impossibilityof representing men in battered black tubes in stained glass,


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xiv ContentsPAGE

p. 1 30; affectation of such practice in a society familiar with thecostumes of the past ; desirableness of presenting our subjectsas we naturally conceive them ; traditional treatment of Christand apostles at nearly all periods. 131 ; folly of rejecting cha-racteristic costume where it would add to the interest anddecorative beauty of work ; examples of ' local colour ' incostume, &c., from stained glass windows, 133; latitudenecessary here as in other matters, 134.

Style in relation to a few Special Points 136The human figure, p. 136; the figure not often represented inearly art ; but not avoided in glass where opportunity offeredChartres ; Fairford, 1 37; considerations of colour and surface;no technical difficulty in treating the figure in glass ; examplesLazarus, 139; Enoch, Moses, and Elijah ; representation oftextures in glass, 14O; Angels; their representation necessarilysymbolic ; mediaeval angels in ecclesiastical vestments ; objec-tions to maintenance of this practice, 141; absurdity of drawingangels who existed before the Creation in costume only invented5,000 years after it ; anthropomorphism exceeded ; necessityof representing celestial beings in exalted human form, 1 42 ;extension of this to highly specialized costumes, a narrow andunelevating symbolism ; incongruity of wings and heavy gar-ments; Orgagna and Van Eyck, 143; ecclesiastically clothedangels soon dropped by the great painters ; development ofspiritual functions in the human organs, and gradual subordinationof the animal functions ; consummation of the process, 1 44answer to possible objection to this view ; Blake's angels, 1 45 ;examples, 1 46.

Chapter 4.The Influence of Limitations of Form and

Space on Decorative Art . . .147Picture regarded as actual scene contemplated through anopening ; aichitectural spaces not regarded in this way; decora-tive art accepted as symbolic, and thus liberated from the


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Contents xvPAGE

trammels of realism, p. 147 ; analogy between limitationsof decorative ait and those of rhythm and metre, 1 48Ruskin's diagram ; underlying harmony producing resultantconfusion ; similar contrast presented by the world ; rhythm inmotion, 1 49 ; universal law of matter acted on by differentforces, 1 50 ; regular and irregular rhythm ; deep, regularrhythm makes musical tones ; superficial, irregular rhythmmakes noise ; profound thoughts need to be in accord withprofound, regular, musical rhythm ; consequent spirituality ofmusic, 151; same laws in all arts ; rhythm in architecture ;stained glass should belong to this higher order, 152.

Conclusion . . . . . . i5'3Stained glass as an art ; how to learn lessons from the past andapply them to the present, p. 153; symbolism ; use of tra-ditional symbols as labels, not as substitutes for imagination,154; all good work is modern; nobility and individuality ofstained glass as an artistic material, 157; perils which havebeset stained glass ; only means of saving it, the education ofthe public, 158.

APPENDIXNote I. American Glass . . . .15-9Note II. Opus Sectile (Opaque Stained Glass) \6\

Designs by Sir Edward Burne-Jones andMr. W. B. Richmond, R.A. . . \6-j

INDEX 171


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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONSPAGE

Frontispiece. Reproduction in colour of the seven Chancelwindows in Grace Church, Utica. Subject : ' Let theHeavens rejoice, and let the Earth be glad.'

Initial Letters . . pp. i, 7, i8, 4.3, 45-, 75-, 102, 147, 153Fig. I. Grooved lead ....... 9

X. Window in South Aisle of Chartres Cathedral . To face p. 503. Portion of ditto, larger scale . . . . . 32+6. Thirteenth-century head, showing thick outlines

55>>

3333

3)33

333+37

7. Window from Transept of Duomo, Florence . To face p. 3940+7

8. Various diapers ......(). Window in Church, Philadelphia. ' Charity ^

10. Window in South Aisle, Salisbury Cathedra' Christ receiving Children ' . . .

11. Window in Christ Church, New York. 'Love'1%. Window in Hospital, Toronto, Canada. 'Christ

healing sick child ' .13. Window in Theological College, New Jersey

' Theology'......,14. Window in Bingley Church, Yorkshire. ' Faith andHope' . . . . .If. East window in Bingley Church, Yorkshire. ' Five

Virtues' .......16. Window in Church, Portland, Maine, U.S.

'Virgin Mary, St. Cecilia, St. Agnes, with

48+9

57

Angels' Where not otherwise stated the windows illustrated are from designs by

the author.b


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xviii List of IllustrationsPAGE

Fig. 17. Part of window in Churcli of tlie Incarnation, NewYork. 'Jacob blessing liis children . . 5:518. Window in Ormskirk Church, Lancashire. 'Christ

stilling the tempest ' . . . . . . 60i^. East window in chapel of a school near Phila-

delphia. 'Joseph and his brethren . . 61lo. Lower part of East window, Upholland Church,

near Wigan. ' The Ascension ' . To face p. 61ai. 'The Ascension,' by Giotto. Arena Chapel,

Padua ........ ()322. Part of tracery fiom East window in UphollandChurch........ 6'4.25. East window in Church of the Epiphany, Wash-

ington, U. S. A. ' The Nativity, with theadoration of kings and shepherds'. To face f. 70

24.. Precis of the above . . . . . . 712^. Two slabs from the Panathenaic frieze round the

cella of the Parthenon, Athens . . . 8jiG. West window in St. Saviour's, Southwark. ' TheCreation' To face p. %^27. Panels from the above, larger scale . . . 8f28. Cartoons for part of the Cavendish Memorial

window in St. Margaret's, Westminster. ' ThePassion' To face p. %6

29. From coloured sketch for the above . . . 8730. Cartoon for part of the East window in Church of

the Epiphany (Fig. 23) 8931. Window in Rydal Church in memory of JemimaQuillinan ....... 9132. Window in Romsey Abbey. 'The Pool at

Bethesda'..... To face p. p^33. Window in Church at Philadelphia (see Fig. 9).

'Charity' To face p. i^'^34.. Part of window in Forfar Church. 'Paul preaching

at Athens '


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List of Illustrations xixPAGE

Fig. 3(). Study for angel in tracery of Cburch in Brooklyn,U.S.A ii637. Foliated ornament. Egyptian, Assyrian, and Greek 1x358. Arabesques by Raphael in the Loggie at the

Vatican . . . . . . . . ii^39. Capital and group in Ducal Palace, Venice . . ix6^oa. Grisaille from window in Forfar Church (see Fig. 34) 1 17+0^. iz84.1. Grisaille from window in Salisbury Cathedral (see

Fig. 10) 1194z. Panels with 'Joseph and his brethren,' Phila-delphia (see Fig. 15)) 131

43. Window in St. Paul's, Richmond, U.S.A. 'Mosesleaving the court of Pharaoh ' . Jo face p. iii\.

44. Window in Church of Holy Trinity, Philadelphia.' Paul preacliing at Athens ' . . . . 135-

4^. Panels from window in Grace Church, New York.'Raising of Lazarus' . . . . .138

4'). Part of East window in Evesham Church. ' Enoch,Moses, and EUjah' . . . To face p. 14047. Panel from window in Tamworth Church. 'Sam-

son at Gaza' . . . . . . . i3


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XX List of IllustrationsPAGE

Fig. ^7. Drapery study for figure from the above . . 15'5:8. ' Angel ofJudgment,' executed in Opus sectile . 166fc). The Nativity. From the cartoon by Sir Edward

Burne-Jones for a Chancel window at St. Philip's,Birmingham ..... To face p. \6%

60. The Ascension. From the same cartoon by SirEdward Burne-Jones. To follow Fig. 55).

61. The Crucifixion. From the same cartoon bySir Edward Burne-Jones. To follow Fig. 6^0.

61. Eastwindows of St. Philip's,Birmingham. Executedby William Morris & Co. from the designs ofSir Edward Burne-Jones. From photographstaken from the glass expressly for this work.To follow Fig. ^i.

6-ij. Angels. From a window in St. Paul's Cathedral,designed by W. B. Richmond, R.A. To face f. 170

6+. To follow Yig. 61..


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STAINED GLASS AS AN ARTINTRODUCTORY

LARGE number of persons in Attitude ofevery civilized community fre- ^^^ average

\. ^ II J amateurquent picture galleries, and ^^^^,^^most of these claim to under- stainedstand something about the art Glass.of painting. Some make theclaim justly j they may not beproductive artists, but theyhave the receptive faculty.Possessing powers of observa-

tion and using them, they have a keen eye for truth-ful presentations of nature, whether as regards formor colour, action or expression. Others pay littleattention to nature, and passing unnoticed most ofthe more subtle and delicate beauties she presents tothem daily, bestow their admiration chiefly on sceneswhich impress them from their novelty : an excep-tional sunset, the sun breaking out after a storm,an imposing piece of mountain scenery, &c. Thesewill be most attracted in an exhibition by cleverimitations of the more cheap and obvious effects.

If their powers of thought have been generallycultivated, they will be aware that no faculty can

^


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2 Stained Glass as an o^rtbe matured without study and practice, and theyvery commonly disclaim any special right to pro-nounce opinions or pass judgments on works of art.All the same, they have opinions, and in their secrethearts they consider these opinions very sound, andprobably they would be much more worth hearingthan the 'esthetic' jargon of the would-be criticwho used to talk about 'chiar'oscuro' and ' impasto,'and now talks about ' values ' and ' relations.'An artist ought to meet respectfully those whomodestly define their position in the familiar words,* I don't profess to understand art, but / know whatI like?

Hisgeneral As regards stained glass, very few have arriveduncertainty eyg^ at this unpretending stage. Very few knowsubied: ^^'^'^ what they like, or if they have preferences theycould give only a very vague account of the meaning

of those preferences. All would agree in condemningthe garish performances of certain tradesmen who, inthe earlier part of this century, defiled nearly all ourcathedrals with their stained glass \ but if they findin a window tolerably good taste as to colour, andfairly good drawing, they hardly know what moreto look for. If it were a picture they could appealto nature as their standard of comparison, but thatis out of the question here, and they are at a losshow to prove that one window is better thananother.

His belief The case is further complicated by the prevailingthatstained vague impression that stained glass should be ratherglass should j-nediajval. How mediaeval it should be, or why itmedisval. should be mediaeval at all, or which of the totally

dissimilar mediaeval styles it should resemble, is notclear, but that it should be mediaeval in some un-defined way is a popular belief. Little wonder then


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Introductory ithat the amateur feels no firm ground under his feetwhen approaching the subject of stained glass.The following pages are addressed mainly tothose who have cultivated their perceptive facultiesgenerally, but find themselves thus bewildered byuncertainty as to the essential factors determiningthe nature of the particular art here discussed.

There is no royal road to anything worth having,and those in whom the sense of beauty has beenundeveloped, will gain nothing by reading a treatise,but it often happens that where technical arts areconcerned, many whose sense of beauty is by nomeans dormant, find the free exercise of that senseimpeded by lack of knowledge concerning thematerials employed, and by misapprehensions arisingfi-om the unfortunate conditions by which in thepresent day all technical arts are heavily handicappednone more so than stained glass.The nature of these adverse conditions need only Prevailingbe briefly referred to. In a picture, a poem, or conditionsa musical score, the conception and its development (.[^^ Tech-are the work of one man, but in the technical arts, nical Arts.mosaic, tapestry, metal work, carving of wood andstone, and other crafts, the element of manufacture Elemententers; furnaces, looms, &c., and workmen are wanted, of^anu-There is an opening for the investment of capital pj.Qgt_and the running of a ' concern.' Profit begins to peerin with his greedy eyes, and when Profit comes in atthe door, Art flies out at the window.Thus when stained glass was revived with the Revival

Gothic movement early in the century, it was taken oj" stainedup as a trade. The first crude idea of the Gothic ^^^^grevivalists was that a Gothic church must have auspices.Gothic figures, and thus for Gothic figures therewas a large demand. Art could not meet so absurd

B 1.


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Stained Glass as an c^Trt

The artistomitted.The cheapand nasty.Con-sequentgeneraldesecrationofchurches.

Theamateurleft withoutany artisticstandard.

Nearlyall com-mercialstainedglass de-signed byunknownemployes.

a requirement, because an artist only draws figuresas he knows and feels them, not as someone elsefelt them five or six centuries ago, but this gaverise to no difiSculty. Trade rushed in where artistsscorned to tread, and the supply was soon equal tothe demand. As the artist was dispensed with thereis little doubt that the stuff supplied was cheapthere is none that it was nasty. In the whole blacklist of offences for which trade is responsible there isprobably nothing which for its enduring odiousnesscan compare with the sacrilegious desecration of ournoblest buildings unblushingiy carried on for money-profit through a considerable part of this century.The subject will have to be touched upon againat a later part of our inquiry, but it was necessaryto say thus much here to assist us in rightly under-standing the difficulty which besets the amateur informing any standard in his mind which he canapply to stained glass : for though matters havegreatly improved, the fundamental evil still remains.Growth ofpublic taste compelled the more prominentfirms to seek the help of artists in their more im-portant works, and some of the firms established inmore recent times contain among their members menof artistic ability, but the bulk of the work doneby all the commercial stained glass manufacturers isdesigned by unknown employes who have been unableto make a position as original artists, and it is doneto order in a prescribed style.The prescribed style of the earlier period wasintolerable. Under the more exacting demands ofan improved public taste the prescribed style ofto-day is ' tolerablebut not to be endured.'

For it is still trade and not art. Now and thenan artist is called in and given a free hand, and


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Introductory ya genuine work of art is produced j but such casesare exceptions, and the bulk (probably ninety-ninehundredths) of the stained glass which now fills ourchurches is produced for profit ^ like any other manu-facture. Where then can the inquiring amateurarrive at an artistic standard with reference to With astained glass? He can find the kind of drawing, the ^f^ excep-sort of colour, and the degree of sham medievalism, j^ercial""'demanded by the philistine and supplied by the stainedtrade, and, as a rule, he can find little else. A few glass isexceptional cases apart, he cannot find the original merely keptconceptions of artists produced with the single- averageminded desire to give the best that is in them. public taste.

In the better picture galleries he will find every Picturesvariety of excellence and incompetence represented, good andand among other varieties I fear he will find works ^ork^f theby men who so far descend to the commercial level artists.that they paint for the market, but even these arenot working under another man's control and forthat other man's profit. What they give is theirown, such as it is j it will not find a market unless itexcels in some way, possibly only in the more super-ficial qualities, such as satisfy no cultivated artisticmind, but if the work has acquired popularity, it Employesmust be owing to some kind of originality, some of staineddegree of exceptional ability, something personal to alUrained

^ It need hardly be said that Profit must not be confounded withPay- under existing conditions all work must be paid for. Profitis where a man does not do the work, but pays so much for it andsells it for so much more, and whose income depends upon howmuch he can make out of the transaction. It is a question ofCapital and Interest qualified by the amount of personal super-intendence involved, only this superintendence is not paid foraccording to value, but depends upon how much the capitalist canget out of the workman, with the obvious result that it is to hisinterest to get the cheapest work available that will just satisfypopular requirements.


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6 Stained Glass as an c^rtto a busi- the painter. He has not been trained with a dozenness stand- others to produce one cut and dried style of work

that will satisfy the requirements of a business firm.Our inquiring amateur, if he really pursues thesubject, will soon discover this cut and dried samenessin the commercial stained glass of the day, and willfeel the difference between the splendid work of thethirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, andthe modern shams which profess to be in the stylesof those periods, but he may easily find himself muchat sea as to what he should look for, and may pos-sibly not reject a helping hand offered by one whocan speak from long experience.

This essay I have endeavoured to divine correctly the diffi-mtendedto culties which beset the educated outsider who desiressome^fthe ^^ look at Stained glass intelligently, because thisamateur's seemed a necessary preliminary to their removal, anddiflSculties. will now address myself to the more interesting taskof showing" what the material can do and ought

to do.For this purpose three things are indispensable :1. A brief but clear account of the technique and

methods pertaining to the material.2. An examination into the artistic possibilities

inherent in it from the point of view of itstechnique.

3. A consideration of the artistic question inrelation to the situation and purpose ofthe work.We will take these three divisions in order, and

treat them as clearly and simply as the subjectpermits.


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MATERIAL AND TECHNIQUESTAINED glass window consists (a) Mate-of pieces ofwhite and coloured Ri^l.glass, on which lines andshadows have been paintedand burnt in, joined togetherwith grooved leads.The colour is in the glass Colour ofitself, being introduced while glass.it is in a state of fusion. Itwould be quite foreign to the

present inquiry to treat of the ingredients employedor any of the processes of glass-making, but a fewwords will be necessary to explain exactly what kindof material the glass-painter has to deal with.The colour as a rule equally pervades the wholeof a sheet of glass, so that the only variety in anyone sheet arises from its unequal thickness, the thickparts appearing necessarily deeper and the thin partslighter. There are, however, some exceptions to thisrule : ruby glass, for instance, is so intense that no Flashedlight would pass through a piece thick enough forpractical purposes, and to meet this difficulty theglass-blower dips his rod first into melted white glassand then into ruby, so that the knob of white

glass.


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Stained Glass as an c^rtglass is coated with the ruby. When this is blownout the result is a sheet of thick white glass coveredwith a thin superficial layer of ruby. This ruby faceis often very unequal in thickness and streaky incharacter, qualities which are useful to the artist.Flashed glass (as it is called) has this furtheradvantage, that the thin film can be bitten out withfluoric acid, partly or entirely, so as to lighten thecolour or remove it altogether and expose the whiteglass.Beside ruby there is a flashed pink made withgold, rather cold in colour, but by flashing it onpale yellow glass instead of white a very glowingbeautiful colour is produced. Some blues also areflashed.

Excellence The beauty and variety of the colours now obtain-of modern ^ble is very great, and the belief entertained by some

that stained glass is a lost art is wholly withoutfoundation. Some few colours which were in use inthe early periods have not been yet reproduced, butwe possess many of great beauty which were notknown then, and artists owe much to the well-directedefforts of the leading glass-manufacturers who supplythem with such excellent material.

It has been said that the colour of any sheet ofglass equally pervades the whole, varying only indepth, according as the sheet is thicker or thinner.Occasionally, however, ' spoiled ' glass is to be hadwhere a little of one colour has remained at thebottom of a pot in which another coloured glass ismelted, in which case the old colour gets streakedinto the lowest part of the new, sometimes with verycharming" results. No good art ought to depend onaccidents, but every true artist ought to be able toutilize a happy accident when it offers itself. The

colouredglass.

Streaky pot.


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Material and Techniquepure coloured glass in which the hue penetrates thewhole material is known to the craft as ' pot-metal.'Streaked sheets of blended colour are euphoniouslystyled ' streaky pot.'

In the most ancient stained glass the only colours Yellowobtained were those of the pot-metal, but early in stain.the fourteenth century a mode of imparting to theglass a charming yellow stain was discovered, andthe artists of the time soon learnt to make excellentuse of it. It enabled them to give great variety towhite glass, and, as a natural consequence, whiteglass was henceforth used much more freely, but thestain can be used on many other colours, and whenapplied to blue glass gives many agreeable varietiesof green.

In later years glass was painted on the surface Enamelwith enamel colours, but this was in the decadence colours.of the art j the colour so obtained lacks the richnessand transparency of the pot-metal, and the endeavourto avoid the use of leads by getting several colourson to one piece of glass, injured the workin a way which will be more conveniently gmk,considered when treating of technique. ^^A few words must be said about the lead. Lead.This will be familiar to most readers inordinary lattice-windows, and it is onlynecessary to say that it is made in thinflexible strips, grooved on both sides sothat the section is as shown in Fig. i. Theprojecting portion which encloses the glassis called the leaf, the centre portion whichlies between the adjacent pieces of glass Fig. i.is called the heart. The leads are made ofvarious sizes j that which goes round the outside ofa window to bind it together being necessarily thick


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lO Stained Glass as an


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Material and Technique IIglass, and should present a smooth, silky surface.It need only be added that there are some slightvarieties of the pigment, that which is used for thelines being quite opaque, while the shadows arepainted with a monochrome of a black or blackish-brown colour of so transparent a quality that itdoes little more than deepen the natural hue ofthe glass, unless the shadow be a very dark one.We are now in a position to understand the [h) Tech-artistic possibilities inherent in stained glass, and to nique.consider by what technical methods these may bedeveloped.

There are windows in existence which consist of Stainedlittle more than a mosaic of pieces of coloured glass s'.^f^leaded together without shadows and almost without i^j^^g ^,^jlines j there are a number such in the cathedral at shadowsPisa, in some of which even the heads are without l^.c^s dig-features, and I have heard this treatment defended "V ^\J ^ _ interest.by very good authorities.The designs in the glass at Pisa are good, and thecombination of colours agreeable, but the effect isnot impressive, being at once bald and gay, ratherthan mysterious and solemn, as is the case with thebest early windows where lines and shadows areemployed. At the same time all intellectual interestis sacrificed by the method. All that is there canbe seen at once, and nothing is left to arrest theattention, nothing to occupy the thoughts. Theeye alone is addressed, and the eye is disappointed.

If it were otherwise we could dismiss the subjectof technique quickly, as there would be none todiscuss j but if we are to aim at an art which shallpossess dignity and elevation, and not content itselfwith being kaleidoscopic, the technique will be veryimportant.


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IX Stained Glass as an o^rtDifferencebetweenart properand atechnicalart.

Occasionoffered bynortherncivilizationfor stainedglass win-dows.

Antiquityof stainedglass.

The diiFerence between art proper and a technicalart may be readily illustrated by comparing a picturewith a stained glass window. In the former the soleobject of the artist is to produce an impression onthe mind through the eye by means of form andcolour. The canvas and pigments are merely meansto an end, and have absolutely no value or utilityapart from that end. In the latter the primaryobject is to glaze an aperture in the wall of a buildingfor the purpose of admitting light and excludingweather. The glass, lead, and iron are primarilymeans to this end, and the question whether theyshall be so treated as to constitute a work of art isa secondary one. A simple desire for beauty mightsufficiently account for the introduction of artisticform and colour into glazed windows, but practicalconsiderations may have led to the same result.When civilization moved northward, where high-pitched roofs and weather-proof buildings were

required in place of hypathral and other classicforms employed in Greece and Italy, the questionofadmitting light without weather became important,and the use of glass was greatly extended. But largeapertures filled with white glass would give far morelight than was agreeable or necessary, and the reduc-tion of the light by making the apertures smallwould illuminate a large building in a very unequaland unsatisfactory way ; it was desirable, therefore,to subdue the light without diminishing the scale ofthe windows, and coloured glass supplied an obviousmeans of doing this effectually, and in a mannersusceptible of artistic treatment.The treatise of the monk Theophilus on themaking of glass and of stained glass windows isattributed to the tenth century, earlier than any


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Material and Technique i?extant stained glass, and yet in this work he describesthe designing and executing of figures, draperies, &c.,in coloured glass, so that at this early age the arthad reached a high development and was devoted tothe representation of figure-subjects.

Stained glass is thus strictly a technical art. Theglazing of the open window space and the subduingof the light are purely practical matters, and theartist, having to deal with pieces of coloured glass,has to consider how these can be treated so as tobe beautiful to the eye and interesting to theintelligence.The first obvious fact in relation to the material Splendidis the splendour of its colour. Nothing painted colour thewith pigments on an opaque surface can compare j^a^cha" "with coloured glass for intensity, glow, and brilliancy, racteristicor for the width of its range from dark to light, of stainedIf a painted picture is placed in a good light, the S^^^^-darkest colour in it is fully illuminated so that itcan contain nothing really dark ; and, on the otherhand, the most brilliant light in a painting is dullcompared with the sky. Whereas in a stained glasswindow the darks are very intense, being seen againstthe light, while the lights are the light of the skyitself, and every colour glows with that same lighttransmitted through it.Thus for jewelled splendour of colour, stained Unfit for

glass stands alone; but, on the other hand, it is represent-wholly unfitted for imitating natural effects, con- efflc"s!""sisting as it does of sharply opposed coloursseparated by thick black lines.From which considerations it follows that anytreatment of the material which does not developits capacities in the way of glorious colour, andwhich does aim at pictorial realism, must be a failure j


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H Stained Glass as an o^rtPerversityof moderndecoratorin seekingthe unfit.

Hopeless-ness ofimitatingthe subtleeffects of

and yet such is the perversity of the moderndecorator, that a school of stained glass painterswas established in Munich, and a very popularschool it became both here and abroad, whichendeavoured to make stained glass windows looklike oil paintings, with the result that they look likepainted window-blinds. Except in the matter ofcomposition and arrangement of colour, there ishardly a point in common between the beautiesattainable in stained glass and those presented bynature and imitable in a picture.

Nature is full of subtle play of colour. Whetherwe look at the infinitely tender gradations of skyand cloud, at the equally tender and delicatetransitions in the colour of the human body, at thealternations of grey light and green transparentdepth in foliage, at the glitter and sheen of water,or at any other of the numberless beauties whichnature offers us in such lavish profusion, we find onevery hand qualities so delicate and complex thatonly the greatest painters, employing a material ofalmost unlimited subtlety, have successfully inter-preted them, while stained glass offers no means ofmaking even the most distant approach to theirpresentation.The very abundance and variety of these beautiesis bewildering to the ordinary observer, and it is

only when certain aspects of them are selected andpresented to us by a Veronese or a Correggio,a Turner or a Watts, that we become fully aware oftheir existence.The people who thought they could imitate thesetender and delicate gradations by means of pieces ofcoloured glass joined together with strips of leadcan never have perceived their beauty at all, or they


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Material and Technique 15would not have produced the vulgar caricatures nature withof it, which are the distinguishing characteristic of Pi^'^*^^ ofthe Munich school. gkssTnd

It is not surprising that men who were so blind lead.to the beauties of nature were equally so to thesplendour of the noble works in stained glass leftus by the artists of the early middle ages. Whenone turns from one of these glorious windows ina continental cathedral to the modern Munichchromo-lithograph transparencies (for they are likenothing else) that are often found side by side withthem, one marvels that such dense blindness to allthat is fit and beautiful should be possible.

But with trade all things are possible in the wayofvulgarity and ugliness. Profit is the aim, and asthe thing pays, what more can we want?

So far I have only noted the impossibility of Ineffective-imitating natural effects in stained fflass, and the "^ss ofsuch

1m 1 Til tionnecessary poverty of work produced by men blind if it wereenough to make such a hopeless attempt ; but this possible.is only half the question, for if it were possibleby some yet undiscovered method to obtain inglass perfect representations of nature, the resultwhen placed in a window would be absolutelyineffective, and the labour would be worse than lost.The leaded coloured glass of the windows at Pisa,without lines and shadows, would be immeasurablysuperior as decorative art to any such realistic work,however successful as an imitation of nature. Thepearly greys, the half-tints, and the gradations, whichare the delight of the painter, would all be thrownaway in a cathedral window where they could noteven be seen. It has been said that glass offers Mistake ofgreater contrasts of light and dark than are possible using wideto the painter with canvas and pigment, and it might '^'^"^^ ^


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i6 Stained Glass as an c^rtlight anddark inglass forthe imita-tion ofnaturalchiaro-scuro.

Failure ofan attemptto obtaina betterimitationof naturein glass byelimina-tion ofleads.

be contended that powerful effects of chiaroscurowould be a legitimate subject of imitation with theglass-painter, but there are at least two soundobjections to this view.

1. Such effects are occasionally to be seen innature, and have been represented with noble resultsby certain painters, by Rembrandt in particular ; butwithin the strong contrasts of light and shade willbe found those half-tints and subtle transitions ofcolour which are wholly foreign to the natureof stained glass. If these were eliminated the workwould be vulgar and theatrical, as is the case in allattempts to present such effects in glass.

2. Where these strong contrasts exist, there mustnecessarily be large masses of very deep and evenimpenetrable shadow. Such masses of shadow makea window heavy and gloomy, and exclude all thatglowing and glittering beauty which is the peculiarglory of the material.

I met lately with a curious illustration of theineffectiveness which follows from any attempt toimitate nature in stained glass, when a friend atBayreuth invited me to his house to see a ' picture,'which turned out to be a copy of a picture executedin glass. It was a piece of still life, fruit, &c., andthe whole room was darkened, except the portion ofwindow space occupied by the 'picture,' to showit off.

It was produced by a method devised to obtainvariety of colour without leads or other joints.The system was ingeniously conceived and cleverlyemployed. It gave not only varieties, but graduatedtransitions of colour, and my friend was confidentthat it would give the death-blow to the existingmode of treating stained glass.


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Material and Technique 17The method adopted was to use three sheets of

flashed glass, red, blue, and yellow, and by skilfullybiting out some or all of the coloured films, to getthe required varieties of colour. If all the filmswere left intact, the result was deep neutral shadow jif all were bitten out, pure white was left \ if twocolours or one were wholly bitten out, a pureprimary or secondary colour was shown j and finally,by the partial removal of the dilFerent films, it waspossible to obtain a practically unlimited variety ofintermediate tints, any of which could be graduatedone into the other.

Here, then, was a fair opportunity of judging ofthe effect of realism in stained glass. Examinedclose to, as one would examine a small picture,the result was interesting, and showed some goodqualities. There ' were no painted shadows, it wasall pure glass, so that the colours were luminous,and in no part had it that muddiness and im-purity so common in oil pictures other than thoseby really good colourists. But on looking at itfrom the other side of the small room in which itwas exhibited, and regarding it as a piece of decora-tion, it was hopelessly ineffective. The mere thoughtof a window so treated was depressing. The contrast Fatal de-in depth between the solid opaque wall in full ^cts of theshadow and the clear space of open sky is so great '"^^^^o'^-that, if the space is to be treated decoratively, theremust be corresponding contrasts in the work, andthe lead lines are as invaluable for decorative as forstructural purposes. Without them the work lookedpoor and flat. Another fatal defect appeared atonce. It was essential to the would-be realismthat the light transmitted through the glass shouldbe clear and equal. This can never be ensured in


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1 Stained Glass as an z^rtchurch or other windows where trees or buildingsare always liable to obstruct the direct light.This is regrettable in the case of stained glassproper, which is always seen to greatest advantageagainst clear sky, but it is fatal to a realistic pictureto see objects through it. In the small specimenI saw (about two square feet) it was easy to get thewhole of it against clear sky, but even so it neverlooked right, for the sky itself would not behavewith proper consideration. It was a fine day, withblue sky and bright white passing clouds. Theseclouds were perfectly visible through the picture,the ' values and relations ' of which were all thrownout in consequence, one part appearing to be ina cold blue shadow, and another in a bright warmlight, quite foreign alike to the painter's intentionand to any natural effect, since a passing light wouldilluminate only one side of the objects upon whichit fell, making the shadows appear more intense bycontrast, whereas in our transparency the cold blueand warm white cut across lights and shadows withperfect impartiality, giving an appearance of flatnessand unreality to the whole.

This defect might be partly remedied by backingthe picture with ground glass, but this would destroythe transparency, which is the one redeeming featureof the process.

Yet another objection of a practical kind is fatalto the method. It can only be carried out in sheetsof moderate size, such as the specimen shown to me,so that a stained glass window carried out in thismanner must consist of very small pictures, invisibleat a moderate distance, enclosed in iron or woodenframework ; or if the subject extend over severalsuch sheets, these must be united with bars of some


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in

Material and Technique ikind, which, however thin, must absolutely disfigurethe realistic picture, as the bars and lead linesabsolutely enhance the brilliancy of the decorativework.

I venture to think that any person of artisticfeeling who may have a vague sense that stainedglass would be improved if it could attain to acloser imitation of nature, would be cured of sucha fallacy by an inspection of a work produced bythe method just described.

I have to some extent anticipated a later part of Necessityour inquiry in thus treating of the artistic possi- of showingbilities to be found in stained fflass, but it will be that realismo ^ ... is im*noted that I have only considered the point in its possiblenegative aspect. I have shown what the material glass becannot do and should not be coerced into attempt- ^^^^ open-ing; and so much as this I felt was desirable, in into"ech-^order to clear the ground that we might be able nique.to enter upon an examination of the genuine tech-nical methods applicable to our material witha better idea of their true aim.

It will perhaps be convenient here to describe {c) De-these methods categorically. scription

In the first place, the artist must be supplied with cesses. 'an accurate scale drawing of the window to be filled, Theand with all essential particulars as to its situation. Design.such as its height from the ground, its aspect, thedistances from which it will be seen, external sur-roundings, &c. The first process, then, is to makea design, a coloured sketch on a small scale.The next, to an artist who is careful about his Figuredraughtsmanship, will be to make studies of the nude studies.figures and of the draperies.

Then, having obtained accurate full-sized pat- Cartoons,terns of the window spaces, or ' lights,' as they are

C X


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10 Stained Glass as an (^Arttechnically called, cartoons on the actual scale ofthe window must be prepared from the sketch andstudies, which should gi\'e with perfect completenessthe outlines, the shadows, the leads, and even thebars, all in fact but the colour, which has beengiven in the small sketch j for the artist should bethinking of the work as glass from first to last, andthe various structural essentials proper to thematerial should not only be present to his mind,but should form a part of his design. In some ofthe illustrations which follow, I have to some extentdeparted from this practice j that is to say, after somany years devoted to this kind of work that theretention in my mind of the nature of the materialbecame automatic, I allowed myself, for particularpurposes, occasionally to finish a cartoon as adrawing, in which case I made a separate tracing toshow the leads and bars.

Selection Xhe selection of coloured glasses has now to beof glass. made, and for this purpose the artist requires a framewith specimens of all the sheets at his disposal.These are commonly leaded together, but I find itvery desirable to keep them loose in a frame soconstructed that the pieces can be readily shiftedfor the purpose of trying the effect of any onecolour by the side of any others. I find it necessaryto keep a large stock of different sheets, not for thesake of getting many colours into one window, butto get as much play as possible into each colour.A piece of blue drapery, for instance, will probablybe made up of eight or ten different blues. Ifexecuted with one, the effect would be verymonotonous and bald. A large stock is alsonecessary in order to get the precise harmonyrequired for a particular design, however simple


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Material and Technique aithat design may be. The sheets and samples arenumbered to correspond, so as to make the referenceeasy for the cutter, to whom the cartoon must nowbe transferred.

His first step is to get a 'cut-line' drawing Cut-Jineprepared. This is done on tracing cloth, and consists drawing.of black lines drawn along the centres of all theleads and bars, numbers corresponding to the sheetsto be used being inscribed in all the spaces.The cutter, having laid this drawing upon his Cuttingtable, takes the various sheets indicated, and placing *^^^ S^^^^-them in succession over their proper spaces, cutsthem to their required shape by letting his diamondfollow the black lines seen through the glass. Thecutter ought to be a man of judgment and ability,because though the artist has indicated the coloursto be used, there is scope for still further varietyarising from the varying thickness in the individualsheets, and, with the sketch and cartoon before him,a good cutter will know how to avail himself of thegradations in depth so as to assist the light andshade in the design.The painter now takes the pieces of cut glass. Outlines.and placing them upon the cartoon, he traces theoutlines upon them with the opaque pigment beforementioned, some lines however being kept transparentin quality, where they are not meant to be tooobtrusive, particularly in the case of ornamentaldiapers, which are often intended to give textureonly to the glass, and not to assert themselvesconspicuously.The pieces of glass thus painted are now put into First fire.the kiln, where they are fired until the painted linesare thoroughly incorporated into the glass itself.

For the ensuing processes of shading it is necessary


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aa Stained Glass as an o^rtSetting out that the glass should be seen as a whole against thethe glass light. For this purpose a sheet of plate-glass ispainter. taken, large enough to include the panel undertreatment j this is laid on a table with the cut-linedrawing or cartoon underneath it, and the pieces of

glass with the outlines are fitted into their placeswith the aid of the cartoon seen through the glass,until the whole is set out like a dissected puzzle.It will be remembered that the pieces of glass cannottouch each other, because allowance has to be madefor the ' heart ' of the lead. The cutter makes thisallowance, and, as a consequence, there is a narrowspace between every piece of glass and its neighboursas they lie upon the sheet. In these spaces meltedwax is now dropped at intervals, which make theloose pieces adhere to the plate-glass. The plate,which is always framed, can now be lifted up andplaced upon an easel so constructed that no bars orlegs interrupt the clear view.

Shading. The painter, if he has proper regard for his work,will, before beginning to shade, paint black lineson the back of the plate-glass to fill up all theinterstices so as to represent the leads, because thepresence of these lines of bright light would greatlydisturb the effect and falsify it, since in the finishedwork the leads would necessarily appear black. Thepainter having his easel now before a clear window,with the cartoon set up at his side, proceeds to shadethe glass. It need hardly be said that the paintermust be an expert draughtsman ; indeed, he shouldbe an artist in every sense of the word, except asregards the creative faculty, since the interpretationof the artist's design depends upon his artisticperception and his accuracy of eye and hand. Thepainter of a stained glass window is, in fact, to the


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Material and Technique 23designer, what the pianist or violinist is to thecomposer of the sonata.We have now to consider the question of the Methods ofmode of shading. In the very early glass, where the shading.

pieces were very small, the leads many, and the out-lines thick, the amount of shading was small, theglass being already almost sufficiently toned by themultiplicity of leads and lines, so that much shadingwould have rendered the glass too dark ; a slightsmear shading was then employed, strengthenedwith cross-hatching, which let more light passthrough than a heavier tone of shadow would havepermitted. With the development of the art largerpieces of glass came into use, and a stipple-shadingwas adopted, which allowed a much more delicatefinish than was possible with the earlier method.In the later decadence of the art the shading wasgreatly exaggerated, the architectonic conditions,depending on the destination of the work, were lostsight of, and the true genius of the material ignored;but the stipple-shading was developed when the artwas at its best, and is in common use now togetherwith another method, consisting of a series of ' matts.'

This latter method I will describe first. The The 'matt'more transparent shading colour is laid over the method.whole of the portion to be treated in a flat wash,and then lightly brushed over with a badger'softener' till it is quite even. When dry, thelights are taken out of this with a hoghair brushwith the hairs cut short, called a scrub. At thisfirst stage the matt is freely removed so as to remainonly where the shadows are darkest, graduatingrapidly into the clear glass. A second matt is nowlaid over this. As the colour is mixed with gum,the first matt is not washed off by the second if this


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H

Second fire.

Secondshading.

Third fire.

Cor-rectionsand yellowstain.

Stained Glass as an oyTrtlatter is laid on and softened quickly enough, whichrequires some practice and skill on the part of thepainter. The lights are then again removed, butmuch less freely, only small portions of the glassbeing left quite clear. A high degree of delicacyof gradation and modelling can be obtained with thescrub when handled by an able draughtsman, andthe glass at this stage ought to look fully shaded.The pieces are now removed from the plate andagain put in the kiln, where the colour is wellburnt in, so that the surface of the painted glassfeels quite smooth. It will now appear much palerthan before firing. For some purposes this is suffi-cient, but as a rule, especially in large scale workand where the light is strong, it would look thin.The painter has therefore generally to have theglass rewaxed to the plate, and to repeat the two mattprocesses till he has obtained the necessary vigour anddepth in his work. The strength could be obtainedby pamting the first matts thicker, but the scrub-marks in that case would look coarse and scratchy.The glass has now to be fired in the kiln for thethird and perhaps the last time.

In many cases, however, additional work may berequired before the glass is ready for leading, or, asit is technically called, ' glazing.'

Revision and correction may be needed. Someparts may be too dark, and will have to be refired tomake them lighter \ some may be too light, and willwant repainting and refiring. The yellow stain alsogenerally wants a separate fire. The degree of heatnecessary to fix the shading colour thoroughly wouldmake the stain much too dark, so that the stain, whichis usually applied to the back of the glass, is notadded till all the shading is finished and burnt in.


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Material and Technique 2^The difference between stipple-shading and the Stipple-

matt system lies in the manner of laying on the shading.shading colour. Instead of lightly brushing it toan even tint with the badger, the painter dabs thewet wash lightly with the points of the dry brush,so as to give it a granulated surface. This can bemade even all over the part under treatment, or itcan, by a little manipulation, be somewhat graduatedso as to be thinner in the prominent and lighterparts of a figure. The stippled ground can thenbe treated in all respects like the matt, with thescrub, and the repeated firings. The artistic advan-tages of the two methods will be more convenientlyconsidered later on.The glass is now ready for the glazier, who begins Glazing,

by laying the cut-line tracing upon the glazing-bench and pinning it out quite straight. Then henails straight bars of wood along the base and oneside of the window or panel of the window he isglazing, to form firm starting lines, and, beginningwith straight strips of lead along these, he lays thefirst piece of glass in the corner, fitted into thegrooves of the leads, and, cutting a fresh piece oflead long enough to cover the other edges of thepiece, he fits it on to them, and so on with every newpiece, inserting nails at intervals, in the interstices,to keep the pieces firmly in their places. When theglass and leads are thus set out and enclosed ina strong surrounding lead, every joint is soldered,so as to unite the hitherto disjointed pieces intoa connected whole, which is then carefully turnedover and soldered on the other side.The window is now complete as a work of art, Cement-but it needs yet two processes to make it ready for i"g-


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z6

Binding.

Recapitu-lation.

Stained Glass as an z^Trtits destination. As it stands it would not keep outweather. To achieve this necessary object, cementis laid over the whole, rubbed well into all the leadson both sides, and finally cleaned off the glass.This, when hard, has the eiFect of stiffening thework as well as making it weather-proof.

It will be remembered that, owing to the flexiblenature of this kind of glazing, horizontal saddlebars,or other form of iron-work, have to be employed,to enable it to resist pressure of wind. In order toprovide means of binding the stained glass to theiron-work, copper wire is cut into short lengths, andthe middle of each piece is soldered to the leadswherever they will be crossed by a bar. When thewindow is being fixed, the loose ends of the wires arebound round the bars and twisted together. In thecase of all but very small windows, the work has tobe divided into panels, as a large piece would betoo unwieldy to move about without breaking.These panels are always made to correspond withbars, so that the top of one, and the bottom ofthe next panel above it, shall meet at a bar, and thebinding-wires of both be twisted round it.

This completes our description of the processesinvolved in the production of a stained glass win-dow, a description somewhat cursory, no doubt, andinsufficient to instruct the craftsman, but full enoughto enable the amateur to understand the technicalconditions of the work he is looking at.

Briefly, to recapitulate, we have seen that thematerial at our disposal consists of: (i) Glass,coloured in the manufacture, some homogeneouslythroughout, and some consisting of light glass,coated with a film of deeper colour, called ' FlashedGlass,' in which the film can be wholly or partially


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Material and Technique %ibitten out with acid, the available colours beingmany and beautiful ; (2) Shading pigments, withwhich the glass can be deepened without greatlyaffecting its colour j (3) A very transparent goldenyellow stain 5 (4) Spoiled glass, or ' Streaky Pot,'where colours have been accidentally blended ina manner often useful to the artist j (y) Groovedleads, giving bold and vigorous outlines to the glass j(6) Strong iron-work to support the otherwise tooflexible glazing against pressure of wind.We have also seen that the processes involved inthe production of a window with these materialsare as follows : (i) The making of a small coloureddesign 5 (2) Figure studies ; (3) Full-sized cartoons j(4) Selection of glass ; (f) Making of a cut-linedrawing J (d) Cutting the glass ; (7) Painting the out-lines j (8) The first firing 5 (9) Setting out the piecesof coloured glass on plate-glass for the painter j(10) The first shading with 'matt' or 'stipple';(11) The second firing; (12) The second shadingprocess; (13) Third firing; (14) Corrections andyellow stain; (ij) Fourth firing; (16) Glazing;(17) Cementing; (18) Binding.

It will be perceived that even a small piece of Eighteenstained srlass demands all these eiohteen processes. processesWe have also cleared the ground by considering required forthe insufficiency of mere leaded glass, without lines any pieceor shadows, to satisfy the eye or the intellect, and of stainedwe have exposed the irredeemable vice of attempting ^to imitate natural effects in stained glass ; so thatI venture to hope we have reached a stage at whichwe can satisfactorily consider how best to applythe above processes to the materials at our disposal,if we desire to obtain the highest beauty which theyare capable of exhibiting.


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II

ARTISTIC POSSIBILITIES INHERENT INSTAINED GLASS FROM THE POINTOF VIEW OF TECHNIQUEForm.

Unlimitedcapacitiesof glass forexpressionof form.

Con-sequent

stands upon

OLOUR has already been dealtwith at some length for thepurpose of showing whatstained glass can do in a degreeunequalled in any other art,and what it is absolutely in-capable of doing, but formhas not yet been touchedupon, and we shall find that

a totally different footing toormcolour.

In stained glass anything can be achieved in formas well as in any other material (with the exception,of course, of sculpture, which deals with ' theround ') j the glass can be just as readily cut to oneshape as to another, and outlines can be drawn uponthe glass as freely as upon paper or canvas. Notonly so, but light and shade can be given in anyrequired degree of strength or tenderness, breadthor finish.

It follows that deliberate inaccuracy in drawingis purely gratuitous, and when applied to the human


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Q^rtistic Voss'thilities in Stained Glass ^9figure is a gross and ridiculous affectation. I shall absurdity ofendeavour to show presently that in the matter of Q'^îberatelight and shade, much that is possible to the material jj-, di-awiiTîs not desirable from the point of view of decoration, the figure.but I propose first to deal with form in its contours.

It is a common view that colour is the one im- Form atportant quality to be sought for in stained glass, 1^^^*^ ^ând that form in this material is a secondary matter, ^g colour inI cannot share this opinion. A moment's considera- glass.tion must show that in no other material is formso conspicuously prominent as in this. The sharpopposition of the colours, the brilliancy of thelights and depth of the darks, and the vigorousoutlines given by the leads, all combine to emphasiseevery form to a degree which even at times compelsthe artist to adopt methods for suppressing itsaggressive prominence.

It follows that both design and draughtsmanshipare of the highest importance in glass, and in theearly ages this was fully appreciated.

I give a copy of a very fine window from the Study ofnave of Chartres Cathedral, which exhibits these 5^!^.^'^^'^^qualities in a high degree (Fig. 2). It will be seen ^" ^'in the first place how ingeniously the space has beendivided by the iron-work into large circles, and Geo-smaller quatrefoils, for the figure-subjects, while the metricalintervening parts and the border are filled withornament. The backgrounds of the figures are allof sapphire blue, those of the ornament are all ruby,but to avoid too harsh and absolute a division, thereis a ring of ruby inside each iron circle, next theblue background, and a ring of blue outside thesame parts of the iron-work, next the ruby ground,separated, however, from it by a thin white line.But while these rings soften the transitions of colour


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^o Stained Glass as an CL/Trt

Admirabledesign ofwindow asa whole :in detail.

Action ofthe figuresclearlyshownthroughdraperies.

and render its distribution more agreeable, theyfurther emphasise the geometrical design.The small quatrefoils are made yet smaller bythe inclusion of all three rings within the iron frame,giving greater prominence to the larger subjects.The ornament is chiefly in blue and white, on theruby ground, while the figures contrast admirablywith it by the quiet colours which prevail in themdeep rich greens, low-toned browns, brownish purplesand greenish greys, relieved by whites, occasionallight fresh greens and yellows (the latter verysparingly used), and a pleasant light pinkish colour,quieter than that of the mallow, more like thelighter fritillary. The quiet colours, however, pre-dominate in the figaires. The whole is glittering andjewelled to an extraordinary degree, but the pointto which I would call attention here is the import-ance and the prominence of the form throughoutthe work.

In design and composition the window is a con-summate work of art. The disposition of the figuresthroughout the whole, and the treatment of theseparate groups, are alike admirable, but not less sois the conception and drawing of the individualfigures. The draughtsmanship is archaic, necessarilyso, owing to the primitive condition of the art, butthe figures are full of life, movement, and grace.Moreover, it will be noticed that the form of thefigure and the movement of the limbs are every-where clearly shown, being emphasised rather thanconcealed by the draperies.Whether this was a survival of the classic tradi-

tion, or was an independent northern development,matters little. It was the genuine feeling of theartist, and imparts a high order of beauty to the


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Fig. 2.

FROM THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE N'AVE OF CHARTRES CATHEDRAL.^HEIGHT ABOUT 28 FT.")


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(LArtist'tc ^Possibilities in Stained Glass 31work, contrasting favourably with the tendency inlater periods to envelop the figures in masses ofdrapery, often admirable in execution, but disguisingor wholly losing the essential lines of the figure.The unlimited opportunity offered by stained glass Necessityfor the presentation of form, and the conspicuousness of em-of the forms so presented, render it important in the tiie es"^^highest degree that the lines should not only be fine sentialin design and beautiful individually, but they should rather thanpresent that which is essential rather than that which *!^'^ i";"" -J , dentalis accidental. forms.In this respect, as in others to be noted presently. Analogystained glass resembles sculpture, and bas-relief in betweenparticular, for although colour is so striking a feature Gksrandin glass and is absent or subordinate in sculpture, Bas-relief,yet they have this in common, that there is noimitative colour in either.

All ancient sculpture, Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, Colour inand mediaeval, was coloured, but, as in elass, for ^* purelypurely decorative, not imitative purposes. The q(. i^ita-'qualities of colour and workmanship, which in the tive.hands of a great painter make imitative colourinteresting, are unattainable in sculpture or stainedglass 1, such resemblance as there is between thecolour in these arts and that of nature being merelysuggestive j a conventional approximate flesh tintbeing used for faces and limbs, greens for trees, andso forth. Grotesquely false hues are naturallyavoided, although realistic accuracy is not to beobtained.

It follows that, in the absence of the marvellous Importanceworkmanship which imparts such interest to the offormcon-

^ This statement will want qualification as regards glass. Thepoint will be dealt with later on, but does not seriously aftect thepresent argument.


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Fig, 3.

8/7/2019 Holiday, Henry - Stained Glas

Holiday, Henry - Stained Glassas as an Art [1896]

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