Memoirs illustrative of the art of glass-painting by Winston Charles 1814-1864

Author:Winston, Charles, 1814-1864
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Glass painting and staining, Glass painting and staining
Publisher: London : John Murray
Published: 1865-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

COLOURED GLASS USED IN ANCIENT WINDOWS. 177

because so excellently adapted to the stiff and intense colours of the period—colours so intense and unvarying in depth as to preclude the possibility of their being made subservient to those pictorial effects which are indispensable to the satisfactory representation of a subject whose composition would rank above that of a bas-relief.

The contrast afforded by turning to a glass-painting of the middle of the sixteenth century is very striking. We no longer behold a stiff mosaic depending for success almost exclusively on the richness of its colouring, but, on the contrary, a picture, brilliant, it is true, but resting its claims quite as much on its composition and general treatment as on the vivacity of its hues. Here complicated foreground groups, as well as important architectural accessories, are introduced; they are delineated correctly, and highly finished. The relative distances of the various objects are preserved by means of light and shade; and the landscape background, monotonous as it may appear in comparison with that of an oil or fresco painting, recedes and disengages itself from the figures and architecture, imparting to the picture an effect of atmosphere.

The glass of which this picture is composed will be found, on examination, to differ widely from that used in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In general it is thinner in substance; it is always weaker in tint; and on that account, if regarded simply as a vehicle for colour, would be far inferior to the elder material. Yet for the purpose to which it is applied it could not be more suitable. Its pellucidness and lightness of tint are admirably calculated to display the high finish of the painting, to favour atmospheric effect, and vivid contrasts of light and shade. Nor does the employment of a material comparatively so flimsy and weak impart a corresponding flimsiness or weakness to the picture. A good specimen of cinque-cento work will be found as imposing in effect as a window of the twelfth or thirteenth century. Let any one endeavour to recall to mind the glass at Chartres, and that filling the four windows of the chapel of the Miraculous Sacrament in Brussels Cathedral. I am sure he will feel an impression that he has seen something at both places equally striking, something equally removed from flimsiness or poverty. The paradox is easily explained when we consider that in the mosaics of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the effect of the glass is but little aided by contrast of colour or by shading; whereas in the pictures of the cinque-cento period, not only is the colouring arranged in broader

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