Medieval stained glass windows. Stained glass history Stained glass windows of medieval temples
How was stained glass made in the Middle Ages? l The design of colored glass window openings was already known in ancient Rome and eastern countries. But only in medieval times, the production of stained glass turned into an art associated with cult architecture. During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the art of stained glass was rapidly developing. Its real heyday began in the XII century.
Features of the technology l In the treatise of the monk Theophilus, dating back to that time, the technology of manufacturing a stained-glass window is described in detail. The glass was brewed in a special oven, at the same time dyeing it in the desired color. A flat sheet was cast from glass, which was then cut into shaped plates according to the prepared drawing. A red-hot iron rod was used to separate into fragments. Pieces of glass were laid out on a wooden board according to the sketch of the future panel and then painted with paints, sequentially firing the stained-glass canvas in the oven. The elements of the future stained-glass window were firmly fastened with lead wire, soldering the seams. After that, the details of the product were placed in a wooden, and later - a metal frame. This is how the stained glass window turned out.
Chartres Cathedral l One of the few Gothic cathedrals in France, in which stained glass windows from the 12th-13th centuries have survived almost unchanged, is Chartres, the construction of which began in the middle of the 10th century. In total, 146 stained-glass windows are installed in its tall lancet windows. They depict about 1400 plots on various topics from the history of Christianity. Along with scenes from the Old and New Testaments, about 100 scenes from the life of kings, knights, artisans, all noble persons who donated funds for the maintenance of the cathedral are captured. These colored glass art "canvases" cover an area of about 2,600 square meters. Since the Middle Ages, they have come down to our time almost intact.
l In the early Middle Ages, stained-glass windows were assembled from glass, painted in rich, pure colors. The most commonly used colors were yellow, white, purple, red, green and their shades. For example, some of the stained glass windows of Chartres Cathedral have areas of 27 layers of red and colorless glass! Passing through such a thickness of laminated glass, light acquires unique color nuances. It is not for nothing that the stained-glass windows of Gothic temples were once compared to jewelry. Famous Chartres stained glass "Madonna and Child"
l Stained glass with gospel themes appeared in early Christian Romanesque churches in France in the X-XII centuries. Colored glasses were carefully cut out, an image was drawn from them on a plane, then all the glasses were fastened with special lead strips with recesses. The higher the ceilings of the temples rose, the higher the stained-glass windows were made, the more festive and elegant it became inside the temple.
Cologne Cathedral Stained glass opened up new possibilities for the medieval artist. Christianity attached divine and mystical significance to light. The light pouring from the sky symbolized the light coming from God. The play of light penetrating through the stained glass led the laity away from everything concrete, earthly, and led to the intangible, luminous. The stained-glass window seemed to muffle the corporeality, expressiveness, concreteness of the images of Gothic plastic. The luminosity of the inner space of the cathedral, as it were, deprived matter of impenetrability, spiritualized it.
A brief history of stained glass art
Amazing stained glass windows of medieval Gothic cathedrals, shimmering with bright colors in daylight or mysteriously flickering in the evening twilight, make an indelible impression on people both many years ago and today. The magical play of flowing color creates a special emotional atmosphere in the room, a sense of fantasy and involvement with the unearthly. Since the intensity of light is constantly changing (the presence of the sun, time of day, clouds, etc.), the restless glare change shades, move, which makes it seem that the image is moving, living its own life. Most likely, it is with this property that the magical charm and irrational attractiveness of stained glass for a person are associated. Once there was a legend that glass can be made by fusing precious stones, which were attributed to supernatural power. In the Middle Ages, it was believed that with the help of stained glass you can protect yourself from the deadly gaze of a basilisk.
The history of multi-colored glasses goes back more than 1 millennium. It is believed that glass was first obtained in the 4th millennium BC. NS. in Ancient Egypt and Western Asia. A glass-like opaque glaze was used for covering tiles, beads, and crockery. Various household items were made both from the usual materials such as clay and metal, and from glass, pouring it into molds. It is assumed that in the 1st millennium BC. NS. craftsmen from Syria came up with a device that radically changed the glass-making process: they designed a glass blowing tube, with the help of which it became possible to blow out hollow vessels, and subsequently flat glass inserted into windows. Since then, glass making has been constantly developing.
Many peoples of Eurasia decorated window openings with cut stone plates, wooden and iron bars, between the bars of which thin plates of marble, paper, glass were inserted, or the cells remained empty. The use of colored glass for these purposes cannot be counted among the achievements of medieval Europe, because this was well known even in Ancient Rome and in the countries of the East.
Nevertheless, it was in the European Middle Ages that the compositions of individual multi-colored pieces of glass were given a symbolic meaning: theologians worked in this field. As a result, the creation of stained-glass windows has become a real art, directly related to iconic architecture.
In the Cathedral of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy, glass plates enclosed in a lead braid were discovered. It is the oldest stained glass found in Europe, dating back to the 6th century. Monochromatic (colored and colorless) plates were combined in a frame, forming an ornamental pattern, which is clearly visible in the light due to a lead wire running along the contours. The craftsmen made the stained glass window using mosaic technology, so it is considered the oldest, at least in Europe. Somewhat later, they began to make stained-glass windows, painting the window glass with paints. The oldest painted stained glass window is located in the Lorsch monastery in Germany and is a fragment of the head of Jesus, created in the 9th-10th centuries.
The oldest stained-glass windows with drawings of real objects of the surrounding world, figures can be seen in the German Augsburg Cathedral. The very first masters used a Schwarzlot as a paint for drawing images, which was a substance consisting of oxides of copper and iron with fusible glass. The color ranged from brown-black to gray-black. Masters use this paint to this day.
Professor K. Werman, director of the Dresden Gallery, regarding stained-glass windows in his book "History of Art of All Times and Nations" in 1904 wrote: "Throughout its history, art has produced nothing that could withstand the comparison with these rows of painted glasses. "
The rise of stained glass art took place in the XII century. At that time, probably the first manual on this topic appeared - the monk Theophilus wrote a treatise in which he spoke in sufficient detail about the process of making a stained glass window. First, the glass had to be cooked in special ovens, simultaneously giving the substance the required color. Then a flat sheet was rolled out of this raw material, and already from it with the help of a red-hot iron rod, relief plates were separated according to a previously prepared drawing and placed on a wooden board next to the sketch of the intended product. It remained to paint the glass in several passes and after each burn in the oven.
The finished elements of the stained-glass window were connected with lead wire, soldering its ends together, and the resulting structure was inserted into a wooden and later metal window frame. In this way, they made combined stained-glass windows, combining a mosaic of figured glasses and painted elements.
I must say that the "Theophilus method" does not differ much from the modern one. In general, the stages of the work performed have remained the same. Of course, the tools and materials have improved somewhat. For example, no one uses a red-hot iron rod, but special devices for cutting glass are used, and instead of a wooden board with a pattern, paper patterns are used.
The European method of making flat glass was called "free". The quality of the products was not up to par - the thickness was uneven, the surface was uneven. In addition, the glass had obvious drawbacks: air bubbles frozen in the glass, particles of unmelted sand. All this was the result of imperfect glass melting technology. Strange as it may seem, but just this “flawedness” gives the stained-glass windows of the early Middle Ages a piquant showiness. These defects in an unpredictable way refract light rays, which is why the play of colors becomes more chaotic, and therefore natural, while the stained glass window takes on the appearance of a sparkling jewel. True connoisseurs of their craft knew how to make glass with irregularities in such a way as to obtain amazing interweaving of multi-colored light.
In the period from V to X century. more widespread were products consisting of glasses of pure saturated colors: red, white, blue, purple, green, yellow - and their shades. However, the choice of these colors did not limit the master - he could get different tones with the help of laminated glass, when glasses of different colors alternated like a sandwich. Some areas of the superimposed glass were processed in order to show the color of the underlying layer.
Stained glass windows with superimposed multi-colored glass can be seen in Chartres Cathedral in France. This building has glass panes in which the number of alternating red and colorless layers reaches 27. Naturally, the shades of light penetrating through such an array become unique due to the exquisite nuances of shades.
People of the Middle Ages quite justifiably compared the windows of Gothic cathedrals with jewelry. In the cathedral of the Monastery of Saint Denis in Paris, there are stained glass windows, about which they said: "Pure gold, an abundance of hyacinths, emeralds and precious stones." For a long time they remained the ideal of beauty and role models. The first example of architectural Gothic, the Church of Saint Denis (completed in 1144) became the embodiment of the philosophical views of the abbot of the monastery - Abbot Suggeriya. It was he who combined the mystical interpretation of light with the practical needs of temple building. At the same time, the boss wanted the walls to become translucent by replacing them with large windows with colored stained-glass windows. The abbot considered lighting and images on the windows very important, and contemplation of stained-glass windows ranked as one of the spiritual ways of self-improvement, movement from "material to immaterial, from bodily to spiritual, from human to divine." At the end of the XII century. the example of the Monastery of Saint Denis was followed by other temples throughout Europe.
In the works of medieval theologians, the architecture of the temple as an expression of the heavenly kingdom on earth acquired a symbolic meaning. It is not surprising that a certain meaning was assigned to each element of the structure: the side walls were perceived by the images of the Old and New Testaments; pillars and columns supporting the roof - symbols of the apostles and prophets; and the portals were the threshold of paradise. In this series of symbolic interpretations, the light of stained-glass windows took its place, which, according to the theologians, personified the light of Christian knowledge. Honorius Otensky wrote: “Clear windows, protecting from bad weather and bringing light, are the Fathers of the Church, who with the light of Christian doctrine oppose the storm and rain of heresy. Window glasses, transmitting rays of light, is the spirit of the church fathers, divine things in the darkness, as if contemplating in a mirror ”.
The parallel development of the art of stained glass and the stylistics of medieval religious architecture has passed all the main stages, from Romanesque architecture to “flaming” (late) Gothic. At this time, the most remarkable monuments of stained glass art were created in the main European states (Great Britain, France, Germany), whose colored burning windows still amaze people.
Usually stained-glass windows of Gothic cathedrals consisted of a large number of small self-sufficient compositions, placed in their cell of the binding of the window frame. All parts of the mosaic were united by one theme, although they were divided into many small subplots. To a large extent, this was due to certain technical difficulties: the technology of manufacturing a flat window until the XIV century. did not allow making large glass, and the structure of many individual elements gave the structure the necessary rigidity.
By the XIV century. master glassmakers have learned to produce better quality clear glass, the sheet area of which has increased, and, accordingly, there is additional space for artists. The number of lead "connectors" of individual parts of the stained-glass window with each other has decreased, and the images have become more integral. The paints used for painting have become noticeably more diverse. For example, a method of coating glass with silver oxides (“silver gold” paint) appeared, due to which the glass became yellow-golden. They painted both colorless and already colored glass, which acquired specific colors and shades. Engraving became very popular - with the help of a special wheel, patterns were carved on the surface of the glass, which looked doubly impressive on laminated glass. Such achievements led to the fact that in the XV century. people more often began to choose not colored glass of bright and rich colors, but colorless glass with multi-colored ornament.
In the production of stained-glass windows, methods of traditional painting became more and more common, while the contour line went out of fashion, lost its strength and expressiveness, having become soft, transformed into one of the "pictorial" means. Skilled masters of the Renaissance era applied magnificent paintings to glass, successfully solving problems of perspective, volumetric forms and realism of the captured images. At this time, stained-glass windows were already used not only in religious buildings, but also in secular buildings, for example, in town halls and palaces.
Until the 16th century from the birth of Christ, glass in residential buildings was a rarity, which is not surprising, given their high cost and inaccessibility. The turning point was the invention in the 16th century. the lunar method of making flat glass based on the blowing method. True, despite the fact that such glass was notable for its smoothness and transparency, its quality was still not up to par.
The lunar method of making glass was as follows: first, a ball was blown out, then it was pressed down, an axis (something like a stick) was attached to the bottom, getting a kind of round table with a leg.
With rapid rotation around the axis, the centrifugal force turned the pressed ball into a flat disk. It was separated from the leg and annealed. At the same time, a thickening, called the "navel", remained in the center of the disc.
Stained glass art spread throughout Europe and was widely used in Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Great Britain, Flanders, Switzerland. There was a fashion for small panels (office stained-glass windows), which were placed on the wall in front of the window. Usually family coats of arms or events from the life of the customer served as plots for them.
At the same time, a certain decline in the development of stained glass art begins. The fact is that in the second half of the XVI century. religious wars broke out in Europe; naturally, in these conditions, few people cared about the preservation of old stained-glass windows, and new ones were simply not ordered. Where the ideas of the Reformation prevailed (Great Britain, the Netherlands), that is, the social movement against the Catholic Church, the traditions of religious and historical stained glass were interrupted, but the demand for stained glass of secular themes (usually heraldic), which was used in town halls and in temples. The countries of the victorious Catholicism (Italy, France, Spain) also did not avoid serious changes: the fashion for antique forms returned to the architecture of the Renaissance, into which stained-glass windows did not fit too well.
XVII century. marked the final decline of stained glass art. The rapid development of science and rational philosophy, which had an overwhelming influence on the worldview of that era, led to the fact that the creation of multi-colored windows was practically abandoned. It was difficult to find someone who would make compositions from painted glass. In such an environment, naturally, many secrets of mastery were lost, the continuity of knowledge and skills was cut short.
In the era of the Enlightenment, they operated with the categories of Mind and Light, but in the second case, they meant the explaining light of scientific knowledge, and not divine radiance. In an effort to make the interior space of buildings lighter, enthusiasts deliberately destroyed the Gothic and Renaissance stained glass windows, replacing them with colorless glass.
Since history always repeats itself, in the era of romanticism (late 18th - early 19th centuries), Europeans again reawakened their interest in stained glass. Medieval multi-colored windows with their expressiveness and sensuality were ideally suited to the prevailing mood. Moreover, the artistic value of the stained-glass windows was appreciated later, and at first the romantics liked the atmosphere in cathedrals during church services, when the sounds of the organ merged with the air trembling in the colored rays. This synthesized perception of music, color and light led to the birth in the 19th century. specific direction of artistic search.
The Middle Ages and the philosophy of Neoplatonism played a decisive role in the resurrection of stained glass art. It was first restored in England at the end of the 18th century, where preference was given not to mosaic, but to picturesque structures on a solid piece of glass. Each art exhibition was certainly accompanied by a demonstration of painting on glass. The British remembered their tradition and began to decorate houses and carriages with multi-colored windows. Quite often, painted glass was not intended for windows, but served as a kind of paintings.
It was there, in the mainstream of stained glass art, that the school of historical painting was formed, whose representatives worked on the translation of classical paintings onto glass. It was believed that the transparent technique would help to take a fresh look at the samples of old painting. Experiments with stained glass also influenced traditional painting - they began to imitate the effects of painting on glass on canvas.
At the beginning of the XIX century. across Europe, attempts were made to establish the production of stained glass. Craftsmen tried to imitate ancient works, but this turned out badly, since knowledge about the technology was lost. The production of the same stained-glass windows with images of the master's coat of arms soon gave way to searches aimed at discovering new formulas for the production of multi-colored glass and compositions for paintings. This took the entire 1st half of the century.
The most notable successes in the production of stained-glass windows were demonstrated by France (Sevres workshop) and Germany ("Glass Painting Establishment" at a large porcelain factory in Munich). From the middle of the XIX century. the number of stained glass workshops in Europe steadily increased. The range of types of stained-glass windows created could amaze with its diversity. These included imitations of medieval crafts, all the more in demand in connection with extensive restoration measures to restore large Gothic cathedrals; painted pictures on glass, irresistibly striving to rid the windows of bindings and lead seams, preferring to apply the image on a large sheet of glass, as if it were a canvas.
The times of combining different views and ideas have nurtured and developed an endless variety of artistic and decorative forms of stained glass art. As for the subject lines of the compositions, everything here remains more or less constant: allegorical figures in a row of architectural decorations, heraldic symbols, Gothic ornaments.
In the XX century. the development of various styles and directions of stained glass art continued. Techniques and approaches were improved, and the Second World War pushed this process. After the end of hostilities, it was necessary to restore many cathedrals and other buildings, in which a significant place was occupied by multi-colored glass: windows and elements of interior decoration, individual items, such as lamps, lampshades.
More than ever, the artists had a wide open space for creativity, and they actively used this, experimenting with materials and techniques. The images realized in stained-glass windows were no longer limited to the usual theme for previous centuries. Here is realism (people, animals, plants - whatever), and abstractionism, and purism (striving for precision, clarity, purity), and symbolism, and pluralism, which mastered the masters at the end of the 20th century. and determined the direction of development of colored glass.
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A revolution in glassmaking technology was triggered at the turn of our era by the invention of the blowing method of hollow glass products. The possibility of widespread use of the new method was ensured by major advances in glass-making technology. Then they began to obtain transparent glass, smelt it at once in significant quantities, and learned how to blow beautiful vessels of a relatively large size and of the most varied shape. The blown tube, this simplest device, turned out to be a tool with the help of which a person with artistic flair and the gift of precise coordination of movements, as a result of prolonged exercises, achieved high perfection in work.
The discovery of the glass blowing method marked the beginning of the second great period in the development of glassmaking, which lasted until the late 19th - early 20th centuries. This period is characterized by the unity of technological methods that have not undergone fundamental changes over a long time. In accordance with the technology, the nature of the products remained more or less constant, encompassing all kinds of hollow items, mainly "table" scale vessels, as well as individual decorative items - cups, vases, glasses, dishes, toilet bottles, lighting fixtures.
These products, uniform in purpose, in terms of style, composition and performance, reflected the characteristic features of the development of art and folk art in individual countries in different eras.
The first masters of the method of blowing glass products were masters of Ancient Rome, where for several centuries the art of glass making was at a great height and where glass products were created that belong to the outstanding examples of world art. For example, the Portland Vase in the British Museum.
Roman glass. Portland vase.
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In Roman times, glass was first used as a window material.
From an aesthetic point of view, the art of stained glass occupies a special place in terms of its impact on the viewer. The eye perceives frescoes, paintings and illustrations to manuscripts in light reflected from their surface. But stained glass works differently. Passing through colored glass, a ray of light, breaking into spectral shades, is painted in bright colors. The viewer can observe the rich colors created by the penetrating properties of glass alone. The glass blowing tube opened a new era in glass production. The Romans inserted clear blown glass plates into the windows of the most luxurious buildings.
What we call stained-glass windows today appeared only in the era of Christianity. According to some literary sources, it can be assumed that the prototype of a stained-glass window in the era of early Christianity was a set of multi-colored pieces of glass of different sizes. Pieces of glass were reinforced with putty in the slots of wooden or stone boards inserted into the window openings. Thus, Bishop Fortunatus (6th century), in solemn verses, glorifies the persons who have decorated the basilicas with colored glass, and describes the effect of the first rays of dawn playing in the windows of the Paris Cathedral. In the 5th-6th centuries, prototypes of medieval stained-glass windows adorned the windows of temples in the cities of Gaul, then they appeared in Germany and England.
Stained glass was perceived as a mediator between the earthly and divine spheres. The magical play of spectral rays was easily interpreted as a metaphorical expression of divine power and love. Unfortunately, history has not preserved almost a single whole stained glass window created in the period of early Christianity (until the 11th century).
Romanesque period (XI-XII centuries)
Stained glass art underwent a great leap in the 11th century. The emergence of new cultural and theological circumstances led to the flourishing of architecture. Fundamental changes in the traditional appearance of sacred temples allowed stained glass to become an outstanding pictorial means.
Since that time, the artistic stained-glass window takes on its classic form - colored glass, fastened together with a metal profile. This was facilitated by the emergence of a method for manufacturing thin sheet glass, the use of a lead profile, as well as the division into glass manufacturers and stained glass masters.
The process began with the layout of the glass melting batch. Potash from burnt beech wood, as well as lime, were added to fine river sand to lower the melting point of silicon oxide.
The evolution of medieval stained glass was mainly associated with cathedrals, which in the twelfth century were the centers of everyday social life. This time saw the second boom in the construction of Romanesque cathedrals. The canons of architecture changed, and at the same time the manner of execution of stained-glass windows also changed. On the one hand, the depicted figures become more lively and mobile, on the other, the overall composition is characterized by static and symmetry. The typical ensemble consists of three windows symbolizing the Holy Trinity. Earlier windows of this style are much more primitive. The windows use stylized floral decorations and decorative ornamentation around scenes and drawings.
The traditional technology of stained glass production took shape finally in the 11th century, the stained glass technique was enriched with an important innovation - the wooden frames in which the glasses were mounted were replaced with lead fittings, which allowed a greater variety of contours and sizes of the pattern. This innovation appeared in the Montecassino monastery in 1071.
In a treatise on the arts, written in 1100 by the German monk Theophilus, for the first time, the subtleties of making stained glass windows are outlined, consisting of two parts of beech ash and one part of well-washed sand. The small pieces of glass obtained by this method had a thickness of half a centimeter, the diamond was not yet known at that time, and an iron blade that was red-hot to red was used to cut the glass. The primary colors were blue (cobalt) and red (copper based). However, there were other colors: green based on copper oxides, purple (from manganese), yellow (from a mixture of iron and manganese).
Among the works of the 12th century, it is worth mentioning the outstanding stained glass windows of the monastery church in Saint-Denis (1144), and in particular the stained glass window, which depicts the major political and cultural figure of the 12th century France, Abbot Suger, and another stained glass window, the Tree of Jesse.
The tree of Jesse. Stained glass window from the church in Saint-Denis. 12th century.
The Saint-Denis windows were an exceptional innovation. The panel included the biographies of the saints, Mary and Christ, their genealogies and, possibly, the first crusade. The window area is filled with a row of vertically arranged stained glass medallions. Sugeriy's invention of window medallions had a profound influence on the plots of stained glass art. Windows become the equivalent of handwritten texts describing the life of Christian saints. The windows of Saint Denis were badly damaged during the French Revolution.
Stained glass windows from the Church of Saint Denis.
However, the most remarkable complex of stained glass windows is preserved in Chartres.
Stained glass window from Canterbury Cathedral.
In England, stained glass was made before the Reformation; However, here, as elsewhere, people turned out to be the worst enemies of stained-glass windows: they always forgot that the beautiful painting on glass was created for them to instruct, and also to delight their eyes with the bizarre play of light pouring through the multicolored glass of tall windows.
Romanesque stained glass:
Baptism of Clovis. Romanesque stained glass window.
Now you guys will be choosing the colors you want to use in your work. Each of you has a favorite color. And some colors may not be particularly attractive to you today. Let's find out which of the presented colors you like the most. In the large envelope you will find 2 small envelopes and 8 colored cards
Instructions for choosing a color. Guys! Lay out the colored cards on the table, examine them, and choose your favorite color from among them. Put it in a small envelope that says “my favorite color,” and put it in a large envelope. Now choose your favorite color from the remaining colors and write 2 on the back, then put it in a large envelope. Now, among the remaining colors, choose your favorite color, write 3 on the back and fold it into a large envelope. And so continue until the last card appears on the table. Put it in the envelope "my least favorite color", and put that in a large envelope. Guys! Lay out the colored cards on the table, examine them, and choose your favorite color from among them. Put it in a small envelope that says “my favorite color,” and put it in a large envelope. Now choose your favorite color from the remaining colors and write 2 on the back, then put it in a large envelope. Now, among the remaining colors, choose your favorite color, write 3 on the back and fold it into a large envelope. And so continue until the last card appears on the table. Put it in the envelope "my least favorite color", and put that in a large envelope. Set the envelope aside on the edge of the table. Thanks. Set the envelope aside on the edge of the table. Thanks.
Introduction
Stained glass is a special kind of monumental and decorative art. Interesting in itself, it acquires tremendous expressiveness when combined with other types of visual arts, especially with architecture. His past is rich, his prospects are endless, his creative possibilities are inexhaustible. Recently, interior designers are increasingly using stained glass elements in their work.
Artistic stained-glass windows, used mainly for decorating church buildings, today penetrate deeper into residential and public buildings. The religious theme of stained-glass windows is more and more complemented by a secular one, reflecting modern trends in culture and art. Stained-glass windows in the form of patterns, various compositions or paintings are made of colored or colorless glass, with painting of individual parts or the entire plane, with or without paints. Stained-glass windows, consisting of separate parts, are reinforced with lead tape, monolithic glass does not require reinforcement. Stained glass benefits not only from bright sunlight, but also from the soft tones of the sunset and sparkling evening lights.
Many different stained glass windows have survived in the world, created by outstanding painters, artists and craftsmen. Many of the most beautiful stained-glass windows were created by the hands of masters whose names remained unknown. An artist belongs to his era, but works of art often outgrow their era, become eternal. Such masterpieces of stained glass have been preserved in France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, England, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg and other countries.
The topic is “The Art of Stained Glass. History and Technology ”was not chosen by me by chance, nowadays stained glass inserts for furniture are very popular, as well as decorating niches, partitions, doors and ceilings with stained glass. Very often, other decorative items using the technique of painting on glass began to appear in the interiors of our houses. These are all possible vases for flowers, dishes, chandeliers and sconces made in this technique, photo frames with elements of artistic painting and much more.
The aim of the course work is to study the art of stained glass, the history and technology of making stained glass panels for the interior. To achieve this goal, the following tasks are solved:
To study the peculiarities of stained glass art in a historical aspect;
Consider modern trends and types in stained glass technique;
Get acquainted with the options for using the stained glass technique in a modern interior.
Stained glass as an art form
History of stained glass in Europe
Prehistory of a stained-glass window (before the 11th century)
Historically, thanks to the unique mechanism of the aesthetic impact of a translucent, radiant material, the art of stained glass has a special place. The eye perceives frescoes, paintings and illustrations to manuscripts in light reflected from their surface. Stained-glass windows are different. Passing through colored glass, a ray of light, breaking into spectral shades, is painted in bright colors. The viewer is presented with saturated colors created using only the penetrating properties of glass.
The history of colored glass goes back centuries. In addition to the discovery of bronze, the same early cultures, by mixing several components, found a way to obtain a completely new substance: glass. The Sumerians used vitreous glaze to color the conical tiles of their huge temples, and by the second millennium BC. the ancient Egyptians of the New Kingdom learned how to make vessels from spiral-wound colored glass. The ancient Greeks and Romans developed a technology of no less original products made of colored rolled glass, for example, millefiore vases and intricate carved cylindrical cubes. Around the 1st century. BC, presumably in Syria, the glass blowing technique was invented. The glass blower opened a new era in glass production. The Romans inserted clear blown glass plates into the windows of the most luxurious buildings.
What is now called stained glass appeared only in the era of Christianity. According to some literary sources, it can be assumed that the prototype of a stained-glass window in the era of early Christianity was a set of multi-colored pieces of glass of different sizes, pieces of glass were strengthened with putty in the slots of wooden or stone boards inserted into the window openings. In the V-VI centuries. prototypes of medieval stained-glass windows adorned the windows of temples in the cities of Galia, then they appeared in Germany and England.
The effulgence of the early stained glass windows corresponded to the metaphysical concepts of the connection between light and spirit, developed by theorists of early Christianity. Stained glass was perceived as a mediator between the earthly and divine spheres. The mysterious emanation of spectral rays was easily interpreted as a metaphorical expression of divine power and love. Almost not a single intact copy created during the period of early Christianity has survived (until the 11th century).
Romanesque period (XI-XII centuries)
Stained glass art underwent a great leap in the 11th century. The emergence of new cultural and theological circumstances led to the flourishing of architecture. Fundamental changes in the traditional appearance of sacred temples allowed stained glass to become an outstanding pictorial means.
Since that time, the artistic stained-glass window takes on its classic form - colored glass, fastened together with a metal profile. This was facilitated by the emergence of a method for making thin sheet glass, the use of a lead profile, as well as the division into glass manufacturers and stained glass masters.
The technique of medieval stained glass art was described in 1100 by the German monk Theophilus. The process began with the layout of the glass melting batch. Potash and lime were added to fine river sand to lower the melting point of silicon oxide. Potash was extracted from the ashes of burnt beech trees.
Medieval glass was brewed in spherical kilns using earthen pots. Powdered metal oxides, the same from which paints are prepared, were added to molten glass to obtain a rather narrow spectrum of tones: cobalt oxide for blue, manganese for purple and copper or iron for green. The deep ruby color was obtained through a process known as "annealing" by coating white glass with a thin layer of copper dioxide.
In the Middle Ages, it was difficult to weld colorless (white) glass. Technical imperfection led to the production of glass with a yellowish or bluish tint. Liquid glass (cast iron) was cooked in relatively small portions. Glass plates were blown in two main ways, each of which began with blowing from a lump (set) of a certain shape for further processing. In the first production method, pieces were removed from the glass cylinder, cut and straightened while hot. The second method was used to obtain a "crown glass", for which the ball was first blown out, pierced in front of the blow-out hole and, rapidly rotating the tube, straightened the surface of the sphere due to centrifugal force.
A single thirteenth-century stained glass panel could be composed of hundreds of individual, usually small pieces of glass, often flawed with darkening, bubbles, and jagged edges. Such imperfections give the early medieval stained-glass windows a special charm, mainly due to the characteristic radiance and play of light.
In the Middle Ages, the entire stained glass window or a fragment of it was first painted in full size on a matte reflective surface, for example, a white-scraped board. Then, pieces of glass were picked up to the resulting stencil. After the completion of this stage, the pieces that required individual painting were removed from the resulting mosaic, and small details of faces, hands and ornaments were painted on them. Medieval glassmakers used matte enamel paints made of copper or iron oxide, mixing them with ground glass and adding natural glue: resin, gum, to bind the components. The painted glass was re-fired in an oven, and the applied tones or details were fused into its surface.
The finished pieces were held together and held in place by narrow H-shaped lead bindings. In the Romanesque period, the windows reached a height of six meters. For strength and ease of installation, such large windows were divided into several panels with an area of no more than a few square decimeters, which were attached to a metal grill located outside. On the inner side of the windows, the panels were soldered to horizontal beams to keep them from slipping and sagging. During the early Middle Ages, the size, quality and color range of colored pieces were limited by technical capabilities. But we must pay tribute to the early glassmakers who created masterpieces that occupy a worthy place among the greatest and most sublime artistic creations.
The oldest surviving example of a stained glass window from the Romanesque period is the striking and enigmatic head of Christ from Weissemburg Abbey in Alsace. The head is painted on transparent "white" glass. The expressive lines of the image are traced with opaque brown enamel. To highlight the shadow areas, the same paint was applied in a weaker concentration. Today, the fragment, dating from the mid to late eleventh century, is surrounded by late colored forms. Nothing is known about the original location of the work. She could be part of the figure of Christ on the heavenly throne.
Another work that has come down to us is a group of four Old Testament prophets from the Augsburg Cathedral, created in the late 11th - early 12th centuries. The well-preserved figures represent the earliest known example of colored, painted glass with lead binding. They are clearly influenced by the illustrations to the manuscripts, and may have been created at Tegernsee Abbey near the Swiss border.
Romanesque stained glass entered its heyday with a change in the canons of church architecture in the twelfth century. Works from this period are in the Le Mans Cathedral in western France. The living, gesticulating figures of the Ascension of Christ, typical of the art of this region, date from around 1130 and are in stark contrast to the static composition of the Augsburg prophets. Within a generation or so, the Romanesque style moved beyond rigid formalization and began to develop a more organic approach to depicting the human body.
In churches designed or erected around 1130 and after, such as the cathedrals at Chartres and Poitiers, the heavy structure is riddled with unusually large windows. A typical ensemble, usually occupying a position in the western or eastern limit, consists of three windows, symbolizing the Holy Trinity. The western windows of Chartres Cathedral represent scenes from the life of Christ, his suffering and earthly genealogy. In Poitiers, the focal point of the massive apse is the six-meter-high Crucifix and Resurrection stained glass window (c. 1160), flanked by windows that tell the stories of Saints Peter and Paul. Compared to early public temples, the aforementioned windows are characterized by pale shades of color in places where austere whiteness once reigned. For the first time, there are living reminders of the sacrifice of Christ and of the ways of human salvation. The theological interpretation of the church, transformed with the help of light and color into the semblance of the new Jerusalem, so characteristic of Gothic cathedrals, received its first experimental visual expression by the middle of the 12th century.
Gothic period (XII-XV centuries)
The beginning of the transition to the Gothic style was laid by Abbot Suger, under whose leadership, in 1144, an apse was erected in the royal church of the Abbey of Saint-Denis. The church window area is filled with a row of vertically arranged stained glass rondels and medallions. Each medallion contains one key episode of the story, performed in a bouncy, lively rhythm that is lacking in the more static characters of the Romanesque style. The comprehensible architectonics of the compositions give the scenes a special dimension and monumentality. The color scheme is complex, and the overlap of shapes creates a primitive yet tangible impression of depth. There is a new visual and psychological understanding of the plots. The panel included the biographies of some of the saints, Mary and Christ, their genealogies and, possibly, the first crusade and the history of Charlemagne.
Sugeriy's invention of the historicized window medallion had a profound impact on the storytelling of stained glass art for the next half of the century. The description of sacred themes as a logical continuation of contemporary events marks a decisive turn in the manner in which religious images are presented on colored glass. Windows become the equivalent of handwritten texts describing the life of Christian saints.
The ingenuity of the Sugeria at Saint Denis was contagious. Within one generation, his early version of the "palace style" brought Romanesque architecture and visual arts to the threshold of a style later called Gothic.
Towards the end of the 12th century, cathedrals acquired the appearance of structures based on alternating vertical spiers, pointed arches and ribbed vaults. Leaning on the outside on graceful buttresses, the upper floors of the churches between the spiers could be freed and not overloaded with supports. For the first time in Western church architecture, light became the main element of the interior. The logical understanding of construction and the relationship between walls and windows revolutionized the architecture of Northern Europe and dominated over the next three centuries. The careful dosage of light in Gothic cathedrals promoted the medieval synthesis of the spiritual and the secular. Tied to the ground by the constant continuation of the conflict between good and evil, the Gothic churches are striving upward with all their might, symbolizing unearthly splendor.
The earliest architectural monument of fully developed Gothic is the Cathedral in Chartres. On his example, you can fully appreciate the unlimited power and splendor of Gothic stained glass windows to the accompaniment of the surrounding architecture. Every part of it - the façade, nave, transepts and choirs - has been enriched with flaming landscape images. The variety of design options for windows in Chartres served as an example for large cathedrals and churches, which were subsequently created according to the "cross" or "Latin cross" scheme. The lower windows of the side chapels in Chartres are distinguished by an amazing variety of themes from "The Life of the Virgin" to "The Legend of Charlemagne", reflecting the interests of donors for their creation. Among the main adornments of Chartres and many other cathedrals are "rosette windows".
During the reign of Louis IX (1220-1270), the refined elegance and splendor of decoration inherent in small metal forms and illustrations of manuscripts was combined in a fairly wide framework of external sculptures of cathedrals. From the creative union encouraged by the monarch, a unique aesthetics of refined sophistication was born. The typically French approach to art as a necessity first emerged in the early 13th century. As part of the French "palace style", stained glass windows acquired a refined beauty of decoration and delicate color harmony. Radical changes in the architectural context of windows were caused by the desire of architects to achieve the maximum proportion of the glazed surface of the premises. This allowed us to maximize the width and height of the windows. Thin stone "openwork" weaves, framing the upper row of windows, are distinguished by the intricacy of the ornament. Later, a new form of glazing was developed - grisaille. Consisting of a tonal palette of light-colored glasses, grisaille has been used in complex dark rooms to provide better illumination.
The Gothic style quickly penetrated the borders of France into Germany, the states of Central Europe and Northern Spain.
In the second half of the century in Europe, the increase in size and new constructive approaches further changed the "palace style" of Gothic stained glass. Large-scale compositions began to be divided into two or more windows, grisaille was used more often. A characteristic feature of the 13th century stained-glass windows is the high transparency and decorativeness, the fluidity of the surface design.
Renaissance era (XV-XVI centuries)
Traditional stained glass technologies were modernized. A new coloring preparation, a silver mordant, was discovered, which made it possible to revolutionize the technical and aesthetic development of the genre. For the first time, it is possible to apply crisp, saturated tones directly to the glass surface. Applying a thin layer of a silver solution made it possible to obtain a range of shades from bright yellow to dark orange, which was especially convenient for depicting objects made of gold, for example, crowns. The brightness and decorativeness of the silver stained details enhanced the reflection of the light, much like the embossed gold leaf backgrounds of the panel murals of the time. Silver etching was destined for a prominent role in the development of stained glass design at many stages of the late Gothic and Renaissance periods.
Italy became a source of inspiration. In Rome and Florence, Giotto and his followers, trying to give their canvases a sense of space, revolutionized composition and volumetric forms. As seen in the windows of the Franciscan monastery church in Königsfelden, Switzerland, Northern European artists have successfully incorporated these innovations into their own more detailed local styles. In the 1430s in Germany, Hans Acker created the windows for the Besserer Chapel in Ulm Minster, famous for their excellent combination of decorative color and shape. The northern Italian artist and illustrator Bellello da Pavia created the figures of the prophets and other images for the new Gothic cathedral in Milan, executed in the same intimate manner. In the early sixteenth century, the two traditions - Northern Realism and Southern Classicism - again found a powerful unifying impetus in the universal appeal of the High Renaissance.
In Italy, stained glass was often considered incompatible with both the sunny climate and the rational thinking of classical artists. Although the genre was not as widespread as it was in the north, many of the works created in Italy are among the most original and beautiful windows of the period. Stained glass designs by artists whose main occupation was sculpture or painting often reached a level of excellence comparable to those who specialized exclusively in stained glass. Italian sculptures by Ghiberti and Donatello and painters Paolo Uccello Andrea del Castagno created striking sketches for the production of tondis, panoramic windows that flank the drum of the majestic dome of Florence Cathedral. These works from the 1440s represent almost all of the most modern pictorial principles of the early Italian Renaissance. The authorship of the full-scale sketches (cardboards) undoubtedly belongs to the aforementioned artists. But color contrasts and accents may well have been created in community with master glassmakers who directly compose the windows.
Among the most charming innovations of the Early Renaissance are silver-etched medallions. Rarely more than thirty centimeters in diameter, these works first appeared in England, but quickly became an indispensable attribute of glass art in the lowlands of Flanders.
The first half of the 16th century witnessed the last flowering of medieval stained glass art. During this period, an unprecedented amount of stained glass was produced, mostly of excellent quality. Sixteenth century artists used an almost universal and technical language for one or two generations. A galaxy of immortal Italian High Renaissance masters such as Raphael, da Vinci and Michelangelo forever changed the concept of the visual arts in Europe. They managed to perfectly combine human spirituality with the divine principle. The expression of this sublime connection was achieved through a radical melting down of the principles of classical art in order to materialize humanistic aspirations.
Together with the rest of the genres of the High Renaissance, stained glass art fell under the influence of ideas exported from Italy. Albrecht Dürer and other gifted artists quickly adopted Italian lessons and combined southern ideas with a unique northern spirit still marked by the late Gothic heritage. The perfect high Renaissance classicism inspired the north for completely new uses for stained glass. The rationality of proportions and the monumentality of high Renaissance forms were betrothed to the realism, courtesy and decorativeness of northern European art. The fruits of this union were images that combine royal grandeur, ostentatious magnificence and pictorial power.
The stylistic renewal of stained glass during the High Renaissance was achieved through significant technical improvements. Among them should be noted an increase in the size, purity and transparency of colored and white glass, as well as the introduction of red hematite etching along with the already existing silver. An example of the use of silver etching on large areas of brightly colored glass is the work of Engran, Prince of Beauvais. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, he and his brothers created original stained-glass windows, which largely determined the level of artistic creativity of the region. Often Engrand based the entire composition on the effect of gilding with silver etching, as seen in his spectacular "Tree of Jesse" window for St. Etienne's Cathedral in Beauvais. The shimmering sparkle of the etchant is in harmony with the rich, deep blue and red glass that surrounds it.
Technological and aesthetic innovations of the early sixteenth century led to a reduction in the number and ordering of bindings in sketches and finished windows. The abundance of heavy, curved lines limited the viewing experience. Achieve better compatibility of visual effects was possible with the help of etching, sandblasting and painting with opaque enamel over the entire area of the glass. Nevertheless, the traditional colored glass continued to be the basis of the technology. The early 16th century stained glass drafting was characterized by an unprecedented variety of technologies and materials used to create the most complex visual effects. Artists of that period preferred harmony of design and color effects to distortion of forms and emotional expressiveness.
In Holland and Flanders, the fruitful union of local realism with Italian breadth of form led to truly majestic proportions. The infinite increase in the size of the most famous windows was facilitated by the placement of the courtyard of the Holy Roman Empire in Brussels. Flemish painter Bernard van Orly designed the first of two giant windows facing each other in the transept of Brussels Cathedral. Installed in 1537, the window depicts an intricate triumphal arch under which Emperor Charles V stands in a stately pose. The meticulous sandblasting of laminated glass, the subdued richness of color and the allegorically divine blue background can rightfully be considered the highest achievement of the art of stained glass in the sixteenth century.
In the Netherlands, the brothers Dirk and Wooter Krabeth became the founders of an equally grandiose, but less decorative style. These talented glassmakers developed the traditions of the mature Italian High Renaissance. The brothers designed and executed several windows for St. John's Church in Goud's hometown. As part of this commission, Dirk Krabet performed the composition "The Expulsion of Iliodor from the Temple", in which the background and narrative structure of two frescoes by Raphael from the Vatican Palace are vigorously fused. The original work demonstrates the northern artist's full understanding of the principles of the Italian High Renaissance.
The intricate compositions of many Dutch and Flemish windows, striving for breadth and illusion, fill all the inner segments of the window. In the work of van Orly and Dirk Krabet, this tendency is muted by a limited intrusion into the depth of the background. Such magnificent works continued to appear in the Netherlands and other countries until the very end of the sixteenth century. At that time, Flemish artists and glassmakers dominated the art of stained glass throughout Europe and were invited to work first in England, and then in Spain and Milan. For example, the creation of windows for the Milan Cathedral continued almost until the very end of the sixteenth century.
Late 19th - early 20th century
At the end of the 19th century, a new stage began in the development of stained glass art, which in a short period of the 1880-1910s. reached an extraordinary heyday in Europe, England and America. Thanks to technical progress in the field of glass making, the production of sheet glass has been simplified, new technologies have been developed for its coloring, processing, and decoration.
The main artistic principles of the Art Nouveau style - graphic contours, flatness of the drawing, locally painted surfaces of the image perfectly matched the nature of the stained-glass window, made of pieces of colored glass. The Art Nouveau style revealed the artistic merit of the mosaic technique, disguised in the era of eclecticism with spectacular paintings. The stained glass painting is a thing of the past. At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, stained-glass panels dominate. This evolutionary transformation not only radically changed the iconography of stained glass, but also greatly expanded the scope of their application. In the era of eclecticism, the location of the stained-glass window in the house was strictly limited by the frames of the window opening. Now the stained glass "came out" of the "frame" of the window: compositions of colored glass began to be included in the interior partitions, then multi-colored glass ceilings and domes appeared, after which the stained glass "burst" outside the walls of the house: luminous signs, advertising inscriptions made of glass letters transformed the look cities.
The ancient technique of stained glass - a mosaic set of figured pieces of glass - began to be actively used for many applied items: furniture, fireplace screens, screens, mirrors, musical instruments, and jewelry. And after the improvement of the method of connecting glasses to each other, stained glass technology began to be used not only for flat surfaces, but also for volumetric objects - lamps and lamps of the most bizarre shapes.
