Stained Glass as an Art

Preface

HIS 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 Richfhond, for their courtesy in allowing me to reproduce some of their designs, and thus to give specimens of the best work in stained glass of the nineteenth century. In the next place I must explain why the direct illustrations of my text are taken from my own work only.

Considerations of convenience and of good taste determined me to take this course. I am quite convinced of a general accord between my brother artists and myself as to the main principles laid down in this treatise, but it is more than probable that we may differ on minor points; and I might find myself quoting some features in their designs in illustration of an argument of my own, with which they might not wholly agree; I might read something into their work which was not really in their intention.

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On the other hand, there are some few matters about which we do not absolutely agree, and by employing my friends?’ designs in direct illustration of my principles, I might appear to be guilty of an inconsistency, unless I adopted the objectionable alternative of calling attention to the points in question for the purpose of adverse criticism.

But the consideration of convenience alone would almost 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 introduced ; and they were all at hand. If I wanted an example of any point, I knew where to find it, and could get the drawing out and have it photographed. As I proceeded with my work, I found any other course would have been impracticable.

Of my friends? designs let me say that if they indicate any ‘views slightly differing from my own, the difference is not such as to affect my admiration of them. I have selected them as instances of beautiful design and workmanship, and as such I commend them to my readers if they desire to see to how high a level the beauty of stained glass can reach.

HENRY HOLIDAY.

PAGE INTRODUCTORY : F : ‘ - : I

Attitude of the average amateur towards Stained Glass, p13 his general uncertainty on the subject; his belief that stained glass should be rather medieval, 2 ; prevailing conditions adverse to the Technical Arts; element of manufacture and profit; revival of stained glass under trade auspices, 3; the artist omitted; the cheap and nasty; consequent general desecration of churches; the amateur left without any artistic standard ; nearly all commercial stained glass designed by unknown employés, 43 with a few exceptions commercial stained glass merely kept up to the average public taste; pictures good and bad the work of the artists; employés of stained glass firms all trained to a business standard, 5; this essay intended to remove some of the amateur’s difficulties, 6.

PART I MATERIAL AND TECHNIQUE . ; ; i 7

(2) MaTertaz ; colour of glass; flashed glass, p. 75 excellence of modern coloured glass ; streaky pot, 8; yellow stain; enamel colours; lead, 9; iron; shading pigment, 10; (4)'TECHNIQUE ; stained glass without lines and shadows lacks dignity and interest, 11; difference between art proper and a technical art ; occasion offered by northern civilization for stained glass windows ; antiquity of stained glass, 123 splendid colour the most striking characteristic of stained glass; unfit for representing natural effects, 133; perversity of modern decorator in seeking the unfit; hopelessness of imitating the subtle effects of

Vili nature with pieces of coloured glass and lead, 14; ineffectiveness of such imitation if it were possible; mistake of using wide range of light and dark in glass for the imitation of natural chiaroscuro, 153 failure of an attempt to obtain a better imitation of nature in glass by elimination of leads, 16; fatal defects of the method, 173 necessity of showing that realism is impossible in glass before opening inquiry into technique, 193 (c) Description or Processes; the design; figure studies ; cartoons, 193 selection of glass, 20; cut-line drawing; cutting the glass; outlines; first fire, 21; setting out the glass for the painter; shading, 22; methods of shading; the ‘ matt” method, 233 second fire; second shading; third fire; corrections and yellow stain, 24; stipple-shading; glazing; cementing, 25; binding; recapitulation, 26; eighteen processes generally required

‘for any piece of stained glass, 27.

Part II Artistic Possibilities Inherent In Stained

GLASS FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF € ‘TECHNIQUE . : : : . ;

Form; unlimited capacities of glass for expression of form; consequent absurdity of deliberate inaccuracy in drawing the figure, p. 283 form at least as important as colour in glass; study of Chartres Window; geometrical iron-work, 29; admirable design of window as a whole: in detail; action of the figures clearly shown through draperies, 30; necessity of emphasising the essential rather than the accidental forms ; analogy between Stained Glass and Bas-relief; colour in both purely decorative, not imitative; importance of form consequently enhanced in both, 31; consequent necessity of insisting on the noblest forms; this principle observed in the thirteenth century, 333 contrast between this and sham thirteenth-century glass produced by trade; form indispensable in glass; colour may be omitted; treatment of form in glass, 353 two great

PAGE principles; distinctive character of material and situation and purpose of work; transparency distinctive character of glass; increase of brilliancy by use of lines and shadows; different treatment of light and dark glass, 36; black lines on light glass in 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 and transparent shadows; great beauty and brilliancy of windows from Florence and Chartres, with no attempt to imitate nature, 393 use of diapers for giving texture and glitter to glass, 403 use of flashed glass bitten and stained; ‘plating’ to obtain different colours, 41.

PART III Tue ARTISTIC PosstBILITIES OF STAINED GLAss

CONSIDERED IN RELATION TO THE SITUA-

TION AND PURPOSE OF THE WoRK . : CHAPTER I.

DEsIGN . : : 2 . ‘ . .

First duty of glass-painter to decorate a window, not to ignore - its architectural forms; rapid decadence of stained glass in cinque-cento due to neglect of this principle, p. 45; cinque-cento glass at King’s College, Cambridge, splendid work, but showing early stage of the disease; treatment of wide-open space without mullions ; strong iron-work necessary ; desirability of emphasising this by leading lines in design, 46; examples of design founded on iron-work, 47; example of window divided into subjects by iron-work, 49; example of subject framed in iron-work with border, 503 Special treatment of iron-work in large circular window—‘ Theology’; analysis of treatment, 51; Theology and Science, 533 advantage of decorative ix

PAGE over pictorial art in presentation of ‘Ideas,’ 54; treatment of windows with mullions; limitations in decorative art as in poetry supply motives, 55; design for several lights must be divided and related as the architecture is divided and related ; examples of simplest kind of division, 56; in such cases harmony of colour more exacting than that of form; colour in complicated windows of early periods very symmetrical, 57; treatment of lights of different heights; one subject extending over two or more lights, 593; example of subject in two lights; the mullion must not be felt to be an interruption, 60; extreme case of carrying a feature in a design across three lights, 61; example in five lights, with two subjects and a single figure; complicated example of one subject in ten lights, 62; tracery, 643 case of one theme divided into many subjects, extending over seven lights, 65 analysis of design, 66; impossibility of considering composition apart from its motive ; desirability where there are many figures of having more than one scale, and preferably not more than two, 67; importance of knitting long series together with horizontal features; distinction between centre and side lights, 68; colour in this window; distinction between upper, lower, and middle bands, and between centre and sides; prevalence of primary colours in upper band; of quieter colours in lower band, disposed with approximate symmetry, 69; beauty of blue glass; difficulty of treating blue; example with important tracery; small précis of design to show the motive of the leading lines, 703 pointing to the dominant idea, ‘Peace on earth, goodwill toward men’; slowness of mankind to learn this lesson, politically, 71; or socially; signs that a better spirit is growing up and will prevail, 72; growing horror at the wickedness of war; earnest desire to find a better foundation for our industrial system, than selfish personal gain, 73; the truest art cannot be separated from the best aspirations of man, 74.

Chapter 2

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

PAGE always go together, p. 753 light and shade as means of expressing modelling; possibilities of light and shade unlimited in glass; but limits to their use very important; extreme degrees of light and shade seldom sought by painters, 76; plausible contention that capacity for depth without blackness should be utilized for effects of chiaroscuro ; objection that this would lead to false expectation and put spectator on wrong track, 77; where then is the line to be drawn? a principle wanted, not an arbitrary line; suggestion of natural forms by light and shade inevitable ; absolute importance of treating these to enhance decorative beauty of the glass; unimportance of the amount of light and shade if this principle be observed, 78; no realism in any form of early art; incipient realism in glass of fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; fine examples in New College, Oxford, 793 vulgar realism in the same chapel ; Sir Joshua Reynolds’s window in the same chapel ; curious instance of refined design with wholly false aim, 80; proof of total decay of decorative sense; sufficiency of the above principle for an artist ; riecessity of further definition for an outsider; distinction between decorative and pictorial light and shade, 81; analogy between stained glass and bas-relief in light and shade; both deal with a single plane ; beauty of modelling possible in both with very simple light and shade, 82; Panathenaic frieze from the Parthenon; perfection of execution in detail, and of decorative Beauty, 83 ; different planes implied, not represented ; possibility of great freedom of treatment when the principle is well grasped; examples of strict adherence to the precept, 84; west window, St. Saviour’s, 86; Cavendish Window, St. Margaret’s, Westminster, 88; Wordsworth window, Rydal; examples of freer treatment, 90; suggestion without realization ; symbolic use of familiar effects ; security from error found in single-minded aim, 923 assimilation of principle an emancipation; rules a bondage ; example of symbolic accordance with nature, 93; pool of Bethesda, Romsey Abbey, 94; ‘Charity,’ Philadelphia, 95 ; Paul at Athens, Forfar; treatment of perspective; Marriage at Cana, South Audley Street, 97; necessity of the same freedom about light and shade as about colour and perspective ; treat~ ment of light and shade at various periods ; simplicity retained in glass when chiaroscuro was fully developed in pictorial art,

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PAGE 98; Fairford glass; Lichfield; considerable degree of naturalism with true decorative feeling, 99; general conclusion about light and shade, 100; expression of tone by deeper colour of glass, 101.

Chapter 3

Medizvalism ; the Gothic revival, p. 102 3 good intention of the revivalists ; tasteless development of the revival; first resultant crime; wholesale destructive ‘restorations’; probable view of medizyvalists as regards glass; trade conception of naivet¢ in art, 1033 difficulty of abolishing an ingrained superstition ; quaintness of early glass genuine; all early artists gave their own best; impossibility of any other course to an artist, 1043 production by trade of that for which there is a market ; absurdity of atfempting to imitate a noble art by training apprentices to a few tricks of trade; appalling rubbish in the cathedrals supplied by trade, 105; the tricks better done now ;

comicalities of sham medieval glass, 106; calamitous effect of this ignorance increased by durability of material ; difficulty of removing stained glass, however disgraceful; systematic disfigurement of ‘cathedrals, 1073; mimicry of old work, no art at all; paying to be tricked ; ‘look as good as old’; violins and stained glass, 108; exceptions to the general rule about commercial glass ; responsibility of educated public for the evil, 109 ; ceaseless demand of educated public for shop-art; division of labour in commercial art incompatible with real art, 110; a panel of stained glass in a commercial house done in fragments by different employés; consequent lack of interest to all, 111.

STYLE, ARCHITECTURAL : . ! - «12

True influence of style of building upon style of decoration ; false influence; abnegation by artist of his own style and temporary adoption of some obsolete style; immorality of such hollow pretence; impossibility of actual temporary adoption of a style; impossibility to ‘an artist of working in any style but his own, p. 1133 adaptation of design, not change of style, true solution; dancing among half a dozen styles only known to the trade; universal practice of great artists to work in their own style; medieval and Renaissance Italy, 1143 anightmare! same rule holds good to-day; permanence of personal predilections of particular artists, 1153 difficulty of giving rules for adaptation of design to spaces, 116.

Style in ornament, p. 1173 complexity of problem; difference of point of view between painting and architecture, 118; impossibility of arguing from architecture to figures; question as to whether ornament should ally itself with the architecture or the figures in a window, 1193 natural tendency to associate parts of window with each other rather than with stonework; incongruity of mixed styles in one window; example of this; ancient practice; genuineness of each man’s owh style, irrespective of style of building; maintenance of rule even in architectural additions, 120; general conclusions about ornament, 1213 derivation of ornament from natural forms; foliage; ornamental treatment of foliage at different periods ; application of same rule to ornament as to figures, 122; adaptation of design not changing of style, 123; decline of decomtive sense in late civilizations ; prevalence of ornamental treatment even in pictorial work of early times; tendency of late ornament to become realistic; Raphael’s arabesques; nineteenth-century ornament before Morris, 124; depth of its vulgarity, 125; tendency to resuscitate old forms at times of revival, 126; development of characteristic style not rapid; gradual appearance of such style at present time; foliage in early Italian ornament, 1273; Ducal Palace, Venice; Duomo, Florence; examples of similar ornament in glass, 128.

STYLE IN RELATION TO ARCHEOLOGY . ‘

Costume, &c., in stained glass; custom in early work of representing all people in costume of artist’s own time; impossibility of representing men in battered black tubes in stained glass, xX

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p. 1303 affectation of such practice in a society familiar with the costumes of the past; desirableness of presenting our subjects as we naturally conceive them; traditional treatment of Christ and apostles at nearly all periods, 131; folly of rejecting characteristic costume where it would add to the interest and decorative beauty of work; examples of ‘local colour’ in costume, &c., from stained glass windows, 1333 latitude necessary here as in other matters, 134.

The human figure, p. 136; the figure not often represented in early art; but not avoided in glass where opportunity offered ; Chartres; Fairford, 137; considerations of colour and surface; no technical difficulty in treating the figure in glass; examples —Lazarus, 139; Enoch, Moses, and Elijah ; representation of textures in glass, 140; Angels; their representation necessarily symbolic ; medieVal angels in ecclesiastical vestments ; objections to maintenance of this practice, 141; absurdity of drawing angels who existed before the Creation in costume only invented 5,000 years after it; anthropomorphism exceeded; necessity of representing celestial beings in exalted human form, 1423 extension of this to highly specialized costumes, a narrow and unelevating symbolism; incongruity of wings and heavy garments ; Orgagna and Van Eyck, 1433 ecclesiastically clothed angels soon dropped by the great painters; development of spiritual functions in the human organs, and gradual subordination of the animal functions; consummation of the process, 1443 answer to possible objection to this view; Blake’s angels, 145; examples, 146.