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FIVE PROPHETS WINDOW
Stained Glass Window
Detail of Three Prophets,
Augsburg Cathedral, Germany
11th century
Making Stained Glass
“Bring the tube to your mouth and blow slightly, and instantly removing it from your mouth,
hold it to your cheek, unless in drawing breath, you may by chance attract the flame into
your mouth.” 1
Good advice to the glass blower from Theophilus, a 12th Century German monk, in his Latin work, De Diversis Artibus, A Treatise Upon Various Arts 2. This work describes in exhaustive detail, the process of making stained glass windows, as well as many other crafts.
Compared to some technologies, the process of making stained glass has changed very little since medieval times. After a design is decided upon, it is sketched and drawn to the full size of the window. Colors of glass are chosen and cut. Any painting, highlighting and shading are done and the glass is fired in a kiln to fuse these details to the glass. The pieces are leaded together and the panels are fixed into their positions in the building.
References to glass have been around since 3000BC, but the Egyptians, Sumerians and people of the Indus Valley civilization made a chemical discovery that allowed them to make faience, an opaque paste made of sand coated with glaze. By 1554BC to 1075BC, Egyptian craftsmen discovered a process for making clear glass, which could be fused and cast like metal, then molded into vessels or imitation precious stones.3 The ability to “gather” metal and glass came with the invention of the blowing iron, probably by the Syrians during the second century BC.4 This allowed items to be reheated and reblown until the desired shapes were achieved, leading to the capacity to manufacture a wider variety of items including bottles and dishes. Color was achieved by adding various metal oxides such as copper for greens, cobalt for blues, or particles of gold for shades of ruby. Back in medieval times, the glass was most likely made “on site” as the glaziers traveled from job to job, town to town, setting up their shops in an area accessible to sand and other natural items needed to make glass.
Back to Theophilus’ advice…glass blowers “gathered” the molten, and now colored glass, to the end of a hollow rod or blowpipe and blew it into a bubble. The blower manipulated it into a cylindrical shape. The ends of the cylinder were cut off and the glass was gently flattened into a sheet in an annealing oven. The many manipulations of the melting, blowing and cooling processes are what gave the glass its many “seams, bubbles and imperfections.”5 As light rays pass through the colored glass, rather than reflect it, the imperfections of the glass diffused the light and created the ever-changing shimmer, iridescence and jewel-like qualities so prized in medieval stained glass and in the stained glass of today.
In the clerestory of the nave of the German Augsburg Cathedral, stand the oldest complete stained glass windows in the world, known as the Five Prophets. The windows portray five Old Testament figures: Moses, David, Daniel, Hosea and Jonas. They are all that remain of a larger series, glazed in the late eleventh century. The three shown here are, left to right, Hosea, King David and Daniel.
The Romanesque figures, staring out intently, look more stern and intimidating because of their large size, over eight feet tall, and their disproportionately large faces, hands and feet. Each prophet holds a scroll in one large hand and on their feet they display the pointed shoes typically worn by medieval knights. Each is colorfully outfitted in robes and hats, except for King David who wears a crown. The colors in these windows are typical of the ones used in German churches in the Romanesque period: brown, gold, yellow, green, wine and bluish gray.
Even though the windows are some of the earliest examples of the art, they were made by skilled and experienced artists. The glass in parts of their hats has been replaced in an ongoing restoration process and it is likely that the actual shapes of the windows have been altered.6
Glass is fragile. Despite the destructiveness of man and nature through weather, fire, war, revolution, the Reformation, restorers and vandals, many of the world’s oldest examples of stained glass have survived the centuries. This fact is truly a testament to the skill of the medieval artist.
NOTES
1. Lee 1989, p.10
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Lee 1989, p.8
6. Lee 1989, p.67
Stained Glass Window
Detail of Three Prophets,
Augsburg Cathedral, Germany
11th century
Making Stained Glass
“Bring the tube to your mouth and blow slightly, and instantly removing it from your mouth, hold it to your cheek, unless in drawing breath, you may by chance attract the flame into your mouth.” 1
Good advice to the glass blower from Theophilus, a 12th Century German monk, in his Latin work, De Diversis Artibus, A Treatise Upon Various Arts 2. This work describes in exhaustive detail, the process of making stained glass windows, as well as many other crafts.
Compared to some technologies, the process of making stained glass has changed very little since medieval times. After a design is decided upon, it is sketched and drawn to the full size of the window. Colors of glass are chosen and cut. Any painting, highlighting and shading are done and the glass is fired in a kiln to fuse these details to the glass. The pieces are leaded together and the panels are fixed into their positions in the building.
References to glass have been around since 3000BC, but the Egyptians, Sumerians and people of the Indus Valley civilization made a chemical discovery that allowed them to make faience, an opaque paste made of sand coated with glaze. By 1554BC to 1075BC, Egyptian craftsmen discovered a process for making clear glass, which could be fused and cast like metal, then molded into vessels or imitation precious stones.3 The ability to “gather” metal and glass came with the invention of the blowing iron, probably by the Syrians during the second century BC.4 This allowed items to be reheated and reblown until the desired shapes were achieved, leading to the capacity to manufacture a wider variety of items including bottles and dishes. Color was achieved by adding various metal oxides such as copper for greens, cobalt for blues, or particles of gold for shades of ruby. Back in medieval times, the glass was most likely made “on site” as the glaziers traveled from job to job, town to town, setting up their shops in an area accessible to sand and other natural items needed to make glass.
Back to Theophilus’ advice…glass blowers “gathered” the molten, and now colored glass, to the end of a hollow rod or blowpipe and blew it into a bubble. The blower manipulated it into a cylindrical shape. The ends of the cylinder were cut off and the glass was gently flattened into a sheet in an annealing oven. The many manipulations of the melting, blowing and cooling processes are what gave the glass its many “seams, bubbles and imperfections.”5 As light rays pass through the colored glass, rather than reflect it, the imperfections of the glass diffused the light and created the ever-changing shimmer, iridescence and jewel-like qualities so prized in medieval stained glass and in the stained glass of today.
In the clerestory of the nave of the German Augsburg Cathedral, stand the oldest complete stained glass windows in the world, known as the Five Prophets. The windows portray five Old Testament figures: Moses, David, Daniel, Hosea and Jonas. They are all that remain of a larger series, glazed in the late eleventh century. The three shown here are, left to right, Hosea, King David and Daniel.
The Romanesque figures, staring out intently, look more stern and intimidating because of their large size, over eight feet tall, and their disproportionately large faces, hands and feet. Each prophet holds a scroll in one large hand and on their feet they display the pointed shoes typically worn by medieval knights. Each is colorfully outfitted in robes and hats, except for King David who wears a crown. The colors in these windows are typical of the ones used in German churches in the Romanesque period: brown, gold, yellow, green, wine and bluish gray.
Even though the windows are some of the earliest examples of the art, they were made by skilled and experienced artists. The glass in parts of their hats has been replaced in an ongoing restoration process and it is likely that the actual shapes of the windows have been altered.6
Glass is fragile. Despite the destructiveness of man and nature through weather, fire, war, revolution, the Reformation, restorers and vandals, many of the world’s oldest examples of stained glass have survived the centuries. This fact is truly a testament to the skill of the medieval artist.
NOTES
1. Lee 1989, p.10
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Lee 1989, p.8
6. Lee 1989, p.67